Born in 1993 in Brzesko, Hubert Zapiór studied performance singing at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, Warsaw and acting at the Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art, Warsaw. He also completed the Opera Academy programme for the development of young talents at the Polish National Opera and Artist Diploma in Opera Studies at the Juilliard School, New York under Edith Wiens.
The list of prizes he won includes: the Opera Index Award at the Opera Index Vocal Competition (2018), the Gerda Lissner Foundation Lieder/Song Vocal Competition (2018), the Giulio Gari Foundation International Vocal Competition (2018), the Career Bridges (2018), first prize at the the Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition (2018) and second prize and three special awards, including for the best interpretation of a Paderewski song from the Kościuszko Foundation Marcella Sembrich International Voice Competition in New York (2018). He received second prize at the Loren L. Zachary Society International Vocal Competition 2019 in Los Angeles.
At the age of 19, he made his opera debut as J.J. Rousseau’s Der Dorfwahrsager (Le Devin du Village) at the Musikakademie, Rheinsberg, Germany. Still as a student, he sang Lesbo in the Polish premiere of Handel's Agrippina and Servo in Sciarrino's Luci mie traditrici. He also could be heard as Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, and Prosdocimo in Il turco in Italia at the Warsaw Chamber Opera. He was twice awarded a scholarship by the Polish ministry of culture for his accomplishments.
Most recently, he debuted at the Bayerische Staatsoper as Marquis d'Obigny in La traviata, the Polish National Opera as Papageno in Barrie Kosky’s production of The Magic Flute, Marullo in Rigoletto, Norwegian National Opera as Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Wrocław Opera as Zurga in Les Pêcheurs des perles. He made his US debut in Britten's War Requiem with the Albany Symphony, performed at The Juilliard Opera in New York as Herr Fluth in Otto Nicolai's The Merry Widows of Windsor, Neptun in J. P. Rameau's Hippolyte and Aricie, and Mozart's Don Giovanni.
From 2019 to 2022 he was a member of the Staatsoper Hannover, where he could be heard as Papageno in The Magic Flute, Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, and Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro.
Since the beginning of the 2022/2023 season, he has been a soloists of the Komische Oper Berlin, where he sings Bill in Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Pantalone in Prokofiev's The Love of Three Oranges, Papageno in The Magic Flute, and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte.
(photo: Karpati&Zarewicz)
