Jan was born in Kraków (Poland), where he began his singing training at the Academy of Music studying with Janusz Borowicz. He then went on to study for a Post-Graduate Diploma at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama with Suzanne Murphy, where he graduated with distinction in 2011, after which he stayed at the RWCMD, where he is currently on the MA in Opera Performance course, studying under Adrian Thompson and coached by Michael Pollock, Ingrid Surgenor and Angela Livingstone, supported by the Sir Geraint Evans and Leverhulme Scholarships. He is also very grateful for the support of Christopher Ball. Jan has been fortunate enough to be cast in several principal roles in operas at the RWCMD. Outside college, he has sung with student-run companies such as Opera'r Ddraig, Sforza Baroque and Shadow Opera, as well as making his UK professional debut with Scottish Opera in 2011 as Pluto in Orpheus in the Underworld. He was thrilled to be able to sing the part of Blues Singer in the Street Chorus in Leonard Bernstein's MASS as part of the BBC Proms 2012 at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. 2012 also saw Jan working with British Youth Opera as an understudy. Recent highlights include singing for HRH The Prince of Wales as part of the St David's Day celebrations at the RWCMD and performing Smirnov in Walton's The Bear at La Mortella (the composer's home on Ischia). Future engagements include covering Father in Hänsel und Gretel for Garsington Opera, performing Escamillo in Carmen for Winterbourne Opera, and participating in BYO's Summer production of Britten's Paul Bunyan as a principal and understudy. From September 2013 Jan will continue his training on English National Opera's Opera Works professional development course. Operatic roles to date include: Aeneas, Dido and Aeneas; Figaro and Il Conte, Le Nozze di Figaro (Academy of Music in Kraków); Papageno, The Magic Flute; The Count, The Marriage of Figaro (Opera’r Ddraig); The Lizard, The Nightingale and the Rose by Tom Floyd (Rogue Opera); Aeneas; Adonis, Venus & Adonis (Sforza Baroque); Eisenstein, Die Fledermaus; Il Conte, Le Nozze di Figaro; Tarquinius, The Rape of Lucretia (RWCMD); Guglielmo (cover), Così fan tutte; Brooklyn Boy, Lillian Alling by John Estacio (Banff Festival Opera, Canada); Pluto (cover), Orpheus in the Underworld (Scottish Opera); Escamillo, Carmen (St Magnus Festival); Alamar The Shadow of the Wave by Tom Floyd (Tête à Tête Opera Festival); Actor (cover) A Night at the Chinese Opera by Judith Weir (British Youth Opera). Concert performances as a soloist include Bach’s Mass in B minor, Fauré’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. Jan has had the privilege of participating in masterclasses and workshops with many world class performers and pedagogues, including Ryszard Karczykowski, Daniele Giulio Moles, Rebecca Evans, Donald Maxwell, Patricia MacMahon, James Gilchrist, Linda Ormiston, John Fisher, Malcolm Martineau, Kathryn Harries, Roderick Williams, and Paul Farrington. In 2012 he took part in British Youth Opera's Easter Workshops with Martin Lloyd-Evans and David Gowland. He attended these same workshops a year later, this time led by Paul Curran and Peter Robinson. Apart from his singing, Jan is an occasional blogger, a casual white water kayaker and also devotes time to the company that offered him his first performance opportunities in Cardiff: Opera'r Ddraig, for whom he is currently Artistic Director.  Jan Capiński’s Tarquinius had the arrogance and sheer unpleasantness that the role demands and his singing was successfully and purposefully varied in dynamics and colour. Glyn Pursglove, Seen and Heard International Mr Capinski’s instrument splendidly matched Valentine’s martial Avant de quitter from Gounod’s Faust. Nigel Jarrett, South Wales Argus Jan Capinski delivered Bartolo’s revenge aria with superb venom. Stephen Walsh, The Arts Desk
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