Pasiecznik received the honour from Poland's Culture and National Heritage Minister Piotr Gliński after Sunday’s performance of Handel’s Rodelinda at the Polish Royal Opera, in which Pasiecznik sang the title role.
Born in Ukraine to an Ukrainian father and Polish mother, Pasiecznik, who also uses her name in an English transliteration as Pasychnik, studied piano and music education in her hometown of Rivne and voice at the Kyiv Conservatory.
She continued her vocal studies as a postgraduate student at the Academy of Music in Warsaw.
In 1992, she made her debut at the Warsaw Chamber Opera and four years later at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris as Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. The Paris appearance marked the beginning of a spectacular international career.
She is currently a soloist with the Polish Royal Opera. Her repertoire includes over 40 parts in operas by Monteverdi, Gluck, Handel, Mozart, Weber, Bizet, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, Debussy, Tchaikovsky and Szymanowski as well as contemporary composers.
Pasiecznik has also established a name for herself in chamber music and as an oratorio and cantata singer. She has appeared in many prestigious concert halls and opera houses, with leading European, American and Japanese orchestras under top conductors.
She has won prizes at several prestigious competitions, including those in s’Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, Helsinki and Brussels (the Queen Elisabeth Competition). Her discography comprises more than 60 CDs and DVDs for labels such as CD Accord, Dabringhaus und Grimm, Harmonia Mundi, Naxos and Opus 111.
In 2012, she received the Officer’s Cross of the Polish Order of Merit. Her honours also include Fryderyk awards of the Polish recording industry.
(mk/gs)