Jakub Józef Orliński is a Polish operatic countertenor singer.
Education and career
After singing in a choir as a child, as a teenager Orliński joined a nine-member male vocal group and was chosen to sing countertenor parts in some Renaissance music. He also became a fan of the King's Singers who inspired him to take his interest in the genre further. He began his music career in the male choir Gregorianum led by Berenika Jozajtis, with which he performed both in Poland and abroad. He is a graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. During his studies he participated in a number of performances organized by the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music and the Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art. Since 2012, he has been a member of the Opera Academy of the Grand Theatre in Warsaw, and from 2015 to 2017 he studied at the Juilliard School with Edith Wiens. In Poland, he performed the roles of Cupid in Venus and Adonis by Blow and Narciso in Agrippina by Handel. During his stay in Germany, he performed the role of Ruggiero in Handel's Alcina in Aachen and Cottbus, and performed selected songs by Purcell at the Leipzig Opera. He has performed in Carnegie Hall as well as Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York and met with positive critical reviews from The New York Times. His performances included Handel's Messiah in cooperation with Musica Sacra and Oratorio Society of New York. He also performed in Jonathan Dove's Flight with Juilliard Opera. In 2017, he sang the role of Ottone in Handel's Agrippina with Carnegie Hall's La Serenissima: Music and Arts From the Venetian Republic. He took part in the Karlsruhe Handel Festival where he sang Vivaldi's Nisi Dominus and excerpts from Handel's Dixit Dominus. In the same year, he made his debut appearance at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in Cavalli's opera Erismena. He made his debut at the Frankfurt Opera in the 2017/18 season as the title character in Handel's Rinaldo. In 2019, having been invited to perform Eustazio for the Glyndebourne Opera's production in Rinaldo, he was asked two weeks into rehearsals to take over the title rôle. Orliński's debut solo album, Anima Sacra, was released on the Erato label on 26 October 2018, with music by orchestra Il Pomo d'Oro conducted by Maxim Emelyanychev. It consists of Baroque arias by various composers from the Neapolitan School, including what is thought to be world premiere recordings of eight works. In 2019, he won the O!Lśnienie cultural award presented by Onet and the city of Kraków in the category of classical music and jazz. In October, he won the Gramophone Classical Music Award in the category of Young Artist of the Year. In 2020, he received the Paszport Polityki Award presented by the Polityka yearly in the category of classical music. A second album 'Facce d'amore', consisting of "a wide-ranging and well-chosen collection devoted to the many faces of love" from operas by Cavalli, Boretti, Bononcini, Scarlatti, Handel, Predieri, Matteis and Conti, prompted reviewer Brian Robins to commend the singer's "talents as a dramatic singer" and his stylish ornamentation, summing up his voice as "sweet-toned".
Personal life
Orliński is a champion break-dancer and is a member of the breakdancing collective Skill Fantastikz Crew. He has also modelled for fashion brands like Nike and Levi's.
