He performed internationally at major opera houses and festivals, and was known especially for the title roles of Mozart's Don Giovanni and Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov.

When Wilno was taken by the Red Army, he, among many others, was conscripted to military under the condition of giving an oath to the Soviet Union.

He appeared as Raimondo in a 1959 recording of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor[5] conducted by Tullio Serafin, alongside Maria Callas in the title role,[1] the only Polish singer to sing with her.

He is remembered for the title roles of Mozart's Don Giovanni and Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, for Philip II in Verdi's Don Carlos, Amonasro in Aida, Mephistophélès in Gounod's Faust, and the title role in Karol Szymanowski's Król Roger.

[5] He performed roles also in Stanisław Moniuszko's The Haunted Manor and Halka, Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, Verdi's Les vêpres siciliennes, La forza del destino, Rigoletto, Borodin's Prince Igor, and Tchaikovsky's Iolanta.

As an actor, he played in eleven films between 1965 and 1999, including The Promised Land (1975), The Quack (1981) and With Fire and Sword (1999).