Biography
Polish bass Rafał Pawnuk has been praised as a “sonorous” (Opera Magazine) “powerful and profound bass” (Das Opernglas). In recent seasons he has made a number of significant role and house debuts, including appearances at the Salzburger Festspiele as Mars in Barrie Kosky’s new production of Offenbach’s Orphee aux enfers, as Sciarrone and Sagristano and at Theater an der Wien in a new production of Tosca by Martin Kusej. He also sang Hunding/Die Walküre at Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Nourabad in Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de perles at Opéra de Lille, Cherea in Detlev Glanert’s Caligula at Nationaltheater Weimar, and Ashby in Tatjana Gürbaca’s production of La Fanciulla del West at Opéra de Lyon, under the baton of Daniele Rustioni.In the season 2025-26 he will return to Opéra de Lyon as Mr Flint in Richard Brunel’s new production of Britten’s Billy Budd under the baton of by Finnegan Downie Dear. Rafał will perform the title role of Szymanowski’s King Roger at Opera Nova Bydgoszcz and Colline/La Bohème as well as Zbigniew in Moniuszko’s Haunted Manor at Baltic Opera Gdansk. He will give his debut at the Salzburger Pfingsfestspiele and return to Salzburger Festspiele at the end of the season.
Recent engagements include Marchese di Calatrava in Verdi’s La Forza del destino at Opéra de Lyon, Fasolt/Das Rheingold and Fafner/Siegfried at Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Vodnik/Rusalka at Opéra de Limoges as well as Colline/La bohème and Gremin/Eugene Onegin with Nederlandse Reisopera and Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro at Salzburger Festspiele, conducted by Raphaël Pichon.
A frequent guest at Castle Opera Szczecin Rafał Pawnuk’s roles there include the title role in King Roger, Ferrando/Il trovatore, Escamillo/Carmen, Guglielmo/Cosi fan tutte, Betto/Gianni Schicchi and Priest in Philipp Glass’The Trial. At National Theatre Brno he has appeared as Vodnik, Il Re/Aida, Marchese d’Obigny/ La Traviata and Banco/Macbeth. As a former member of the Opera Studio of the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, he performed roles such as Thierry/Dialogues des Carmélites, Brabantischer Edler/Lohengrin and Dr. Wilhelm Reischmann/Elegy for Young Lovers. He has worked with conductors such as Marc Albrecht, Ingo Metzmacher, Vasily Petrenko, Marco Armiliato, Massimo Zanetti, Lothar Koenigs, Paolo Carignani, Enrique Mazzola and Kent Nagano.
Concert engagements have brought him to stages including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie de Paris, and Anima Mundi Festival in Pisa, performing with ensembles such as the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Orchestre de Pau Pays de Béarn, Chœur Accentus, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Insula Orchestra. His concert repertoire includes Handel’s Messiah, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, works by Schumann and Beethoven, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Requiem, as well as Penderecki’s oratorio Kosmogonia.
Rafał Pawnuk studied at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz with Leszek Skrla and at the Academy of Music in Krakow with Marek Rzepka. Awards include first prize at the 13th International Vocal Competition Iuventus Canti in Slovakia.
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