Karolina Gumos

She was lured in by the call of opera! Firstly to Poznán, to study singing, and then to Germany. »I didn’t want to come here at all in the beginning. The relationship between Germany and Poland is quite strained, after all.« And then there was her family history: as a young man, her father had fought for Polish independence during the Nazis’ reign of terror, and had ended up in a concentration camp as a result. »An incredible man. After all the terrible things that happened to him, he never became bitter, and worked tirelessly to foster reconciliation after the war.« The Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg was her first stop in the country next door. Which is where she met a young man who is one of the reasons why she stayed in Germany and put down roots. »He was a hornist in the orchestra.« Her great love. »He played the alphorn for me by the lake, and that was it for me!« They’ve been together ever since.

»One day we were walking along Unter den Linden in Berlin. There was a window display showing videos of performances by the Komischer Oper. At the time we talked about how great it would be if I could sing here some day …«

After stints in Dortmund and Braunschweig, fate did indeed bring her to the Komische Oper Berlin. And now it has become her home. She loves the lakes and rivers of Brandenburg. She is a passionate kayaker, and likes to comb through the forest in her favourite gumboots, foraging for mushrooms. If she ends up in the mountains though in the holidays, she has to be careful: »I get queasy on winding mountain roads.« After all, she is a child of the sea …

PRIZES
Ada-Sari-Gesangswettbewerb, Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg

IMPORTANT DIRECTORS
Willy Decker
Stefan Herheim
Heiner Goebbels
Hans Neuenfels
Barrie Kosky
Marco Arturo Marelli
Christine Mielitz
Udo Samel
Beverly Blankenship
Lucas Kindermann
Andreas Homoki
Sebastian Baumgarten


IMPORTANT CONDUCTORS
Peter Schneider
Friedemann Layer
Stefan Soltesz
Michael Boder
Michael Hofstetter
Ion Marin
Pedro Halffter
Sebastian Weigle

IMPORTANT PREVIOUS ENGAGEMENTS
Theater Dortmund
Staatstheater Braunschweig

IMPORTANT PARTS AT THE KOMISCHE OPER BERLIN
Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia
Idamante (Idomeneo)
Prinz Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus)
Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel)
Le Prince Charmant (Cendrillon)
Arsamenes (Xerxes)
Magdalena (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg)
Dorabella (Così fan tutte)
Titelpartie in Carmen
Orest (Die schöne Helena)
Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni)
Kasturbai (Satyagraha)
Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier)
Smeraldine (Die Liebe zu drei Orangen)
Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte)
Ino (Semele)
Mrs. Meg Page (Falstaff)
Juno (Orpheus in der Unterwelt)
Jokaste (Œdipe)
Varvara (Katja Kabanowa)
La muse/La mère d’Antonia (Les contes d’Hoffmann)

IMPORTANT PARTS ELSEWHERE
Sextus(Titus)Fenena (Nabucco)
Rosmira (Partenope)
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
Verdi: Requiem

EXCURSIONS
Semperoper Dresden
Hamburgische Staatsoper
Teatro de La Maestranza Sevilla
Oper Frankfurt
CC Lissabon
Deutsche Oper Berlin
Ruhrtriennale
Münchener Opernfestspiele
Lutosławski-Festival Warschau
Händelfestspiele Karlsruhe
Berliner Philharmonie