Twenty years ago, a bold vision took shape: to create a professional chamber orchestra formed entirely of Verbier Festival Orchestra alumni. Today, the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra (VFCO) has become one of the world’s finest ensembles, carrying the Verbier spirit across concert halls on every continent. To mark this anniversary year, we’re continuing the special series giving voice to the people who bring this extraordinary orchestra to life.
On the occasion of the VFCO’s tour of South Korea, VFCO Head of International Touring Michael Fuller sat down with Jakub Józef Orliński at the Tongyeong International Music Festival, where the orchestra is in residence. In the midst of a world tour, the Polish countertenor had just shared the stage with the VFCO for the very first time. A first, in more ways than one…
“I would describe myself as an explorer.”
Jakub Józef Orliński is one of the most singular figures in the operatic world today: a breakdancer and singer with a voice of striking purity, he has won audiences well beyond the classical music sphere. He has recently made his mark at the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and at the Gala des Pièces Jaunes in 2026.
Interview excerpts
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At the Tongyeong Festival, Jakub Orliński performed these arias with orchestra for the first time. “I was impressed that everyone was at the top of their game. With Mozart, it may not be the most virtuosic playing for the orchestra, but you have to be so tuned in. There is a lot of sprezzatura, unwritten things that you do. The music has to be alive.” And it was: “I absolutely loved the vibe, and performing these arias in front of the public for the first time was truly fantastic. It was good to try Mozart, if I can say that, because at this level, you don’t try things, you just do them. And you do them on the highest possible level.”
Jakub Orliński grew up singing in an amateur choir in Poland, never having attended a music school. Alongside this, he practised acrobatic roller skating, skateboarding, tennis, and then breakdancing came along. “It showed up in my life as a sort of enlightenment, combining everything I loved: music, extreme sports, acrobatics, but also freedom of expression.” That same freedom also helped him on stage. “I was a very shy child, not at all confident. I felt what I wanted to express, but I didn’t have the tools.”
His teachers, however, kept telling him to stop breakdancing. “I hate being told I can’t do something.” So he learned to analyze himself, to identify what was good for his voice and what wasn’t, and to turn his passion for breakdancing into a strength. A self-awareness he considers decisive. “I know my body. I know what is good for me before singing, and what isn’t. On stage, I am aware of my body.”
“I would describe myself as an explorer. I love exploring, and not only in music. Food, cultures, people. That’s what bringsa lot into my artwork.” An 83-year-old friend he calls his “adopted grandmother” once offered him the phrase that sums it all up: “You have to keep curiosity on.”
