Polaski, Deborah
Polaski, Deborah
Polaski, Deborah , American soprano; b. Richmond Center, Wise, Sept. 26, 1949. She studied in Cincinnati and Graz. After making her operatic debut in Gelsenkirchen in 1976, she sang in Munich, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Mannheim, and other German cities in such roles as Leonore, Sieglinde, Isolde, and Berg’s Marie. In 1986 she appeared as Elektra in Oslo and as Chrysothemis in Geneva, and in 1988 as Senta at Milan’s La Scala. While her portrayal of Brünnhilde at the Bayreuth Festival was cooly received in 1988, she triumphed there in that role in 1991 and 1995. In 1990 she sang Brünnhilde in Cologne and Elektra in Spoleto. Following an engagement as the Walküre Brünnhilde at London’s Covent Garden in 1994, she sang Elektra upon her return there in 1997. Her appearance as Brünnhilde in the Berlin mounting of the Ring cycle in 1996 brought her further accolades. On Dec. 1, 1999, she sang excerpts from Die Walküre and Fidelio with Plácido Domingo at the gala performance of the reopening of the refurbished Royal Opera House at Covent Garden.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire