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The Polish soprano, Katarzyna Kaswen-Wilk, began her musical education at the 1st and 2nd Degree Music School of Witold Lutosławski in Wołomin. Initially, she studied piano with Paweł Rozbicki, later she changed the instrument to the transverse flute. As a child, she sometimes performed as a soloist in concerts with the Wołomin city choir Cantus Cordis, of which she was a member, but she discovered classical singing only in 2006 thanks to her teacher Maryli Gralczyk. She began her studies at the Vocal and Acting Department of the Akademii Muzycznej in Gdańsk. In 2011, she left for the Netherlands as an Erasmus scholarship holder to study at the Maastricht Conservatoire, where she completed her Master of Arts studies in the Summer of 2014. During her education, she developed her skills by attending various master-classes of famous singers and directors, including: Damon Nestor Ploumis, Vito Cristofaro, Ansgar Hüning, Paul Esswood, Claudio Desderi, Charlotte Lehmann, Nelly Miricioiu, Oliver Klöter, Ernst Daniel Smid, etc. In October 2013, she won 2nd place and audience award at the Concours Kasteel Doorwerth vocal competition. In December 2013, she became one of the laureates of the Summerfest Europe International Singing Competition in Verviers, Belgium. In April 2014, she won the 1st prize at the 2nd International Organ-Vocal Competition in Neuss (Germany) together with organist Christine Moraal. She was also a finalist of the Music Award Maastricht 2014 competition.
Katarzyna Kaswen-Wilk has been actively performing on stage since her graduation. Some of the roles she has portrayed are: Susanna in W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro at the SummerFest Opera Festival with Opera Theater Pittsburgh (USA); Carolina in Il matrimonio segreto under director Philip Harnoncourt with Concert Royal (Germany); Zerlina in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni at Lyric Opera Studio Weimar (Germany); Lucy in The Threepenny Opera with Stichting …Op Locatie in Venlo (the Netherlands); Prizzi in La Gran Esperanza! with Opera Comique Maastricht (the Netherlands); the Spirit of the Earth in W.A. Mozart's opera Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots in Eijsden (The Netherlands). Some of her solo performances include: a series of concerts in Melbourne (Australia) with Cantus Neuss & Sonare Neuss in 2016, concerts in Verviers (Belgium) in 2014-2015 including Gabriel Fauré's Requiem and George Frideric Handel's The Messiah, concerts in Neuss and Krefeld (Germany) including Bruckner’s F-Minor Mass in Neuss (Germany) and J.S. Bach's Missa brevis in G minor (BWV 235) in Neuss; J.S. Bach's Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244) at the theater in Heerlen (the Netherlands), etc.
Some of the pieces in Katarzyna’s concert and oratorio repertoire are: J.S. Bach's cantata Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen (BWV 51), Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244), Johannes-Passion (BWV 245); Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's Stabat Mater; W.A. Mozart's Versperae solennes and Requiem; Haydn’s Die Schöpfung and Cäcilienmesse; G. Fauré’s Requiem; G.F. Handel's The Messiah, and many others. She has performed in concert halls and churches across Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Australia, and USA. |
