Jochen Kowalski |

Jochen Kowalski

The art of the countertenor, which in past centuries was used only in church hymns, is now in its heyday. It all started with the fact that Benjamin Britten created the first role in modern musical history specifically for this voice – it was the part of Oberon in the opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream. However, the all-encompassing fashion for countertenors developed a little later, with the spread of authenticity in the performance of ancient (primarily baroque) music. It was once performed by castrati. But in the 20th century, such barbarism as castration became impossible, and countertenors were in demand in their new capacity. It was they who began to sing the music of Monteverdi and Handel, Cavalli and Gluck everywhere. And, although the characteristics of the voice of the castrato and the countertenor do not quite match, nevertheless, this does not bother the adherents of authenticism at all. Another sphere of countertenors is the replacement of mezzo-soprano and contralto in the roles of travesty.

It was in the travesty part of Fyodor in Boris Godunov that the German Johan Kowalski (b. 1983) made his debut in 1954 on the stage of the Komische Oper. This singer gained world fame after the famous production of Gluck’s “Orpheus” in the same theater, carried out by Harry Kupfer in December 1987 and timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the death of the great composer. In 1989, this performance was moved to the Covent Garden stage.

Kowalski is also an unsurpassed performer of the part of Prince Orlovsky in The Bat. She became his debut at the Metropolitan (1995), he repeatedly sang it at the Vienna Opera (1991-1994) and other theaters. In 1993, at the Salzburg Festival, Kowalski participated in a brilliant production of Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea by Jurgen Flimm and Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Ottone). Other roles include Julius Caesar in Handel’s opera of the same name (1993, Schwetzingen; 1998, Berlin, etc.). The countertenor’s repertoire also includes Handel’s operas Giustino and Alcina, Mozart’s Mithridates, King of Pontus.