The Polish tenor Piotr Kusiewicz studied piano with professor Zbigniew Śliwiński and singing with professor Jerzy Szymański at the Gdansk Academy of Music. In 1978 he received the first prize and two distinctions in the 13th International Antonin Dvořák Vocal Competition in Karlove Vary.
Piotr Kusiewicz is a much sought after artist especially for his interpretations of contemporary music. He performs works by Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Lutosławski, Krzysztof Baculewski, Edward Pałłasz, Juliusz Łuciuk, Paweł Łukaszewski and Zbigniew Preisner. Composers often trust him to première their works. He was one of the soloists in Karol Szymanowski’s “King Roger” which he performed with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit in Paris, Montreal, New York (Carnegie Hall) and Tokyo. He is the first Polish singer, who performed and recorded “Paroles tissees” by Witold Lutosławski [Naxos 8.553423] with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antoni Wit.
Piotr Kusiewicz has collaborated with such prominent conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Charles Dutoit, Daniele Gatti, Adrian Leaper, Kazimierz Kord, Jerzy Katlewicz, Antoni Wit, Tomasz Bugaj, Jacek Kaspszyk, Stefan Stuligrosz, Krzysztof Penderecki. His repertory includes over 90 oratorio works, operas by Handel and Monteverdi, as well as song cycles.
Piotr Kusiewicz appears in concerts and operas both in Poland and abroad. He has sung at all Polish philharmonic halls, the Grand Theatre in Warsaw and Łódź, and at many renowned opera houses—Houses of Cracow and Wrocław, the Baltic Opera in Gdańsk, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Philharmonics of Berlin, Munich, Cologne, the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, the Royal Festival Hall in London, the Carnegie Hall, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Musikverein in Vienna, as well as at concert halls in Stockholm, Montreal, Milan, Moscow, Jerusalem, Seoul and Guadeloupe.
He has made many CD recordings performing a wide range of music styles—from 15th century to contemporary music, and even pop and jazz. He has recorded for Erato, Naxos, Aperto, Dynamic, ACCORD, CD Accord, DUX, and Polskie Nagrania. Piotr Kusiewicz is head and professor of the Vocal Department at the Gdańsk Musical Academy, where he teaches singing. He also teaches solo singing at the Musical Academy in Bydgoszcz. In March 2008 Piotr Kusiewicz was awarded the Holy Cross.