Voice, Movement, and the Art of Rediscovery: Jakub Jozef Orlinski

Some voices stop you. Jakub Jozef Orlinski’s is one of them. The Polish countertenor has emerged as one of the most compelling figures in contemporary Baroque performance—technically dazzling, physically fearless, and possessed of a tone so pure it borders on the otherworldly.
From Competition Floors to the World’s Great Stages
Orlinski’s ascent was not overnight. He spent years entering competitions, often eliminated in the early rounds, traveling relentlessly, and building the kind of resilience that conservatoire training alone cannot provide. Studies at the Juilliard School in New York sharpened his craft; the competition circuit—particularly his wins in 2015 and 2016—announced his arrival. What followed was rapid: engagements across Europe and the United States, and a growing reputation as a countertenor of rare interpretive intelligence.
A Debut Forged Under Pressure
His Glyndebourne debut became the stuff of operatic legend before it was even finished. Originally engaged to sing Eustace in Handel’s Rinaldo, Orlinski found himself—two weeks into rehearsals—stepping into the title role when the lead tenor withdrew. He had sung Rinaldo before, in Frankfurt, but this was Glyndebourne, and this was his debut on the UK operatic stage. He took it. The run was a triumph, and the manner of his entry only deepened the sense that Orlinski performs best when the stakes are at their highest.
His Aix-en-Provence appearance, where he sang Orimeno in the summer of 2017, came immediately after graduating—a baptism by festival fire in one of the world’s most celebrated outdoor venues.
The Body Knows What the Voice Needs
What sets Orlinski apart from many of his peers is not merely the voice. It is the body. He has been breaking since the age of 18, long before the classical world knew his name, drawn to the discipline for its absolute freedom—the way it demands total surrender to music and motion simultaneously. On stage, that physical fluency transforms his approach to character. He builds each role from movement outward: how a character walks informs how that character sings; a sensation found in a dance phrase can unlock the expressive quality of a long Baroque scale.
Anima Sacra: A Year and a Half in the Making
His debut album, Anima Sacra, is the product of devoted collaboration with researcher Yannis François, who spent over a year unearthing sacred works of astonishing quality—eight world premieres among them. Francesco Fago’s Tamquam Splendidus Solcreatus reveals a composer who wrote sacred texts with an operatic heart: radiant coloratura, a slow central aria of melting beauty, and a Hallelujah of electrifying energy. Johann Adolf Hasse’s Mi tormenta properate—a showstopper Orlinski admits reduced him to tears in the recording studio—captures a composer once adored by Empress Maria Theresa, now waiting to be heard again.
The Eternal Pull of Baroque
Orlinski speaks about Baroque music’s power with the conviction of someone who felt it before he understood it. The harmonies reach past knowledge, past language. You do not need to follow the plot or parse the libretto. The music takes you somewhere, and that somewhere is entirely your own.
For a singer still early in what promises to be a long and extraordinary career, Jakub Jozef Orlinski has already demonstrated something rare: the ability to make ancient music feel urgently, breathtakingly alive.