Mariusz Kwiecień (, born 4 November 1972) is a Polish artistic director and retired

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

tic baritone who sang leading roles in the major opera houses of Europe and North America. He received particular distinction in the title role of Mozart's '' Don Giovanni'', which he sang at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...

Lyric Opera of Chicago Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria ...

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August ...

, Bilbao Opera, Houston Grand Opera,

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby, oversaw the building of the first opera house on a newl ...

, Warsaw Opera,

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

, London, and

Seattle Opera Seattle Opera is an opera company based in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as its first general director until 1983. The company's season runs from August through late May, comprising five or six operas of ...

, where he won the company's 2006–07 Artist of the Year award for the role.

Career

Kwiecień studied at the Warsaw Academy of Music and began his professional career as Aeneas in

Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest Eng ...

's ''

Dido and Aeneas ''Dido and Aeneas'' (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncertain. It was com ...

'' at the Kraków Opera in 1993. In 1995 he sang the title role in '' The Marriage of Figaro'' in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

and

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

. He made his Warsaw Opera debut the next year as Stanisław in Moniuszko's rarely performed ''Verbum Nobile''. Debuts in major European and American opera houses soon followed. A former student of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, he made his Met debut in 1999 as Kuligin in Janáček's ''

Káťa Kabanová ''Káťa Kabanová'' (also known in various spellings including ''Katia'', ''Katja'', ''Katya'', and ''Kabanowa'') is an opera in three acts, with music by Leoš Janáček to a libretto by the composer based on '' The Storm'', a play by Alexander ...

''. By 2003 he was singing leading baritone roles there, eventually giving over 200 performances, including Marcello in ''

La bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '' quadri'', '' tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giusep ...

'' (2003), Silvio in '' Pagliacci'' (2004), Count Almaviva in ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (2005), Guglielmo in '' Così fan tutte'' (2005), Dr. Malatesta in ''

Don Pasquale ''Don Pasquale'' () is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti with an Italian libretto completed largely by Giovanni Ruffini as well as the composer. It was based on a libretto by Angelo Anelli for Stefano Pavesi's ...

'' (2006), Enrico in ''

Lucia di Lammermoor ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' () is a (tragic opera) in three acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian-language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's 1819 historical novel '' The Bride of Lammermoo ...

'' (2007), Belcore in '' L'Elisir d'Amore'' (2012), the title role in ''

Eugene Onegin ''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' (Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Евгений Оне́гин, ромáн в стихáх, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, r=Yevgeniy Onegin, roman v stikhakh) is ...

'' (2013-2017), and Zurga in ''

The Pearl Fishers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (2015-2018). Kwiecień has won awards in several international voice competitions, including the Vienna State Opera and Hamburg State Opera Prizes in the 1996 Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition and the Mozart Interpretation Prize and Audience Choice Award in the 1998 Francisco Viñas Competition in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. He was also selected to represent Poland in the 1999 Cardiff Singer of the World competition. In 2015, he became the recipient of the Gold Cross of Merit for his contributions to promoting Polish culture on the initiative of President of Poland

Bronisław Komorowski Bronisław Maria Komorowski (; born 4 June 1952) is a Polish politician and historian who served as President of Poland from 2010 to 2015. Komorowski served as Minister of Defence from 2000 to 2001. As Marshal of the Sejm, Komorowski exercis ...

. In 2017, he received a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

nomination in the Best Opera Recording category for his performance in ''Szymanowski: Król Roger'' conducted by

Antonio Pappano Sir Antonio Pappano (born 30 December 1959) is an English-Italian conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Royal Opera House and of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He is scheduled to become chief c ...

and produced by Jonathan Allen. In September 2020 he announced his retirement from singing due to recurrent back problems, and became Artistic Director of the

Wrocław Opera The Wrocław Opera ( Polish: ''Opera Wrocławska'') is an opera company and opera house in the Old Town of Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in t ...

.
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Recordings

*''A Night At The Opera'' (Kristine Jepson, Mariusz Kwiecień, Matthew Polenzani, Valerian Ruminski, Indra Thomas, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Rosekranz), 2008, Naxos 8557309 *''Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem'', Atlanta Symphonie Orchestra and Chorus 2008, CD, Telarc *''Chopin. Pieśni (Songs)'', 2009, CD and iTunes *''Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin'', Blu Ray and DVD 2009, a Bolshoi Theater production filmed at Paris Opera (Palais Garnier 9/2008, Bel Air Classiques *''Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor'', Blu Ray and DVD, Metropolitan Opera 2009, Deutsche Grammophon *''Donizetti: Don Pasquale'', Blu Ray and DVD, Metropolitan Opera 2011, Deutsche Grammophon *''Slavic Heroes'' Arias from Russian ('' Eugene Onegin (opera), Eugene Onegin'', ''

Iolanta ''Iolanta'', Op. 69, (russian: Иоланта, links=no ) is a lyric opera in one act by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. It was the last opera he composed. The libretto was written by the composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, and is based on the Danish play ...

'', '' Mazeppa'', ''

Prince Igor ''Prince Igor'' ( rus, Князь Игорь, Knyáz Ígor ) is an opera in four acts with a prologue, written and composed by Alexander Borodin. The composer adapted the libretto from the Ancient Russian epic '' The Lay of Igor's Host'', which re ...

'', ''

Aleko The Moskvitch-2141, also known under the trade name Aleko ( Russian: "АЛЕКО", derivative from the name of the automaker "Автомобильный завод имени Ленинского Комсомола", ''Avtomobilny zavod imeni Len ...

'', ''

Sadko Sadko (russian: Садко) is the principal character in a Russian medieval epic '' bylina''. He was an adventurer, merchant, and '' gusli'' musician from Novgorod. Textual notes "Sadko" is a version of the tale translated by Arthur Ransome ...

''), Polish (''

Halka ''Halka'' is an opera by Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko to a libretto written by Włodzimierz Wolski, a young Warsaw poet with radical social views. It is part of the canon of Polish national operas. Performance history The first perf ...

'', '' The Haunted Manor'', '' Verbum nobile'', ''

King Roger King Roger (Polish: , Op. 46) is an opera in three acts by Karol Szymanowski to a Polish libretto by the composer himself and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, the composer's cousin. The score was finished in 1924. The opera received its world premiere on ...

'') and Czech ('' The Cunning Peasant'', ''

The Devil's Wall ''The Devil's Wall'' ( cs, Čertova stěna) is a comic-romantic opera in three acts, with music by Bedřich Smetana and libretto by Eliška Krásnohorská, in their third operatic collaboration. The subtext of the plot is a Czech legend of a shee ...

'') operas. Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Lukasz Borowicz, 2012, HMF *''Mozart: Don Giovanni'', Blu Ray and DVD, Royal Opera House 2014, Opus Arte *''Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin'', Blu Ray and DVD, Metropolitan Opera 2014, Uni Dist Corp (Music) *''Szymanowski: Król Roger'', Royal Opera House 2015, Opus arte *''Bizet: Les Pêcheurs de Perles'', Blu Ray and DVD, Metropolitan Opera 2017, Warner Classics/Parlophone *''Donizetti:

La Favorite ''La favorite'' (''The Favourite'', sometimes referred to by its Italian title: ''La favorita'') is a grand opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French-language libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play ''Le com ...

'', Blu Ray and DVD, Bayrische Staatoper 2017, Deutsche Grammophon/Verve Label Group

Sources

*Bargreen, Melind
"New production sets quite a stage for stellar 'Giovanni'"
''Seattle Times'', 15 January 2007 (accessed 24 September 2007)
Concurso Internacional de Canto Francisco Viñas
(accessed 24 September 2007) *Dobnik, Verena, "Met's ''Cav and Pag'' shines from the orchestra up", ''Associated Press'', 31 October 2004 *Kozinn, Allan, "Hints of Youthful Charm and a Dash of the Sublime", ''New York Times'', 5 February 2005 *Meyers, Eric
"Mostly Mariusz"
''Opera News'', January 2006, vol 70, no. 7 (available on subscription — accessed 24 September 2007) *Winn, Steven, "Kwiecien's Marcello stirs pulse of Opera's ''Bohème''", ''San Francisco Chronicle'', 8 January 2004

External links

Mariusz Kwiecien official website
(accessed 24 September 2007)
Biography on Columbia Artists Management
(Biography, schedule of engagements, high resolution photos — accessed 24 September 2007)
Biography at Culture.pl

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwiecien, Mariusz 1972 births Operatic baritones Living people Musicians from Kraków Recipients of the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis Polish male singers 20th-century Polish male opera singers 21st-century Polish male opera singers

Career

Recordings

See also

Sources

External links

References