Alexandra Nowakowski - 2014 Marcella Kochańska Sembrich Award Winner

BUFFALO - Alexandra Nowakowski is a 22 year old soprano from Palatine, Illinois, and a recent graduate of the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign). Though at the beginning of her professional carrier, Ms. Nowakowski has already distinguished herself in numerous competitions. In addition to being named the winner of the Marcella Kochańska Sembrich Vocal Competition by the American Council for Polish Culture, she received 2nd place in the Hal Leonard Vocal Competition, and an Encouragement Award at the District Metropolitan Opera Auditions in Iowa in 2014.

Nowakowski’s father was born in Warsaw, and mother in Tarnów. Her parents immigrated to the United States in 1986 and settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where Alexandra was born. They kept close ties with the Polish community, and Alexandra speaks Polish fluently. As a child, Alexandra would spend her summers in Poland to visit grandparents, aunts, uncles
and cousins.

During the 2013/2014 season, Alexandra made her operatic role debut as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with the Lyric Opera Studio Weimar, and participated in the inaugural SOARS workshop at the Bay View Music Festival, where she sang scenes from Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte. She later portrayed Diane in Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers with the Illinois Opera Theatre, and made her professional operatic debut with the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana as Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Alexandra also made her concert debut this year as a co-winner of the Krannert Debut Artist through the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Champaign-Urbana.

At the University of Illinois, Alexandra was the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships. She was an active choral member and soloist in the university’s premiere women’s choir, the Women’s Glee Club, and sang with the baroque ensemble Concerto Urbano. She also participated in various opera workshops at the university, singing Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and First Lady in Die Zauberflote. . Next year, Alexandra will continue her operatic studies at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia as a resident artist for the 2014-15 season.

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