Polish tenor Rafał Bartmiński graduated from the Vocal and Drama Faculty of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, having studied under Professor Eugeniusz Sąsiadek.
Winner of 3rd prize at the 11th International Ada Sari Vocal Artistry Competition in Nowy Sącz. In 2007, he won the 2nd prize and several additional awards at the 6th International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition in Warsaw.
He started a busy performing career already as a student (Bach’s Mass in H minor and Magnificat, Mozart’s Requiem). In 2002 he made his operatic debut singing Lensky in Maciej Prus’s production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera. Since then, he has collaborated with the Warsaw opera house by singing major tenor roles: Tamino in Mozart’s Magic Flute, Jontek in Moniuszko’s Halka (under Marc Minkowski), Stefan in Moniuszko’s The Haunted Manor, Ismaele in Verdi’s Nabucco, Boris in Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová, Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Madwoman in Britten’s Curlew River, and Drum Major in Berg’s Wozzeck. The latter was also his debut at the Bolshoi in Moscow under Teodor Currentzis in a production by Dmitri Tcherniakov.
Highlights of his career include Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore (Wrocław Opera), Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Wrocław Opera, Kraków Opera), Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata (Podlasie Opera, Latvian National Opera), Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème, Don José in Bizet’s Carmen (Podlasie Opera), Wacław in Statkowski’s Maria (Wexford Opera Festival), and Shepherd in Szymanowski’s King Roger (Wrocław Opera, Oper Wiesbaden, Teatro Real in Madrid, Opéra Bastille in Paris, Opernhaus Wuppertal). The artist is also a frequent guest in concert halls. He sang leading tenor parts in Krzysztof Penderecki’s Te Deum, Kosmogonia, and Credo (CD recorded with Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under Antoni Wit) as well as the Seven Gates of Jerusalem and Polish Requiem (with the MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig; with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra: Bronfman Auditorium, Tel Aviv; Municipal Auditorium, Haifa; International Convention Centre, Jerusalem). He also performed Penderecki’s Credo under Valery Gergiev at the composer’s 80th birthday gala.
He sang in Verdi’s Messa di requiem (International Sacred Music Festival in Riga; Ljubljana Festival), Mahler’s 8th Symphony (The Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion under Noam Sheriff), Szymanowski’s Harnasie (Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris), Beethoven’s Missa solemnis (Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra of Katowice under Jerzy Semkow), Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under Stanisław Skrowaczewski), and Handel’s Messiah (alongside Emma Kirkby and Michael Chance). He performed Szymanowski’s Symphony No. 3 “The Song of the Night” with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under Antoni Wit (DVD), with the Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Munich and Cologne under Mariss Jansons (CD), and the Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE in Madrid under Hannu Lintu. The year 2015 brought his debuts as Don José in Bizet’s Carmen at the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic and as Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera. In 2016, the artist performed as Laca in Janáček’s Jenůfa and as Grigoriy (The Pretender) in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov (Poznań Opera House).
Rafał Bartmiński has regularly worked with leading orchestras, including the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra of Katowice, the Sinfonia Varsovia, and the Polish Radio Orchestra. He collaborates on a regular basis with such excellent conductors as Gabriel Chmura, Teodor Currentzis, Miguel Gómez Martínez, Tomas Hanus, Mariss Jansons, Jacek Kaspszyk, Hannu Lintu, Marc Minkowski, Tadeusz Wojciechowski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Andrzej Straszyński, Antoni Wit, Tadeusz Wojciechowski and Alberto Zedda, as well as directors David Alden, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Mariusz Treliński, Jakob Messer, Michał Znaniecki, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Tomasz Konina, Andrzej Domalik, Krzysztof Zanussi, Krystyna Janda. Rafał Bartmiński has made numerous recordings, including Weinberg’s Symphony No. 8 “Polish Flowers”, Penderecki’s Credo and Kosmogonia (Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir conducted by Antoni Wit), Moniuszko’s Masses (Warsaw Philharmonic Choir conducted by Henryk Wojnarowski, Fryderyk Award 2009), Tansman’s Psalms, Lutosławski’s Vocal-Instrumental Works (Orchestra and Choir of Łódź Philharmonic conducted by Daniel Raiskin), Verdi’s Falstaff, Dobrzyński’s Monbar, or The Filibusters (Polish Radio Orchestra and Polish Radio Choir under Łukasz Borowicz), Koperski’s Missa solemnis ex B (Beethoven Academy Orchestra and Choir of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin under Marcin Nałęcz-Niesiołowski), and Pasquale Anfossi’s Oratorio la morte di San Filippo Neri (Sinfonia Viva, Poznań Chamber Choir, Gold Orpheus Award 2015).
Rafał Bartmiński has also made two acting appearances: in Casting Session directed by Krzysztof Zanussi (television play) and Maria Callas Master Class directed by Andrzej Domalik opposite Krystyna Janda. As an active propagator of Stanisław Moniuszko’s oeuvre he received the Foundation for Polish Culture’s Little Sceptre award, which was handed by Maria Fołtyn.
Rafał Bartmiński is represented by the Ludwig van Beethoven Association
