Anna Bernacka graduated with distinction from the Wrocław Academy of Music, where she studied under Ewa Czermak. From 2004 to 2007 she followed postgraduate studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hanover with Carol Richardson-Smith, and in 2015 she won the Jan Kiepura Music Theatre Award for the Best Polish Singer (Rosenkavalier, new production).
Anna Bernacka regularly performs at all Polish opera theatres including the Polish National Opera Teatr Wielki Warsaw and the Warsaw Chamber Opera, festivals like Penderecki’s Beethoven Festival or the Mozart Festival Warsaw, and orchestras including the National Philharmonic Orchestra Warsaw or National Radio Orchestra Katovice (NOSPR). At Teatr Wielki Warsaw she guests for multiple productions each season, including new productions of Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira) with Mariusz Trelinski, Case Makropoulos (Krista) with Christoph Marthaler, Il turco in Italia (Zaida) with Christopher Alden, Szymanowski’s Król Roger (Deaconess) also with Mariusz Trelinski, Moniuszko’s The Haunted Manor (Jadwiga) with David Pountney, Różycki’s Eros y Psyche (Laida), Żeleński’s Goplana (Imp), Carmen (Mercédès), Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda (Anna) with Moshe Leiser & Patrice Caurier, and La Clemenza di Tito (Annio) with Ivo van Hove.
She made her debut in 2006 at the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater, Germany. Lately Anna Bernacka performs at Komische Oper Berlin for new productions including Kreusa in Aribert Reimann’s Medea as well as Tolomeo in Lydia Steier’s production of Giulio Cesare. For the projection of her voice above voluminous orchestras General Music Director Cornelis Meister requested Ms Bernacka to perform in Strauss Elektra with him (2. Magd) at Staatsoper Stuttgart.
In the 2007–2017 seasons Anna Bernacka was a member of the ensemble of Wrocław Opera where she built up her repertoire including Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Marina Mniszech in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Maddalena in Rigoletto, and Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus. Her repertoire further includes Mère Marie in Les Dialogues des Carmélites, Jessica in Baird’s Tomorrow, Smeraldina in the Polish premiere of Love for Three Oranges at Kraków Opera, Claire in Penderecki’s Devils of Loudun, the title role in Arthur Honegger’s Judith, Clementia in Hindemith’s Sancta Susanna.
Anna Bernacka was awarded scholarships by the Polish Ministry of Culture, Accademia Rossiniana in Pesaro and the Richard Wagner Foundation Bayreuth. She won prizes and reached finals of the international singing competitions Stanisław Moniuszko Warsaw, Antonín Dvořák Competition Karlove Vary and Halina Halska-Fijałkowska Competition Wrocław.
Photo: Michał Heller