Jakub Józef Orliński

A pioneer of the countertenor voice in Poland, Jakub Józef Orliński has become a star of international opera in the 2010s and 2020s. He has made critically acclaimed appearances in the US and Germany, performing leading roles with opera companies including Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Warsaw Grand Theatre and Oper Frankfurt. Born in Warsaw, 1990, Orliński as a young singer joined a male choir and got a taste of international touring. Important roles began to earn him major international attention in the late 2010s. A widely publicised video recording of Vivaldi’s “Vedrò con mio diletto” (from the opera Giustino), shot in 2017, made the charismatic young countertenor an internet star. He made his Frankfurt Opera debut in the 2017/18 season as the title character in Handel’s Rinaldo, singing that role again for Glyndebourne Opera in 2019. Meantime, in 2018, he released Anima Sacra, an album of little-known, 18th-century sacred arias. The role of Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice is among his specialties, and he recorded that opera in 2024. That same year, he performed at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games.