A native of Seattle, Gary Jankowski studied at Indiana University and performed in the theatres of Chicago, Milwaukee and Cincinnati (Sarastro, Osmin, Il Commendatore), before moving to Germany in the mid-1990. Particularly suited to the Germany repertory, he became a permanent ensemble member of Nuremberg, Schwerin, Rostock, Freiburg and Halle/Saale, with guest appearances in Leipzig, Donostia/San Sebastian, Dorset, Lubeck, Kiel, and at the Peralanda Festival.
Major roles include: Hagen, Fafner, King Marke, Fiesco, Landgraf, Osmin, Il Commendatore, and Ochs von Lerchenau. He also sang Freiherr von Mordax in the world premiere of Detlev Glanert's Scherz, Satire, Ironie und tiefere Bedeutung (Bavarian Theatre Aeard) and Herod in the German premiere of Antoine Mariotte's production of Salome. The bicentenary of Wagner's birth in 2013 gave Mr Jankowski many opportunities to showcase his German repertoire. He sang Daland in The Flying Dutchman at the Opera de Bellas Artes, Mexico and Fafnera in The Ring at the Teatro Colón w Buenos Aires. He was a rehearsal cover for Hagen and sang Fafner during the dress rehearsal at Opéra Bastille. He also performed Fafner in Siengfried in an NRK live radio broadcast with the Bregen National Opera, conducted by Kent Nagano (2011) and in a concert version of Das Rheingold in New Zealand. He also sang Fafner and Hagen in the 2012 ECHO Kassik prize-winning Musicaphon DVD of the Lübeck Ring and in a DVD of the Teatro Colón Ring (C Major/ Deutsche Welle).
He has collaborated with such conductors as Kent Nagano, Philippe Jordan, Jacques Delacôte, Miltiades Caridis, Roberto Paternostro, Stefan Malzew, Michail Jurowski, Niksa Bareza, and the following stage directors: Valentina Carrasco, Fred Berndt, Arturo Gama, Anthony Pilavachi, Frank Hilbrich, Uwe Scholz, Werner Saladin and Axel Köhler.
(photo by J. A. Hath)
