Pilarczyk initially studied piano, first at the Brunswick Conservatory and then at the Hamburg Music High School, while also training as an alto: in Hamburg she was a vocal pupil of Dziobek. Her career began in operetta and in 1951 she joined the Brunswick State Theatre, making her debut there as Irmentraut in Lortzing’s Der Waffenschmied; but after three years at Brunswick she moved to the Hamburg State Opera.

Here Pilarczyk emerged as a significant dramatic soprano, remaining a member of the Hamburg company until 1967 and singing many major roles with it. In the traditional repertoire her parts included the title roles in Carmen, Salome and Turandot, the Dyer’s Wife / Die Frau ohne Schatten and Princess Eboli / Don Carlo; but she also became especially noted for her performance in contemporary works. Among the numerous roles in modern operas which Pilarczyk undertook in Hamburg, the most significant included the title role in Lulu in a highly praised production by Günther Rennert, Marie / Wozzeck, Jocasta / Oedipus Rex, Renata / The Fiery Angel (Prokofiev), the Mother / Il prigioniero (Dallapiccola) and the title role in Penelope (Liebermann).

From 1955 to 1958 Pilarczyk was a member of the Zürich Opera; from 1956 to 1960 of the Städtische Oper (later the Deutsche Oper) Berlin and from 1964 of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein at Düsseldorf and Duisberg. Among the premieres in which she appeared were Pallas Athene weint (Krenek, Hamburg, 1955), König Hirsch (Henze, Berlin, 1956), The Flood (Stravinsky, Hamburg, 1963) and Der goldene Bock (Krenek, Hamburg, 1964).

In the late 1950s Pilarczyk’s career developed an international dimension. During 1958 she sang Salome at the Royal Opera House, London; the Composer / Ariadne auf Naxos at the Glyndebourne Festival and the Woman in Schoenberg’s Erwartung at the Holland Festival. The following year, 1959, she repeated the Woman at the Florence Maggio Musicale, balancing this with the Composer. She returned to Glyndebourne to sing Colombina in Busoni’s Arlecchino in 1960 and also to the Holland Festival for Marie. Pilarczyk’s American debut came with the Washington Opera as the Woman in 1962. During 1963 she sang Marie at the Paris Opera and appeared at La Scala, Milan singing Lulu in guest performances there by the Hamburg Opera. She returned to America to sing Marie with the Metropolitan Opera in the spring of 1965, repeating this role with the Chicago Lyric Opera during the 1965–1966 season.

Although Pilarczyk retired from the stage in 1967 to look after her two children, she returned in 1969 to sing Metella in Jean-Louis Barrault’s production of Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne at Cologne and in 1982 reprised one of her finest interpretations, the Speaker in Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, at Bremen. As late as 1988 she sang in a performance of Schoenberg’s Die Jakobsleiter in London.

A highly convincing actress on stage, Pilarczyk sang often-difficult contemporary music with complete conviction and intelligence. From 1975 she taught at the Hamburg Conservatory.

© Naxos Rights International Ltd. — David Patmore (A–Z of Singers, Naxos 8.558097-100).