Halina Łukomska

'Today I heard Miss. Halina Łukomska. I found in her singing the highest vocal and artistic qualities. Miss. Łukomska displayed an unusual sensibility combined with a strong feeling for rhythm. She is a fully formed singer with a warm and rich tone' (Toti dal Monte, 1960)

Halina Łukomska (born April 29, 1929 in Suchedniów, Poland) studied at the State Academy Opera in Poznań ( 1951-1954 ) and at the Conservatory in Warsaw. Upon winning First Prize at the IVC 1956, Łukomska chose to honor the faith put into her in The Netherlands and Italy by making complementary studies with Giorgio Favarettiego at the Academia Chigiana in Siena (1958) and with Toti dal Monte in Venice (1959-1960). These further studies post he IVC victory reveal Łukomska as a hard working, serious singer.

Text: 401DD/RS
Photos: IVC Den Bosch/401DD
Audio remastering: 401www.nl
Special thanks to Margaret Kosińska, Polish Music Information Center, Polish Composers' Union for their Polish language biography which was the basis for our survey.

From 1960 onwards, her concert career too wing, and she performed in many European cities such as Amsterdam, Bergen, Salzburg, Vienna, Berlin, Edinburgh, London, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Paris, Florence and Venice. Outside Europe she appeared in the United States, Mexico and Israel, with orchestras under the baton of Hermann Scherchen, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Igor Markevitch, Witold Lutosławski, Pierre Boulez, Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Michael Gielen, and Bruno Maderna.

Bach-Gounod: 'Ave Maria' Halina Łukomska (soprano) (45RPM MUZA N 0103)

Among her rare opera parts we mention her 1967 and 1971 appearances in Amsterdam, respectively in Monteverdi's Orfeo and L'incoronazione di Poppea, and her Xenia in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov (EMI 1976). Otherwise her repertoire consisted mainly of 18th Century oratorio and songs. Łukomska was best known for her widely acclaimed interpretations of modern repertoire. Among them Debussy's 'Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire' and 'Ariettes oubliees' (with Jerzy Godziszewskim issued by Polish Recordings Company), songs of Alban Berg, Webern's 'Cantata I and II', Boulez's 'Pli selon pli' (recorded for Columbia Records with the BBC National Orchestra conducted by the composer). Łukomska's art, marked by an immaculate intonation, is perhaps best appreciated in the songs written for her, including those by her husband Augustyn Bloch: 'Espressioni', 'Meditations', 'Salmo gioioso'. Here, the human voice is treated purely instrumentally. We further mention Dimitri Terzakis 'Sappho-Fragmente' (April 17, 1980), and his 'Erotikon' (April 19, 1980).

Augustyn Bloch: Ayelet, Jeptha's daughter Halina Łukomska (soprano) (LP Intersound ISPV 108)

Critics praised Łukomska for her great musicality, the warm quality of her lyrical soprano with her natural coloratura technique, the precision and accuracy of her interpretation in both classical and contemporary music. From the 1980's onwards, Łukomska occasionally gave vocal lessons. In 1986 she gave master classes at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem.

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Discography

Halina Łukomska's recording career started in 1956, with the first IVC Gala Concert 45RPM, which featured her in 'Je suis Titania' from Mignon (the A-side had Edna Graham). Her second IVC 45RPM was a coupling with Elly Ameling, and Łukomska singing 'Hallelujah from Mozart's 'Exultate jubilate.'

Thomas: Mignon 'Je suis Titania'
Halina Łukomska (soprano), Brabants Orkest – Hein Jordans (conductor)
IVC Final Concert, Casino Den Bosch, April 23, 1956

Thomas: Mignon 'Je suis Titania' Halina Łukomska (soprano), Brabants Orkest – Hein Jordans (conductor) IVC Final Concert, Casino Den Bosch, April 23, 1956

Mozart: Exultate Jubilate 'Hallelujah' (45RPM PHILIPS B-SIDE/ IVC 1956 (A-SIDE Elly Ameling)

Bach-Gounod + Schubert: 'Ave Maria', Mozart: 'Alleluja', Bizet: 'Agnus Dei' (45RPM Muza)

Operatic recital / Arias from Faust, Rigoletto, Mignon, La traviata, Don Giovanni, Il barbiere di Siviglia (1966 LP MUZA XL-0310)

Mussorgsky & De Falla: Songs (LP MUZA SX-1241)

Pierre Boulez: 'Pli selon pli' (1969 Sony)

Anton Webern: Opus 1-31 (1969-70, reissued on Sony Classical; Together with Heather Harper Lukomska recorded most of the soprano parts)

Alban Berg: 'Altenburg Lieder opus 4' (1968)

Handel: CANTATE 'Silete venti' (Harmonia Mundi, 1962)

Witold Lutoslawski • Kazimierz Seroki • Augusyn Bloch: Songs (LP Muza)

Karol Szymanowski: Collection of Songs (1971)

Johann Christian Bach: 'Confitebor tibi Domine' (Basf/Harmonia Mundi 1973)

Debussy: Cinq Poemes de Charles BAudelaire / Ariettes oubliees (MUZA SXL 1042)

Witold Lutosławski: 'Five songs' (EMI Collected Edition)

Karol Szymanowski: Vol. 6 Songs for Voice and Piano

Alban Berg: 'Funf orchesterlieder nach ansichtskarten; Anton Webern: 'Vier lieder, op.13' (CD Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam 1960-70)

Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov (Xenia) (EMI 1976)

Klaus Huber: 'Soliloquia Sancti Aurelii Augustini' (Grammont 1979)

Dimitri Terzakis: 'The gates of Night and Day' (CPO 1998)

Augustyn Bloch: 'Carmen Biblicum' (CD 1997)