Known for her powerful voice and galvanizing performances, mezzo-soprano Margaret Gawrysiak’s upcoming performances include a role debut as the Older Women in Flight at the Seattle Opera, and Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro at Madison Opera.
Margaret’s 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 seasons have included Madame Larina in Eugene Onegin at Atlanta Opera and Seattle Opera, The Old Lady in Candide with The Knights at both Tanglewood and Ravinia, and Mrs. Jones in Street Scene with Virginia Opera. In concert she performed Mahler's 2nd Symphony at St. James Cathedral, Les Noces with New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center, and The Messiah with the Virginia Symphony.
Other notable recent engagements for Margaret Gawrysiak include:
The world premiere of Lori Laitman’s Scarlet Letter with Opera Colorado as Mistress Hibbons; Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro and Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance with Lyric Opera of Kansas City; Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Vera Boronel in The Consul, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro with Seattle Opera; Public Opinion in Orpheus in the Underworld, The Witch and The Mother in Hansel and Gretel, Little Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore with Virginia Opera; the Marquise in La Fille du Régiment with Arizona Opera; Mrs. De Rocher in Dead Man Walking with Dayton Opera; Ježibaba in Rusalka with North Carolina Opera; Frugola in Il Tabarro with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; Dame Quickly in Falstaff, Baba the Turk and Mother Goose in The Rake’s Progress, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, and La Mère d’Antonia in Les contes d’Hoffmann with Wolf Trap Opera; Zita in Gianni Schicchi at the Castleton Festival; Giovanna in Rigoletto with Florida Grand Opera; and a workshop of Nico Muhly’s Two Boys with the Metropolitan Opera.
On the concert stage, she has performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood under Maestro Lorin Maazel; Weill’s Mahagonny Songspiel and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Seattle Symphony; Dessau’s Haggadah shel Pesach with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall; Mozart’s Requiem and Verdi’s Requiem with the Springfield Symphony, and Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and Rochester Philharmonic.
Ms. Gawrysiak is a graduate of Seattle Opera’s Young Artist Program; as a member, she was featured as Dinah in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, Olga in Eugene Onegin, and Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She also graduated from San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, where she covered Beppe in L’amico Fritz, and performed Isabella in scenes from L’italiana in Algeri on the Schwabacher Concert Program. Margaret also participated for two summers at Glimmerglass Opera as a young artist, where she performed as Juno in Orpheus in the Underworld, and covered the roles of the Grandmother and Aunt in Jenůfa.
In 2009 Margaret was a winner of the Sullivan Foundation Award and received second place in the Lotte Lenya Competition. She has received awards from the Jensen Foundation, Portland Opera’s Lieber Awards, the Gerda Lissner Foundation, and Fort Worth Opera’s McCammon Awards. She is a graduate of Eastman School of Music and Western Illinois University.