Jacek Kaspszyk Conductor - International Classical Artists

Highly regarded in the field of opera, Jacek Kaspszyk was General Director of the Teatr Wielki -
Polish National Opera - from 2002. Under Kaspszyk's tenure the company enjoyed not only huge
success at home, but also won international recognition with acclaimed performances at such venues
as the Beijing Festival (2001), the Bolshoi in Moscow (2002), Sadler's Wells Theatre in London
(2004), Hong Kong Arts Festival (2005) and Perolada Festival in Spain (2006), as well as during three
highly successful tours of Japan (2001, 2003, 2005). He has conducted productions at many
renowned opera houses among others: Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf, Opera Comique in
Paris, Opera de Lyon, Opera de Bordeaux, Stockolm Opera, English National Opera, Opera North
Leeds, Zurich Opera, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville. In 1998
he was appointed Artistic and Music Director, and Between 2006 - 2008 he worked regularly with the
Lithuanian National Opera in Vilnius whose acclaimed productions of R. Strauss's Salome and
Wagner's Die Walkure he conducted in Vilnius as well as at festivals in Ljubljana and Ravenna
(2007), and during a well received residency at the Israeli Opera Tel Aviv - Yafo (2008).
Jacek Kaspszyk is widely represented on CD, including an award-winning recording of Rossini’s Il
Signor Bruschino with the Polish Chamber Opera and the Edison Prize-awarded recording of Baird’s
Concerto Lugubre with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as several acclaimed
recordings for Collins Classics with all four London orchestras, including Mussorgsky’s Pictures from
an Exhibition, Mahler’s Symphony No 1, and R. Strauss’s Also Spracht Zarathustra (LSO),
Rachmaninov’s Symphony No 2 and Verdi’s Opera Overtures (Philharmonia), works by J. Strauss
and Schubert’s Symphonies No 5 & 8 (LPO) and Puccini’s Interludes (RPO).
His recording of Lutoslawski’s Symphonies No 2 & 4 with the NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic received
the 2011 Fryderyk award for the category: Album of the Year, Symphonic and Concert Music. The
album has been described as “An important and magnificent release that gives us the best sound the
composer has ever had”. Kaspszyk and pianist Marta Argerich feature together on a 2010 EMI
Classics Chopin CD. He enjoys a regular collaboration with Martha Argerich, conducting at the
annual Progetto Martha Argerich Festival in Lugano. He recently recorded Beethoven piano concerti
with pianist Ingrid Jacoby. The disc is due for worldwide release in 2012.
Recordings with the Polish National Opera include Moniuszko’s The Haunted Manor (EMI Classics)
awarded with a Platinum Disc, Penderecki’s Ubu Rex (CD Accord) and Szymanowski’s King Roger
(CD Accord), which was nominated for ‘Record of the Year’ by BBC Music Magazine and highly
praised by Gramophone magazine whose critic wrote of Kaspszyk “in all, even the tiniest details, he
managed to achieve absolutely everything”.
Jacek Kaspszyk studied conducting, theory and composition at the Warsaw Academy of Music,
graduating in 1975, and that same year made his conducting debut at the Teatr Wielki – Polish
National Opera. In 1976, he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Oper am
Rhein in Dusseldorf, and in 1977 was a prize winner at the prestigious Karajan Competition, making
his Berlin and New York debuts the following year.
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