Karczykowski studied at the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk under Halina Mickiewiczówna. In 1977, he graduated from the Musikhochschule Hanns Eisler in Berlin with a degree in Music Theatre Direction.
He performed as a soloist at numerous theatres and operas: Music Theatre in Szczeciń (1965-1969, now called Opera at the Castle), Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau (1969-1974), Semproper Dresden (1977), Covent Garden in London (since 1977), Oper Frankfurt (since 1977), Wiener Staatsoper and Volksoper in Vienna (since 1979) and the Deutsche Oper Berlin (since 1980).
His career breakthrough came from performing in Guiseppe Verdi’s Traviata during the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1976, as well as playing the role of Alfred in Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (Revenge of the Bat) along with Kiri Te Kanawa and Hermann Prey at Coven Garden in 1977 under the direction of Zubin Mehta. Since then, he has performed in numerous operas and concert halls across Europe, Asia and both Americas, performing alongside the world’s most outstanding soloists, such as Ileana Cotrubas, Agnes Baltsa, Sylvia Sass and Placido Domingo.
Ryszard Karczykowski is also known for his outstanding operatic arias: he performed as Alva in Alban Berg’s Lulu, Lenski in Piotr Czajkowski’s Eugeniusz Oniegin, Edgardo in Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor as well as Nemo in his Elixir of Love, Ferrando in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Così fan Tutte, Tamino in his Magic Flute and Belmonte in Abduction from Seraglio, Rudolf in Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème, Rinuccio in his Gianni Schcicchi and Cavaradossi in Tosca, Alfred and Eisenstein in Johann Strauss’s Revenge of the Bat, Matteo in Richard Strauss’s Arabella, Riccardo in Guiseppe Verdi’s Masked Ball, Fenton in his Falstaff, the Duke in Rigoletto and Alfredo in his Traviata.
Beyond this, he performed in operas by Ferruccio Busoni, Friedrich von Flotow, Joseph Haydn, Albert Lortzing, Stanisław Moniuszko, Jacques Offenbach, Sergei Prokofiev, Gioachino Rossini, Arnold Schönberg, Bedřich Smetana and Dmitri Shostakovitch. His diverse repertoire expanded beyond operas, including operettas, orations, sacral music and hymns.