One of the creators of the Polish Royal Opera. He’d served as the Vice-Director of the Opera from the very beginning. On 24 January 2019 Andrzej Klimczak was appointed the Acting Director of the Polish Royal Opera, and since 1 September 2019 he’s been the Director of the Opera.
Bass-baritone, graduate of the Department of Vocal and Acting Studies at the Academy of Music in Wrocław. After his graduation in 1987, he became a soloist at the Warsaw Chamber Opera. His first solo parts were Osmin in Mozart’s Zaide and Jan in Gaetano’s (K. Majer) Yellow Nightcap (“Żółta szlafmyca”). Soon afterwards, he made his debut as Figaro in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in the Teatro Principal in Alicante (1988, Spain).
To date, his artistic output includes over fifty leading bass-baritone parts from the works of Baroque composers, such as Handel or Bach, through almost all leading roles in the operas by Mozart (including Don Giovanni, Leporello, Papageno, Figaro, Count Almaviva, Guglielmo, Don Alfonso) and Rossini (Don Bartolo in The Barber of Seville, Mustafa in The Italian Girl in Algiers or Selim in The Turk in Italy), to contemporary works, such as the title role in Balthazar or Felix in Polieukt by Zygmunt Krauze.
His greatest roles also include Eugene Onegin in Tchaikovsky’s opera and Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff.
An esteemed interpreter of vocal literature, the laureate of the 2nd Moniuszko Vocal Competition in Warsaw.
Specializes in interpreting Baroque operas and oratorios. His greatest achievements are the numerous creations of the bass part in Handel’s Messiah, recorded on CD, roles of Argenio in Handel’s Imeneo, and Licomede in D. Scarlatti’s Tetide in Sciro.
Performed as a soloist on many prestigious opera and concert stages in Europe and the world, e.g. in Japan, Lebanon, Israel, or Oman. Andrzej Klimczak participated in many important festivals, including the Carrintischer Sommer (1995), the KlangBogen Wien Mozart A-Z (1996), and the Music Festival in Madrid (1994-96).
In Poland, he performed in the Wrocław Opera House, the Bydgoszcz Opera House, the Grand Theatre in Łódź, and in many concert halls (Warsaw, Rzeszów, Gdańsk, Poznań, Łódź, Białystok, Szczecin, Płock).
Many of his performances were conducted by R. Zimak, S. Stuligrosz, Ph. Entremont, T. Wojciechowski, J. Kaspszyk, E. Michnik, M. Nowakowski, T. Karolak, R. Silva, Z. Graca, Ł. Borowicz, K. Bumann, M. N. Niesiołowski.
In 2001, he was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit by the President of the Republic of Poland, and in 2012 with the Order of Polonia Restituta.
