Slavic Heroes

"The basis for this recital is refreshing...Kwiecien really enters the spirit of [The Haunted Manor aria], his focused voice blazing forth in what was the composer's barely concealed encouragement of his countrymen after their unsuccessful uprising against the Russians in 1863...The final scene of King Roger, in which the orchestra holds sway for some while, finds the baritone releasing his sound to the fullest." International Record Review, January 2012

"The basic sound - a mix of grit and velvet - is immensely appealing, though there are moments of constriction in his upper registers, and an occasional pulse in his tone. On the plus side, he has a remarkable ability to colour his voice to suit each character, so that Borodin's Prince Igor, thinking of his wife on the eve of battle, sounds very different from Rachmaninov's Byronic Aleko, teetering on the edge of self-destruction." The Guardian, 5th January 2012 ****

Mariusz Kwiecien's journey to the top of his profession has been remarkably rapid and assured for a young man from Kraków who arrived in New York at the age of 23. The Met's current Don Giovanni, Polish baritone Mariusz, has won over audiences in many of the world's greatest opera houses with his powerful interpretations. For his first solo recital he employs his mellifluous and burnished voice to great effect in Polish, Russian and Czech arias which are very close to his heart. A collection of operatic gems, familiar and rare, including the electric final scene from Szymanowski's 'King Roger', which joins Giovanni as his favourite role.