Ukrainian Soprano Wins Poland's Ada Sari International Vocal Competition

Mariana Poltorak won both the Grand Prize and the award for the best interpretation of a Polish work

Founded in 1985, the Ada Sari International Vocal Artistry Competition is held biennially in memory of the prominent Polish soprano who was its patroness. 

In 2025, the competition was won by the Ukrainian-Polish soprano Mariana Poltorak. As well as the grand prize, Polorak won the award for the best interpretation of a Polish composition, for which she sang Halka’s aria from Act IV of Stanisław Moniuszko’s Halka.

Second Prize was shared between Jessica Seo Jin Lee from South Korea and Etīna Emīlija Saulite from Latvia, while the Polish baritone Artus Garbas took Third Prize.

A graduate of the Academy of Music in Kraków, Poltorak studied with Olga Popowicz and Lech Napierała. She has made appearances with Sinfonietta Cracovia and the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra, and has also performed at the Kraków Opera House and the Salesianer Musiksommer festival in Przemyśl.

Her distinctions include winning First Prize at the VII National Krystyna Jamroz Vocal Competition in Kielce/Busko-Zdrój.

Poltorak is currently undertaking a doctorate and is researching the Ukrainian composers of the Lviv school in the second half of the twentieth century.

In 2025, the competition jury comprised Polish mezzo Małgorzata Walewska (chair), Michael Barobeck (casting director of Graz Opera), Viviana Barrios (casting director of Deutsche Oper in Berlin), Eeva-Maria Kopp (opera producer at the Bregenz Festival), Sebastian Ukena (Komische Oper Berlin), and Andrzej Dobber (Polish baritone).