Collegiate Affiliation

Assistant Professor of Voice

A native of Niles, Michigan and a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy, Philip Zawisza completed his Master's Degree at Indiana University with Nicola Rossi-Lemeni. He began his solo career with the Santa Fe Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago on radio and television PBS broadcasts. Philip sang alongside Carlo Bergonzi for his farewell performances in L'elisir D'amore at the Baltimore Opera in 1993.

In 1992, he competed as a Met-Finalist and won the Baltimore Opera Contest as well as the Munich ARD voice competition helping to launch his European career. In 1993, Zawisza was awarded the Marion Anderson Prize in Danbury, Connecticut.

Zawisza started in Europe with the National Theatre in Mannheim where he developed roles such as Germont (La Traviata), Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Posa (Don Carlos), Escamillo (Carmen) Wolfram (Tannhauser) and Papageno (Die Zauberfloete). In 1995, he was awarded the Arnold Peterson Prize as an outstanding performing artist.

In Austria, he thrilled audiences as Figaro in the Barber of Seville and Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale. Debuts in Switzerland were critically acclaimed for portrayals of Athanael in Massenet's Thais, Golaud in Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande as well as Carlo Gerard in Andrea Chenier.

In 2004, with Simone Young at Vienna's Radio Symphony Concert Hall, Philip saved a performance by way of the audience as Smirnov in William Walton's The Bear. In the Summer Festival 2006 in Gars am Kamp, Zawisza made a successful debut as Nabucco.

Zawisza performed often in Vienna where he sang Claudio in Handel's Agrippina and The Duke of Plaza-Toro in Gilbert and Sullivan's Gondoliers as well as Gil in Wolf-Ferrari's The Secret of Susanna in 2007.

Zawisza recorded the world-premiere of Blarr's Jerusalem Symphony with Jun Markl and sang Orff's Carmina Burana and Manuel de Fallas' Altantida with conductor Miguel Gomez Martinez. He has worked with the radio symphony orchestras of Madrid, Munich, Koblenz, Frankfurt, and Nuremburg. As a Bach singer in Salzburg, he has performed with Howard Armen and Ivor Bolton.

Along with his engagements as an opera singer, Zawisza is a recognized song recitalist. His interpretation of Lieder cycles such as Schubert's Winterreise and Schawnengesang allowed him to replace an ailing Herman Prey at the University of Michigan's Musical Society with Martin Katz in 1997.

Recently, he performed the Beethoven 9th Symphony in America and in Vienna. In the spring of 2008, he sang Poulenc's Chansons Gailllardes and Ravel's Don Quichotte a Dulcinee in Toulouse, France.

Currently, Philip Zawisza teaches at the University of Minnesota where he is an Assistant Professor of voice. He has sung in various recitals for the University and debuted with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in Berlioz' ,"L'Enfance du Christ".On May 16th, 2010, Philip Zawisza sang with Paul Shaw accompanying at New York's Carnagie Hall for the Harmony for Peace Foundation. Philip's summer plans include the opening of a new program in the south of France. For information see his Web-site: www.wix.com/pyreneesvocalacademy/2011