Soprano Alexandra Polarczyk comes from Český Těšín, Ostrava and Rožnov pod Radhoštěm. She has Polish ancestors and her lifelong profession is opera singing, which she studied at the Janáček Conservatory and the University of Ostrava in the class of opera singer Eva Dřízgová Jirušová. She began singing in her childhood at the children’s opera studio at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre, where she performed solo roles in children’s operas Broučci, Ogaři, Kolotoč, Liška Bystrouška and others. Later, she performed there as a guest soloist and her solo roles included Pasáček (Její pastorkyňa by Leoš Janáček), Kuchtík (Rusalka by Antonín Dvořák), Lenio (The Greek Passion by Bohuslav Martinů) and Růžena / Despina in the opera (Così fan tutte by W. A. Mozart), the libretto of which was adapted by Jaromír Nohavica. She also sang in the Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno and the National Theatre Choir Brno. While studying at the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava, she first became acquainted with the medieval chorales of Hildegard of Bingen. She only began to actively engage with them a few years later at the University of Ostrava, where she also wrote a thesis about Hildegard’s musical legacy. She first performed the chorales of Hildegard of Bingen at the Rencontres de Louvergny festival in 2012.
Alexandra’s interpretation is distinguished by the fact that she does not sing the chorales of the medieval abbess strictly according to the period, but intuitively and chooses non-traditional instruments for accompaniment: organ, dulcimer, zither, piano, Indian harmonium and shruti box, Turkish lute, saz and Tibetan bowl.
In October 2024, Alexandra was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, so she decided to reevaluate her life and returned to what had always brought her the greatest joy – the music of Hildegard of Bingen, which helped her a lot to cope with this difficult period.
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