Magdalena Kožená

Magdalena Kožená was born in Brno, Czech Republic, May 26 1973, and lives in Berlin with the conductor Sir Simon Rattleand their two sons Jonas and Miloš. She studied at the Brno Conservatoire and with Eva Blahová at the College of Performing Arts in Bratislava. Shewas awarded several major prizes in both the Czech Republic and internationally, culminating in the 6th International MozartCompetition in Salzburg in 1995.

She is an exclusive artist with Deutsche Grammophon, and her first solo recital disc of Dvorak, Janacek and Martinu won theGramophone Solo Vocal Award, 2001. Recent recordings with DG include Mozart, Gluck and Myslivecek arias with the PraguePhilharmonia and Michel Swierczewski; French arias with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Minkowski; Gluck’s “Paride ed Elena”with the Gabrieli Consort and McCreesh; a recital with Malcolm Martineau; and an acclaimed disc of cantatas by members of the Bachfamily (“Lamento”) with Musica Antiqua Koeln and Reinhard Goebel. Future releases include a Mozart album with the Orchestra of theAge of Enlightenment and Sir Simon Rattle, and a Händel disc with the Venice Baroque and Andrea Marcon. She was the 2004Gramophone Awards Artist of the Year.

Magdalena Kožená is well established as a major concert and recital artist. Recital appearances have taken her to London, Paris,Brussels, Amsterdam, Vienna, Hamburg, Lisbon, Prague, Copenhagen, Tokyo, San Francisco, and New York’s Carnegie Hall. She hasalso appeared at the Munich, Salzburg, Schwarzenberg Schubertiade, Aldeburgh and Edinburgh festivals.

Her concert appearances include the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the RotterdamPhilharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle; the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Scottish ChamberOrchestra with Sir Charles Mackerras; the Wiener Philharmoniker and Daniel Harding; and the Accademia Santa Cecilia with Myung-Whun Chung.

Operatic engagements have included Gluck's "Orphée" with Gardiner in Paris; Nerone (“L’Incoronazione di Poppea”) with Minkowski inVienna; Mélisande with Minkowski in Leipzig and Paris; Cherubino in Aix-en-Provence and Munich; Sesto (“Giulio Cesare”) inAmsterdam. At the Salzburg Festivals her roles have included Zerlina (“Don Giovanni”) with Harnoncourt, Idamantes with Norrington andRattle and Dorabella with Rattle. At the Metropolitan Opera she has sung Varvara (“Katja Kabanova”) with Belohlavek and Cherubino,Dorabella and Idamantes with Levine.

Magdalena Kožená returns to Paris for Melisande at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées for Mélisande with Haitink. Other futureengagements include the title role in the premiere of Henze’s “Phaedra” at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin and La Monnaie in Brussels,and her debut appearance at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in the title role of “La Cenerentola”.

In 2003 she was awarded the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.

Copyright 2004 © C.E.M.A.
Friday December 7, 2007
Article from The Guardian:

It's the birth of Jonas, Magdalena Kožená's son with her partner, Simon Rattle, that has changed her life more than anything else. She met Rattle atGlyndebourne in 2003, and they got together after a traumatic courtship conducted in the full glare of the media. They now live togetherin Berlin, having divorced their previous partners. "It's extremely tiring to do this job and have a little child," she says, and Jonas travelseverywhere with her, "but I find it very healthy because you look at your career with a little bit of distance and you see what are the realpriorities in life: family, and the child and the husband. It's very, very difficult to have and keep relationships in this business. Before Iwas always putting music first, but now, even though I would be devastated if for some reason music wasn't part of my life, I havesomething which is actually more important. As a mother, your emotional life becomes richer, you discover new dimensions. Youimmediately have this eternal, unconditional love. And I would give anything - my life - for this creature."

That's a rare sense of perspective in a profession that often makes it difficult for women to be opera stars and mothers at the same time.Previous generations of women have had to sacrifice their families for careers on stage. "There are a lot of my colleagues who say theycannot become parents, that you cannot focus 100% on the job if you do. But then I see a lot of sad stories; some women in their fortieswho have great careers, but in almost every one there is a little bitterness that actually they lost their chance somehow. I think it's anatural thing: we are humans and we are here to have this life and to have families."

But there was one thing that even childbirth could not change. I ask her if she wishes that Janácek - the Czech Republic's greatestcomposer, who made his life in Brno, Kožená's home town - had written more roles for mezzo- soprano. "Oh yes," she says, "or I wish Iwould be a soprano who could sing Jenufa and Katya Kabanova. That would be fantastic. I thought that maybe after having a child, Imight suddenly become a dramatic soprano, but that didn't happen."

Some things lie beyond even Kozená's talents. But even if there's no Katya or Makropoulos Case to look forward to, Kožená can consoleherself with the greats of the mezzo repertoire: Carmen in 2012 in Salzburg (long-term planning that means that she and Rattle cancoordinate their time off together) and Octavian in Strauss's Rosenkavalier.

Tom Service.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
"Non ho colpa". Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Magdalena Kozena.
Reviews :

She's a great communicator, with strong dramatic instincts and a distinctive mezzo voice. Her kaleidoscopic Cleopatra in the Archiv setof Giulio Cesare made her many friends . . . in the title aria from Alcina suggest the awe of someone holding her heart in her hand, andfinding that she's in love. Kozená's coloratura skills are vigorously stamped across Dopo notte from Ariodante; and the Cesare aria, Carospeme, proves that she can be queen of the floated line.
Record Review / Geoff Brown, The Times (London) / 12. October 2007.

One of the toughest tests of a Händelian mezzo, Ariodante's 'Scherza infida' gets the full Kozená treatment on this fascinating disc . . . ofvocal grace . . . breathtaking coloratura daring, then dives octave-deep into her chest for the penultimate 'morte'. Much the same provestrue of tracks from Alcina and Agrippina, Orlando and Theodora . . . gems of haunting beauty as the closing 'Lascio ch'io pianga'.
Record Review / Anthony Holden, Observer (London) / 14. October 2007.

. . . the stirring and passionate execution of Händel's music is anything but dull routine . . . everybody involved sounds as if they areengaged with the music. In particular, the Venice Baroque Orchestra sound admirably absorbed in the dramatic world of each aria.Kozená has a good stab at this . . . Alcina's heartbroken first encounter of a man being beyond her seductive power in "Ah! Mio cor!" isravishing . . . The most convincing synthesis of musical outpouring and dramatic mood Melissa's "Desterò dall'empia dite" . . . theseappealing performances have strength and colour.
Record Review / David Vickers, Gramophone (London) / 01. November 2007.

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