Born in Warsaw, Barbara Wysocka graduated from both the acting and directing departments of Kraków’s State Drama School, and studied violin at Freiburg’s Hochschüle für Musik. In opera, she directed the German-language world premiere of Francesconi’s Quartett at the Staatsoper Berlin with Daniel Barenboim, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Bregenzer Festspiele and most recently, , in 2026 Roméo et Juliette at Semperoper Dresden. At Polish National Opera she directed Glass’s The Fall of the House of Usher, the world premiere of Knapik’s Moby Dick, Różycki’s Eros i Psyche and Puccini’s Tosca. Her debut at Opéra de Lyon in 2023 with Kát’a Kabanová was greeted with universal critical acclaim, as was her Rigoletto at Bayerische Staatsoper. She makes her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2027 with the world premiere of The Mothers of Kherson by Maxim Kolomiiets. In her theatre work, she has directed Wyspiański’s The Curse; Bohomolec’s The Drunkards at Stary Teatr, Kraków; Handke’s Kaspar at Teatr Współczesny, Wrocław; Müller’s Volokolomsk Highway; Sophocles’ Philoctetes at Teatr Polski, Wrocław; Büchner’s Lenz, Dantons Tod at National Theatre, Warsaw; Woyzeck/Wozzeck after Büchner and Berg at Kammerspiele, Munich; Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar; Orwell’s 1984 for Teatr Powszechny, Warsaw; and Schiller’s Don Karlos for Volkstheater, Vienna.
She is a company member of the Teatr Powszechny, Warsaw and from 2004 to 2014 she was at Stary Teatr, Kraków. She has also performed at the National Theatre, Warsaw, Berlin’s Maxim Gorki Theater and Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, as well as in German language feature films and TV productions. Wysocka is also a founding member of artistic collective CENTRALA, which has produced many innovative pieces since its founding. The latest pieces are Bieguni (Flights), an adaptation of the Nobel-Prize winning novel by Olga Tokarczuk; Sprawiedliwość (Justice), and Filmy z epoki smogu (Films from the Time of Smog). She was awarded the Paszport Polityki for her debut opera production Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher in 2009; the main acting award in the competition for staging early works of Polish literature for Idalia in Fantazy; and the Golden Yorick for her production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar that she directed and also played Mark Antony. She was Cornell Visiting Professor of Theatre at Swarthmore College, 2019–2020 and was awarded the Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture by the Polish Minister of Culture in 2025.
''