Jakub Józef Orliński is a Polish countertenor and breakdancer born 8 December 1990 in Warsaw, where early singing in a choir led him, as a teenager, into countertenor parts and a fandom of The King’s Singers. He is a graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, joined the Opera Academy of the Grand Theatre in Warsaw in 2012, and studied at the Juilliard School in New York from 2015 to 2017 under Edith Wiens. His 2018 debut solo album, Anima Sacra, recorded with the period-instrument orchestra Il Pomo d’Oro under Maxim Emelyanychev, focused on rediscovered Neapolitan Baroque arias and helped launch an international career that has since taken him to the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.

Orliński has become one of the most visible countertenors of his generation, winning the Gramophone Classical Music Award (2019), the International Opera Award (2021), the International Classical Music Award (2022), and two Grammy nominations for Best Opera Recording, while drawing new, younger audiences to Baroque vocal music through his combination of historically informed singing with competitive breakdancing. His video of Vivaldi’s “Vedrò con mio diletto” became a viral sensation with over ten million views, and in 2024 he became the first Polish artist to perform at an Olympic Games opening ceremony, singing Rameau at the Paris games before a global audience.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakub_J%C3%B3zef_Orli%C5%84ski