After sustaining a slipped disc injury during a performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera House, he underwent his first spinal operation in New York.
The issue reappeared after a performance of Verdi’s Don Carlo at the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden, leading to another operation, with an implant being inserted.
Kwiecień remains on the opera circuit as artistic director of the Wrocław Opera in south-western Poland for the 2020-21 season.
Addressing the media, he said: “I have a lot to say about opera these days. I have sufficient background and experience from the greatest opera houses in the world. I have a huge number of wonderful friends, singers, directors and conductors, whom I will be delighted to invite to Wrocław.”
During his long career, 47-year-old Kwiecień performed at the most prestigious venues, including, in addition to the Met and Covent Garden, Opéra National de Paris, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Wiener Staatsoper, and Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.
He was particularly renowned for his portrayals of the eponymous characters in Don Giovanni, King Roger (in Szymanowski’s opera), and Eugene Onegin, as well as for the roles of Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Riccardo in I Puritani, and Rodrigo di Posa in Don Carlo.
(mk/pk)