Mariusz Kwiecien, baritone
Howard Watkins, piano

MARIUSZ  KWIECIEN

Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien is recognized worldwide as one of the leading baritones before the public today.  Known for his handsome voice, incisive musicianship and captivating stage presence, he performs with the foremost opera companies and symphony orchestras in Europe, North America and Asia.

Mariusz Kwiecien opens the Metropolitan Opera’s 2007-2008 season with performances of Enrico in a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor.  He can be heard across North America in recital this season, with performances at William Jewell College in Kansas City, Rockefeller University in New York City, the Vancouver Recital Society, the Van Cliburn Foundation in Fort Worth, Texas, UC Berkeley’s CalPerformances series, and the Vocal Arts Society in Washington, DC.  He sings Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the Atlanta Symphony conducted by Robert Spano, which will be recorded for Telarc.  He also sings Brahms’ Requiem with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Valery Gergiev in Maestro Gergiev’s final performances with the orchestra as music director.  Mr. Kwiecien returns to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, for his first performances of Germont in La traviata.  He also returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago to sing the title role in Eugene Onegin and to Seattle Opera for his first performances of Riccardo in I puritani.  He ends his season at The Santa Fe Opera in the role of Count Almaviva in a new production of Le nozze di Figaro.

Mr. Kwiecien appears frequently at the Metropolitan Opera, where in recent seasons he has sung Marcello in La bohème, Silvio in I pagliacci, and Malatesta in a new production of Don Pasquale.  Under the baton of James Levine, he has sung Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro and Guglielmo in Cosi fan Tutte.  He has also worked with Maestro Levine both at the Tanglewood Festival, singing the title role in Don Giovanni with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and at Carnegie Hall with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in a performance of Bach's Cantata No. 82, Ravel's Don Quichotte songs, and Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzer.  He is an alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program.

Mariusz Kwiecien has distinguished himself as Don Giovanni, a role he has sung at the Vienna State Opera, Royal Opera House, Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, and in a new production at Warsaw Opera. He sang Marcello in La bohème for his debut with San Francisco Opera, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro at San Diego Opera, and Silvio in Los Angeles Opera’s production of I pagliacci, a role he also sang in a new production at Lyric Opera of Chicago.  In the Summer of 2007 he sang his first performances of Escamillo in Carmen with the Veroza Company and Seiji Ozawa.
Mariusz Kwiecien's European career has included Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore for his debuts at the Paris Opera and The Netherlands Opera, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte at Grand Théâtre de Genève, and his debut at La Scala as Ottokar in Der Freischütz.  He made his debuts at the Bolshoi Opera and Graz Opera singing the title role in a new production of Eugene Onegin, a role he has also sung at the Warsaw Opera.  Other engagements include Marcello in La bohème with the Hamburg State Opera and at the Arena di Verona, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro at the Glyndebourne Festival and at Teatro Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, conducted by Zubin Mehta.  Audiences in Vienna have heard Mr. Kwiecien as Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore and Count Robinson in Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto.  He has also sung Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor at Teatro Municipal in Sao Paulo.

Mr. Kwiecien has won prestigious awards in several international vocal competitions, including First Prize in the 1994 Breslau International Competition, the Vienna State Opera and Hamburg State Opera prizes in the 1996 Hans Gabor/Belvedere Competition in Austria, and the Mozart Interpretation Prize and Audience Choice Award at the 1998 Francisco Viñas Competition in Barcelona.  He was selected to represent his native Poland in the 1999 Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff, Wales.

HOWARD WATKINS   

American pianist Howard Watkins is in the vanguard of the current generation of collaborative pianists and is a frequent collaborator with some of the world’s leading musicians both on the concert stage and as an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera.   Mr. Watkins has performed in numerous recitals and concerts throughout the United States, South America, Europe, Russia, Israel, and the Far East.  In recent seasons, he has appeared in recital and on television with Kathleen Battle, Grace Bumbry, Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazon, Elizabeth Futral, Anthony Dean Griffey, and violinist Sarah Chang, as well as rising tenors Lawrence Brownlee and Gregory Turay, winners of the 2006 and 2000 Richard Tucker Foundation Awards; baritone Mariusz Kwiecien; tenor Charles Castronovo; and Canadian soprano Alexandra Deshorties.  Under the aegis of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, Mr. Watkins has performed in recitals and educational residencies in the United States, and he has also appeared in the Horne Foundation gala New York recital at Juilliard.

Mr. Watkins has given recitals and concerts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Spivey Hall in Atlanta, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Pierpont Morgan Library, and Alice Tully Hall with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.  In addition, he has performed with the MET Chamber Ensemble in Weill and Zankel Halls under the baton of James Levine. He has accompanied the classes of such legendary artists as Marilyn Horne, Renata Scotto, Regina Resnik, Regine Crespin, and Birgit Nilsson, among others.   A number of his performances have been broadcast on WQXR in New York as part of George Jellinek’s “The Vocal Scene” and the “Young Artist Showcase”, and he has recorded for the Centaur and Prestant labels. As an educator, Mr. Watkins serves on the faculty of the Tanglewood Music Center, and he has taught at the Aspen Music Festival, the Banff Centre, Meadowmount School of Music, the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel, and the VOICExperience in Florida with Sherrill Millnes. He is also a faculty member of the International Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy.  Mr. Watkins has taught at the North Carolina School of the Arts in the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute and worked on the music staffs of the Los Angeles Opera, the Washington National Opera, the Lake George Opera Festival, and Palm Beach Opera. 

A native of Dayton, Ohio, Mr. Watkins received his undergraduate degree from the University of Dayton, and he completed his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in 1998 at the University of Michigan.   In 2004, Mr. Watkins was honored as the recipient of both the Paul C. Boylan award from the University of Michigan for his outstanding contributions to the field of music and a Special Achievement Award from the National Alumni Association of the University of Dayton.  He is currently a resident of New York City.