09/21/2026
KU Voice and Opera is thrilled to announce our newest faculty member- Assistant Teaching Professor of Voice and Opera/Coaching Piotr Wisniewski! He will be coaching Voice students, as well as serving as Music Director for KU Opera.
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Piotr Wisniewski is an accomplished conductor, chorus master, and pianist with more than twenty-five years of experience in opera companies, universities, and international festivals across the United States, Central America, and Europe.
From 2019-2026, he served as Head of Music Staff and Chorus Master at Lyric Opera of Kansas City. In this role, Piotr worked extensively with the company’s Resident Artists, principal singers, and the Lyric Opera Chorus. He prepared and conducted LOKC’s annual commissioned operas, most recently Haberdasher Prince by Rosabella Gregory and Maya and the Magic Ring by Lori Laitman, as well as his own arrangement of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. In 2023, he and the entire company received a Grammy Award nomination for their production of The Shining by Paul Moravec.
Prior to joining Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Piotr served on the opera coaching staff at Indiana University Opera Theater and as Music Director of the Graduate Opera Workshop. There, he collaborated closely with legendary soprano and stage director Carol Vaness and other distinguished faculty. As a collaborative pianist and conductor, he has performed with renowned artists including Carol Vaness, Teresa Kubiak, Patricia Wise, Carlos Montane, and many others.
Piotr maintains strong national and international ties through long-term engagements with Des Moines Metro Opera, AIMS in Graz, Austria, and the OperaMaya International Music Festival in Mexico, where he has served as Festival Orchestra Conductor, Chorus Master, and Head of Music. In 2018, he prepared and conducted the world premiere of Luis Ruelas Romo’s Maya-language cantata Ja’ K’aax.
He holds a Master of Music and a Postgraduate Diploma in Piano Performance from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland. He began his professional career as a collaborative pianist and opera coach at the Academy and the Silesian Opera House.
