27 VII
Performers:
Iwona Sobotka – soprano
David Baños – tenor
Marek Ruszczyński – piano
For the finale of the Musical Gardens Festival, a meeting with an opera star! Iwona Sobotka, who has been present on international opera stages for years, will pay tribute to Giacomo Puccini on the centenary of the death of the creator of La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Tosca and Turandot. The program will feature primarily arias and duets from operas by the master of operatic verismo. The Polish soprano will be accompanied by Spanish tenor David Baños and pianist Marek Ruszczynski. Iwona Sobotka’s concert will be the culmination of this year’s festival, as well as a series of festival screenings entitled Puccini 100, dedicated to the Italian composer.
The concert was organized with the support of the Spanish Embassy in Poland.
David Baños
Spanish lyric tenor, studied singing at the Murcia Conservatory. He trained and excelled with international tenors such as Francisco Ortiz and José Sempere.
He made his Zarzuela debut performing various characters from Alegrías in La Alegría de la Huerta, Leandro in La Tabernera del Puerto, Rafael in La Dolorosa and Javier in Luisa Fernanda from Lírica Saavedra Fajardo da Algezares’ Agrupación. He made his debut with the role of Riccardo in the opera Un Ballo in Maschera by G. Verdi, a 2011 co-production of l’Ópera and Ópera de Massy, staged in major Spanish theaters and at Ópera de Massy in Paris. He made his debut with the role of Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, performed 21 times in various Spanish theaters such as Principal in Zaragoza, Miguel de Cervantes in Malaga, Principal in Alicante, Teatro Falla in Cadiz, and in French theaters such as Teatro Molière de Sète, directed by Martin Mázik.
In February 2016, he performed the role of Prince Mantua in Rigoletto in Barcelona, Teatro Romea in Murcia and Frejus in France. In April, he won first prize in an international vocal competition in Logroño. In October, he made his debut in the role of Rodolfo in La Bohème. In December 2016, he was the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto at the Festival del Mediterraneo at the Amantea Theatre with Orchestra Filarmonica della Calabria. In February 2017, he made his debut as Cavadarossi in Tosca at Opera Massy in Paris. In September 2017, he made his debut with the role of Roberto in Bohemios zarzuela.
In 2017, he played the role of Mario Caravadossi twice at Opera de Massy and Teatro Cervantes in Málaga, Alfredo Germont in La Traviata at Opera Romana in Craiova. In 2018, also at Craiova, he made his debut in the roles of Manrico in Verdi’s Il Trovatore and Radames in AIDA
and in the role of Turiddu in Cavalleria Rustivana at the Peccioli Per festival at the Fonte Mazzola amphitheater.
In 2019-2020, he was a frequent guest of Wrocław Opera in Poland, performing the roles of Alfredo in La Traviata, Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca, Manrico in Il Trovare and again Pinkerton in M. Butterfly.He is currently a guest artist at Opera Romana in Craiova, where he has performed the roles of Carlos in Don Carlo, Alfredo in La Traviata, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Luigi in Il Tabarro, Rodolfo in La Boheme, Cavaradossi in Tosca, singing alongside such artists as Carlo Colombara, Ambrogio Maestri, Leonardo Lopez Linares, Alberto Gazale, Lucio Gallo
Marek Ruszczyński
“Marek Ruszczynski, is a pianist of Polish origin. He has given recitals in many of Europe’s eminent concert halls such as Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, Berlin Philharmonic and Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Marek worked and performed under the supervision of Marilyn Horne in the program The Song Continues, which took place at Carnegie Hall in New York as well as at the Opéra de Bastille in Paris. He collaborates artistically with tenor Roberto Alagna both behind the stage and in the recording studio. February 2024 saw the release of their album Seigneur on the Aparthe label, which the artists presented two months ago during a tour in France. His future engagements include recitals with Aleksandra Kurzak and Roberto Alagna in Poland and Switzerland.
Marek graduated from the piano department in the class of Prof. Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń. He continued his studies further in London where he was twice awarded the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Accompanist Prize Gold Medal. He also won the Prix de Piano at the Nadia and Lila Boulanger International Voice and Piano Competition in Paris and the Third Prize at the Andorra Piano Competition. Marek is a graduate of the Academie Musicale de Villecroze, where he also worked as an assistant to Teresa Berganza. He was also for the past five years a member of the Mediterranean Opera Studio and Festival in Sicily where he worked as a tutor and vocal coach.
During his 20 years in London, Marek was a member of the music staff of the Jette Parker Young Artists Program at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He has also worked as a vocal coach at the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, for the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, and as a lecturer at Opera McGill in Montreal. He currently lives in Austria, where he runs a private coaching studio and enjoys the life of a recitalist.”
