"...it is simply a permanent joy to listen to him on stage, or on record. Endowed with almost colossal, telluric vocal means"
- Olyrix, José Pons
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Francesco Lanzillotta, Conductor
Otto Schenk, Stage Director
Francesco Lanzillotta, Conductor
Otto Schenk, Stage Director
Francesco Lanzillotta, Conductor
Otto Schenk, Stage Director
Giacomo Sagripanti, Conductor
Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Conductor
Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Conductor
Il Commendatore Don Giovanni at London Royal Opera House, Colline La bohème and Don Basilio Barbiere di Siviglia at Bayerische Staatsoper München, Mephistopheles Faust, Vodnik Rusalka, Don Basilio Il Barbiere at the Wiener Staatsoper, Das Rheingold Fafner at Staatsoper Stuttgart, next to future engagements as Timur Turandot, Gremin Eugene Onegin, Raimondo Bidebent Lucia di Lammermoor at theatres such as Barcelona Liceu, Madrid Teatro Real and Opéra national de Paris.
Mephistopheles Faust debut at the Wiener Staatsoper, Il Commendatore Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Mephistopheles Faust at the Royal Opera House*, house debuts at the Opéra national de Paris as Skula Prince Igor, Méphistophélès Faust at Teatro Real Madrid and Grand Théâtre de Genève, Don Basilio Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Glyndebourne Festival; Alidoro La Cenerentola at Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf, Figaro Le Nozze di Figaro at Oper Köln and Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, Boris Boris Godunov, Mephistopheles Boito’s Mephistopheles, Sparafucile Rigoletto, Colline La bohème, Leporello Don Giovanni, Sir Giorgio Valton I puritani at Staatsoper Stuttgart. [*- cancelled]
Le Nozze di Figaro
Bolshoi Theatre Moscow - "Aprite un po' quegli occhi"
Le Nozze di Figaro
Bolshoi Theatre Moscow - "Aprite un po' quegli occhi"
Count Walter
Verdi - Luisa Miller
Count Walter
Verdi - Luisa Miller
Mephistopheles
Gounod - Faust
Mephistopheles
Gounod - Faust
Bass Adam Palka was a charming Méphistophélès, singing with a dark, cavernous voice, portraying the Devil more like a vampire/voodoo sorcerer. [...] He sang a powerful “Le veau d’or” and blended well with Florez’s voice in their act I duet “A moi, les plaisirs…”.
Adam Palka is an excellent Mephistopheles, fully entering into the demonic nature of this version of the character and proving to be menacing in tone and performance.
In another house debut Adam Palka – who had sung the role in Stuttgart – was an oddly charismatic Méphistophélès given how reptilian, vampiric and demonically intimidating he must be. His resonant bass notes were a thing of wonder given his long and lean physique.
...the bass Adam Palka, whose character appears little but is crucial in the last act, made his deep voice resonate as the statue of the Commander.
As Leporello next to the demonic love-savior Don Giovanni, Adam Palka convinces as a guest [...] not only with his dark and supple bass.... he impresses with his understanding of the role, which he accepted on short notice. In the famous aria "Madamia, il catalogo é questo" Palka convinces vocally as he equally sets playful accents with sly presence. At the end he is even applauded particularly enthusiastically.
Méphistophélès steals the show in the Wiener Staatsoper's Faust... In fact, if one were to give the devil his due, this opera would be named after him, particularly when the role is performed as admirably as by bass Adam Palka.
Adam Palka gelang mit einem packend emotionalen Bass ein tolles Debüt als Boris.
Adam Palka leiht dem von Skrupeln geplagten Boris seinen tragfähigen Bass und lässt ihn fast wie einen tragischen Held erscheinen, der sich selbst demontiert.
La basse Adam Palka propose une voix large au phrasé percutant tandis
mais les deux soudards d'Adam Palka et Andrei Popov sont parfaitement appariés, apportant à l'épopée sa touche bouffonne.
Adam Palka bellows formidably as Don Basilio
Visual surprises abounded, including smoke billowing from the cassock of Basilio during his Calumny aria – a louche, funny delivery from promising young bass Adam Palka.
The sonorous tones of Adam Palka as a very youthful and rather Mephistophelean Don Basilio are striking and he relishes all the dynamic and orchestra-mimicking opportunities of ‘La calumnia’.
It is simply a permanent joy to listen to him on stage or on record. Endowed with almost colossal, telluric vocal means, the Polish bass Adam Palka makes light work of the role of Mephistopheles in both its evil and almost comical aspects. In fact, he's going too far in several occasions and mishandles the phrasing too often unnecessarily accentuating the vocal or musical intention. His French is not yet too idiomatic, but the artist has vast resources that once channeled a bit, should allow him to count among the main basses of our time.
Adam Palka, der mit wunderbar sonorem, trefflich sitzendem und ausdrucksstarkem Bass die vier Gegenspieler Hoffmanns Lindorf, Coppélius, Dr. Mirakel und Dapertutto sang, die er auch ansprechend spielte.
In Faust, the devil always gets the best tunes; in this production, he also got the best voice: as he was for Oper Stuttgart last season, Adam Palka was sensational. Unusually for a bass, his voice is youthful and virile whilst also having immense reserves of power. He could make Méphistophélès impossibly suave and attractive or turn him, in an instant, into a terrifying authoritarian. One normally associates the deep notes of a bass with gravel or velvet: with Palka, they were cold steel.
