Soprano. In 1998, she graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw majoring in solo singing. That same year she became a soloist at the Warsaw Chamber Opera (1998-2017).
She first appeared on opera stage at the age of 9, in the Opera and Operetta in Bydgoszcz, under the baton of Enric de Mori, a La Scala conductor (the Mädchen duet in The Marriage of Figaro by W. A. Mozart). During her vocal studies she made her debut at the Polish National Opera in Warsaw as Stella in G. Orefice’s Chopin (1997). As a singer and actress she’s frequently appeared on stage at the National Theatre in Warsaw (e.g Noc listopadowa, (“November Night”) directed by J. Grzegorzewski; Saragossa, directed by T. Bradecki; Umowa, czyli łajdak ukarany (“La Fausse Suivante ou le fourbe puni”) directed by J. Lassalle).
Since 1992 she’s been performing on the most important music and opera stages in Poland (e.g. the Polish National Opera in Warsaw, the Warsaw Chamber Opera, the National Philharmonic, the Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of the Polish Radio, the Warsaw Royal Castle) and at many important festivals (e.g. the Mozart Festival, the Claudio Monteverdi Festival, the Baroque Opera Festival, the Old Polish Opera Festival, the Modern Polish Opera Festival, the Festival of Ancient Music at the Royal Castle, the Chopin in the Colours of Autumn – International Festival, Wawel Castle Evenings, the Summer Song Festival of Polish Composers, Mazovia in the Crown, the Music in the Historical Sites of Warsaw, and the Sacral Music Festival in Gdynia). Her tours have taken her to the most prominent opera houses in the world, e.g. in Japan, Korea, Germany, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Lebanon, France, Russia, Lithuania, and Hungary.
Stępień feels comfortable in repertoire from the Baroque to the contemporary period, performing accompanied by instrumental ensembles and orchestras – in front of an audience of thousands (like during plein air performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute, or at the international festival in Peterchof) and chamber concerts alike. Her artistic output includes most of the operas and oratorios by Mozart, oratorios and cantatas by J. S. Bach, G. Handel, G. B. Pergolesi, A. Vivaldi, and songs by P. Tchaikovsky, S. Rachmaninoff, F. Liszt, R. Schumann, F. Schubert, F. Chopin, S. Moniuszko, or K. Szymanowski. She also performs pieces by contemporary composers: R. Palester, Z. Rudziński, P. Łukaszewski, S. Moryto, J. Rutter, A. Pärt, L. Możdżer. She’s collaborated with many esteemed conductors and directors.
As a soloist, together with the artists from the Warsaw Chamber Opera she’s collaborated on several music albums conducted by Władysław Kłosiewicz: J. Peri’s L’Euridice and Cud mniemany czyli krakowiacy i górale (“Cracovians and Highlanders”) by J. Stefani. She made guest appearances in a recording of J. Stokłosa’s musical Romeo and Juliet by Teatr Studio Buffo and in the project Etnofonie Kurpiowskie. Tribute to Szymanowski and Skierkowski under the supervision of W. Grozdew-Kołacińska (nominated to the Coryphaeus of Polish Music award). She participated in the following concert recordings: Miserere by J. A. Hasse conducted by Andrzej Borzym and Requiem by J. Rutter conducted by Jan Miłosz Zarzycki (nominated to the Fryderyk award). In 2016, she was awarded the Orphee d’Or for the best recording of an religious work Missa solemnis in B minor by I. R. von Seyfried.
Since 2017 she’s been a soloist at the Polish Royal Opera.
Photo by W. Olszanka
