Polish soprano Iwona Sobotka has established herself as one of today’s most compelling spinto sopranos, commanding the stage in the great Verdi and Puccini roles while maintaining a distinguished concert career with the world’s most renowned orchestras. Her artistry received international recognition in 2004 when she won the Grand Prix and first prize at the Queen Elisabeth International Vocal Competition in Brussels, launching a career that has taken her to the world’s major opera houses and concert halls.
Current and Upcoming Season Highlights
The 2025/26 season marks significant milestones in Sobotka’s career, including her debut at the Salzburger Festspiele in Verdi’s Requiem with Riccardo Muti and the Wiener Philharmoniker. She returns to collaborate with Maestro Muti as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra in Tokyo, and takes on major Italian roles including Aida at Opera Hong Kong, the title role in Manon Lescaut at Tokyo Spring Festival, and Leonora in Il trovatore in Genova. The season also features her as Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer at Teatro Principal de Palma de Mallorca, and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier at the Baltic Opera.
In the 2024/25 season, Sobotka expanded her repertoire with powerful spinto roles, appearing as both Aida and Turandot at the Teatr Wielki in Poznań, making her role debut as Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer at the National Performing Arts Center in Taipei, and performing Desdemona in Otello at Teatro Coccia Novara. Her concert appearances included Verdi’s Requiem with the Orchestre National de France and Riccardo Muti, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass with the Czech Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle, and Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand with the Cracow Philharmonic.
Operatic Career
Sobotka’s repertoire demonstrates a remarkable artistic evolution from lyric to spinto roles. She made her operatic debut at the Opéra National de Paris in 2004 as the First Lady in The Magic Flute and Ygraine in Ariane et Barbe-Bleue. Her portrayal of Pamina in Barrie Kosky’s acclaimed production of The Magic Flute with Komische Oper Berlin toured extensively to Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Macao, and Taiwan, establishing her international reputation.
In recent seasons, she has commanded the stage in roles including Roxana in Szymanowski’s King Roger for Chicago Opera Theater, the Daughter in Shostakovich’s The Nose for Teatro Real Madrid, Violetta Valéry in La Traviata at the National Opera Warsaw, and Leonora in Il Trovatore for Estonian National Opera. At the Grand Theatre Poznań, she has triumphed in the Italian repertoire as Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, Tosca, and Desdemona in Otello, as well as starring in Rusalka at the Slovak National Theater.
Concert and Recording Work
A sought-after concert artist, Sobotka has performed with the world’s leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic and Staatskapelle Berlin, as well as the philharmonic and radio orchestras of Berlin, Vienna, Paris, Luxembourg, Helsinki, Warsaw, Milan, Prague, Barcelona, and Madrid among others. She has worked with distinguished conductors including Riccardo Muti, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Colin Davis, Semyon Bychkov, Marco Armiliato, Marek Janowski, and Vladimir Jurowski. In 2016, she embarked on a major concert tour to Japan and Taiwan with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle.
Sobotka is internationally recognized as a leading interpreter of Polish vocal music, particularly the works of Karol Szymanowski. Her debut solo album for Channel Classics (2004) featured Szymanowski songs and received the prestigious Fryderyk Award from the Polish Academy of Phonography. She has recorded additional Szymanowski albums with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle for EMI Classics, and with the Polish Radio Orchestra under Kazimierz Kord. In 2010, at the invitation of pianist Piotr Anderszewski, she participated in the ‘Szymanowski Focus’ concert series at Wigmore Hall London and Carnegie Hall New York. Her latest album SZYMANOWSKI, featuring the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic under Giancarlo Guerrero, presents the cycle ‘Songs of a Fairy-Tale Princess op. 31’ in a new orchestration by Italian composer Bruno Dozza, earning Sobotka her second Fryderyk Award.
Education
Iwona Sobotka is a graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, where she studied under the renowned artist and pedagogue Tom Krause.
