Baritone. Witold Żołądkiewicz graduated from the Department of Vocal Studies at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, class taught by Roman Węgrzyn. He further perfected his vocal skills during master courses taught by a famous Polish tenor Ryszard Karczykowski. In 2015, he obtained a doctorate degree in musical arts.
Between 1994 and 2017 he was a soloist at the Warsaw Chamber Opera. He made guest appearances in the Grand Theatre in Łódź, the Cracow Opera, the Polish National Theatre, and the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples.
His artistic output includes numerous parts in operas by W. A. Mozart (The Marriage of Figaro – Count Almaviva), D. Cimarosa (l matrimonio per raggiro – Robinson), G. Rossini (The Barber of Seville – Figaro, Cinderella – Dandini, The Italian Girl in Algiers – Taddeo, La Scala di seta – Germano, Il turco in Italia – Prosdocimo, La cambiale di matrimonio – Slook, La gazza ladra – Fabrizio, Il Signor Bruschino – Bruschino padre), G. Donizetti (Don Pasquale – Malatesta, L’elisir d’amore – Belcore), S. Moniuszko (Haunted Manor– Maciej, Halka the Vilnius version – Jontek), P. Tchaikovsky (Eugene Onegin – Onegin), G. Verdi (Falstaff – Ford, Un giorno di regno – Tesoriere), J. Offenbach (The Tales of Hoffmann – Nicklausse / La Muse), R. Wagner (Das Rheingold – Donner) and V. Ullmann (Der Kaiser von Atlantis – Kaiser Overall). He appeared in operetta as Dr. Falke and Eisenstein in J. Strauss’s The Revenge of the Bat and Danilo in The Merry Widow by F. Lehar.
The artist gives many concerts, both in grand symphonic forms and oratorios (K. Penderecki – Symphony No. 8 Songs of Transience, J. Maklakiewicz – Symphony No. 2 Święty Boże (“Holy God”), H. M. Górecki – Beatus Vir, K. Szymanowski – Stabat Mater, G. Mahler – Symphony No. 7), as well as songs, which constitute an important part of his artistic activity.
Żołądkiewicz appeared at many music festivals, e.g. the “Warsaw Autumn” International Contemporary Music Festival, the Opera Festival in Bydgoszcz, the Ada Sari International Vocal Artistry Festival in Nowy Sącz, the Adam Didur Festival in Sanok, the Al Bustan International Festival of Music and Arts in Beirut, the Octobre Musical in Cartagena, and the Tiroler Festspiele Erl.
He’s sung under the baton of such conductors as G. Kuhn, A. Wicherek, M. Nowakowski, T. Wojciechowski, A. Straszyński, T. Kozłowski, M. Klauza, J. Swoboda, R. Silva, K. Bumann, T. Tokarczyk. He’s worked with prominent directors: K. Dejmek, H. Kupfer, M. Prus, G. Pampiglione, R. Peryt, J. Gruza, A. Strzelecki, J. Stokalska, M. Znaniecki, M. Zālīte, T. Konina, J. Kilian.
The artist has made many recordings for the radio, television, and phonographic companies (Arte Nova, Dynamic, DUX).
The spectacle Der Kaiser von Atlantis directed by Beata Redo-Dobber under musical supervision of Tomasz Tokarczyk with Witold Żołądkiewicz in the title role was proclaimed the best staging at the Opera Festival in Szeged, Hungary, in 2011. The artist was awarded the Bronze Cross of Merit by the President of the Republic of Poland.
Since 2017 he’s been a soloist at the Polish Royal Opera.
Photo by Adrian Krawczyk
