Mezz-soprano ESTER PAVLŮ is a graduate of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under Helena Kaupová, Czech mezzosoprano Ester Pavlů perfected her singing skills in masterclasses led by Aprile Millo, Peter Dvorský, Eva Randová, Bojidar Nikolov, Gabriela Beňačková, and José Cura. Currently she is under the tutelage of Slovak baritone Vlado Chmelo.
Ester Pavlů is the winner of the 3rd prize at the International Antonín Dvořák Singing Competition in Karlovy Vary, and a finalist at the International Belcanto Vincenzo Bellini Competition in France, where she has received several awards.
The 2011-2012 theatre season witnessed her debut at the State Opera in Prague as Laura in Weber's The Three Pintos. This was followed by appearances as Olga in Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin, and as the Foreign Princess in Dvořák's Rusalka in Pilsen. In 2015 she performed as Don Elvira in Don Giovanni as part of the National Theatre's Summer Season at The Estates Theatre in Prague. In 2018 she performed as Fenena in Nabucco in State Opera Prague, the opera was conducted by Andreas Sebastian Weiser, directed by José Cura. A significant milestone in Ester Pavlů's career was her debut at the Sofia Opera in 2019 when she appeared as Angelina in G. Rossini's virtuoso opera La Cenerentola. This was followed by an invitation from the Graz Opera to perform the role of the Queen in Weinberger's Schwanda the Bagpiper of Czech conductor Robert Jindra (a role she reprised at the National Theatre in Prague in 2021) after shining as Carmen in Bizet's famous opera that same year. She made her debut at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava as the Foreign Princess in Rusalka, and made a special guest appearance as Carmen at the Open Air Festival in Pilsen. For the first time, in March 2023 Ester Pavlů sang with great success the part of Brangäne in the concert performance of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (2nd act) with the Slovak Philharmonic conducted by Juraj Valčuha. In April 2023, Ester Pavlů debuted as Santuzza from Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana with the Symphony Orchestra Basel conducted by Facundo Agudin; she also sang this role for the first time in the Prague National Theatre in summer 2023. After performing the role of Princess Eboli in Don Carlo at the Latvian National Opera, in November 2023, Ester Pavlů will again play the role of the Queen in Schwanda the Bagpiper under the baton of Czech conductor Petr Popelka at the Theater an der Wien.
Ester Pavlů is intensively engaged in concert activities. She performed Dvořák's Biblical Songs with the Italian conductor Marco Guidarini in Cagliari, and in 2019 toured the UK performing Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with the Prague Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pietari Inkinen. In 2020 she appeared in Malta under the direction of the renowned tenor and conductor José Cura, with whom she also collaborated for Verdi’s Requiem at the Summer Festival in Orebic, Croatia. In 2021, at the behest of the Czech Center in New York, she flew to New York for her American debut with a concert program entitled From Dvořák to Martinů. In 2022, she toured the USA including stops in Atlanta, Chicago and Cedar Rapids.
She also performs in a number of important recorded works, including the Supraphon edition of Bohuslav Martinů's opera "Kim zijí mujci" performed by the Czech Philharmonic under the direction of Jiří Bělohlávek, and on a recording made in Vienna for the Orfeo label, she performs as Gypsy in Leoš Janáčka's song cycle Diary of the Disappeared alongside Slovak tenor Pavel Brešlík and pianist Robert Pechanc. She further appears in a 2021 NAXOS release of an interesting interpretation of Foerster's Love Songs with the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra conducted by Debashish Chaudhuri.
Photo: Josef Rabara
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