Born in 1972 in Łódź, he studied acting at the National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź, solo voice at the F. Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw and with Christian Elssner at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden.
He made his acting debut in Andrzej Wajda’s The Ring with a Crowned Eagle and subsequently appeared in many films, television and theatre productions, e.g. as Tristan in the TV adaptation of Tristan and Isolde directed by Krystyna Janda.
Tomasz Konieczny has also directed many theatre plays, including Corneille’s Le Cid in Warsaw’s Adekwatny Theatre in 1996. The artist has held scholarships from Polish and German foundations and institutions such as the Polish Minister of Culture and Arts (1997), Alfred Toepfer Foundation (1998–2000), and the Kunst & Kultur Dresden Bank Foundation (1999).
His opera debut (in the title role in Mozart’s The Wedding of Figaro) took place at Poznań’s Grand Theatre in December 1997. In Germany, he first appeared in January 1999 as Kecal in Bedřich Smetana’s The Bartered Bride at the Leipzig Opera. In 1999–2000 he regularly performed in that opera house, singing in operas by Verdi and Shostakovich. In the following year, he signed a contract to perform at the Lübeck Theatre. He also made guest appearances in St. Gallen, Halle (as Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute), Chemnitz and Mannheim (as Colline in Puccini’s La Bohème).
From the 2002/03 season he performed on a regular basis at Mannheim’s National Theatre. In the following years, he sang at the Operas in Stuttgart and Prague as well as Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, where he was Wotan in Wagner’s Das Rheingold. Roles in Wagner’s operas brought him further successes. In June 2006, he appeared as Amfortas in Parsifal (under Adam Fischer) during the 1st Wagner Days in Budapest, and in the following years he returned to that festival as Wotan in Die Walküre, Kurwenal in Tristan and Isolde and The Wanderer in Siegfried under Adam Fischer. In January 2008 he also sang the part of Alberich in The Ring Cycle in Dresden’s Semperoper (under Peter Schneider). His next sensational appearance in the same role took place in Berlin’s Deutsche Oper in April 2010. He also interpreted Wagnerian roles at the Prague Opera, and in 2011 made his debut in Opéra National de Paris as Biterolf in Tannhäuser.
In October 2007, Konieczny sang the part of Hermit in Der Freischütz under Antoni Wit at the Warsaw Philharmonic, and in July 2008 – that of Dr. Kolenatý in Leoš Janáček’s The Makropulos Affair (directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski) in Madrid’s Teatro Real. In 2010 he appeared for the first time in the roles of the four incarnations of evil in The Tales of Hoffmann in Prague’s National Theatre, and in 2012 – as Pizarro in a concert performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio in Washington (under Christoph Eschenbach; Konieczny also sang this part at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich). During the Salzburg Festival in 2012, he presented his interpretation of the role of Stolzius in Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten.
He has also sung parts in non-stage vocal-instrumental works under conductors such as Kent Nagano (Bach’s St. Matthew Passion), Marek Janowski (Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9), Daniele Gatti (Verdi’s Requiem) and Krzysztof Penderecki (The Seven Gates of Jerusalem, St. Luke Passion).
