Piotr Beczala (Tenor)
“The kind of voice you want to hang medals on.” OPERA
NEWS
Piotr Beczala is one of the most sought-after
tenors of our time and a constant guest in the world’s leading opera houses. The
Polish-born artist is acclaimed by audiences and critics alike not only for the
beauty of his voice, but also for his ardent commitment to each character he
portrays.
Piotr Beczala begins the 15-16 season with performances of
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at the San Francisco Opera. He returns to
Metropolitan Opera later in the season to sing Duca in Rigoletto. Further
highlights of the season include a new production of Werther at Opéra National
de Paris and performances of Un Ballo in Maschera both at the Bavarian State
Opera and Vienna State Opera as well as making his debut in the title role of
Wagner´s Lohengrin opposite Anna Netrebko at the Semperoper Dresden. Piotr
Beczala can also be heard singing in concert performances of Berlioz’ Damnation
de Faust at the Philharmonie in Berlin, Werther at the Salzburg Festival and in
concerts across Europe, amongst others in Vienna, Lucerne, Zurich, Dortmund,
Milan and at the Carnegie Hall in New York.
Since his debut as Duca in
Rigoletto in 2006, Piotr Beczala is a regular guest at the Metropolitan Opera
New York. Here he has performed in a new production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene
Onegin opposite Anna Netrebko, Prince in Dvorak’s Rusalka,Edgardo in Donizetti’s
Lucia di Lammermoor, Rodolfo (La Bohème), as well as in the title roles of
Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and Faust. In 2011 he accompanied the MET on a tour
to Japan, singing Rodolfo and Edgardo. 2012 saw Piotr Beczala make his role
debut as Chevalier des Grieux in Laurent Pelly’s new production of Manon,
alongside Anna Netrebko as the eponymous heroine, conducted by Fabio Luisi. The
production was part of the “HD live” series by the MET and was broadcast live in
cinemas throughout the US and over 50 countries world-wide. It was released on
DVD, as was his interpretation of the Duke in a new production of Rigoletto,
alongside Diana Damrau in January 2013, for which he received the ECHO Klassik
Award “Singer of the Year” in 2014.
At Teatro alla Scala in Milan Piotr
Beczala made his debut in 2006 singing Duca inRigoletto, returning later as
Rodolfo in La Bohème. The tenor also opened the 13/14 season for the first time,
singing Alfredo in a new production of Verdi’s La Traviata. Piotr Beczala also
regularly sings with the State Operas in Munich and in Vienna. On the stage of
the National Theatre in Munich, he interpreted the Prince, Alfredo, the Italian
Singer in Der Rosenkavalier, and the title role of Massenet’s Werther. During
the Munich Opera Festival, Piotr Beczala was heard as Alfredo in La Traviata. In
Vienna he performed Roméo in Jürgen Flimm’s production of Roméo et Juliette,
under the baton of Plácido Domingo. Since his debut as Alfredo in 2008, Piotr
Beczala has returned to Vienna annually singing Faust, Edgardo and Rodolfo. In
2012 he made his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, singing
concert performances of Faust. At the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London
he made his debut in Der Rosenkavalier and returned singing in Faust, Rigoletto,
Eugene Onegin, La Bohème, Roméo et Juliette, La Traviata and Verdi’s Requiem.
His US debut saw Piotr Beczala perform as Lenski at the San Francisco Opera,
followed by Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Rodolfo in La Bohème. Piotr
Beczala sang guest performances at the Nederlandse Opera, Théâtre de la
Monnaie/de Munt, Staatsoper Hamburg, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Berlin,
Grand Théâtre de Genève, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatr Wielki (Warsaw), and
the Mariinsky Theatre, amongst many others.
Piotr Beczala is a regular
guest at the Salzburg Festival. Since his debut as Tamino in 1997 he has sung
Prince in Rusalka, Roméo in Roméo et Juliette, the cantata Rinaldo by Johannes
Brahms under the baton of Sir Elliott Gardiner at the Whitsun Festival and
Rodolfo in Damiano Michieletto’s new production of La Bohème opposite Anna
Netrebko during the Summer Festival. The production was broadcast on TV and
released on DVD by Deutsche Grammophon. Piotr Beczala also sang with Anna
Netrebko in concert performances of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta in 2011. In 2013 he
was heard in Verdi’s Requiem with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Riccardo Muti
conducting.
In addition to his operatic work, he has sung many of the
great choral and orchestral vocal works with the world’s most distinguished
orchestras and maestri. Celebrating his 20th stage anniversary Piotr Beczala
gave a concert at Theatre Wielki in Warsaw in 2012. Also in 2012 he sang the New
Year’s Eve concerts at the Semperoper Dresden for the second consecutive year.
The concerts, which were led by Christian Thielemann, were broadcast on TV and
released on CD and DVD by Deutsche Grammophon. In 2014 he joined a spectacular
group of colleagues for Le Concert de Paris, an annual concert event and
celebration at the Eiffel Tower with an estimated live audience of more than
half a million people. Piotr Beczala was born in Czechowice-Dziedzice in
Southern Poland and received his initial vocal training at the Katowice Academy
of Music, where he was given instruction by such illustrious singers as Pavel
Lisitsian and Sena Jurinac. His first engagement was at the Landestheater Linz
and in 1997 he became a company member of the Zürich Opera. The Zurich audience
could hear him as Alfredo in La traviata, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, the
title role of Faust, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Elvino in La Sonnambula, and
also as the soloist in orchestral songs by Richard Strauss, Riccardo inUn Ballo
in maschera as well as Rodolfo in La Bohème.
Piotr Beczala’s is
represented on dozens of CDs in a vast array of works, ranging from staples of
the repertory, including Faust live from Vienna (Orfeo) and La Traviata from
Munich (Farao), which was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award, to such
rarely-heard works as Szymanowski’s Król Roger and Offenbach’s Rheinnixen
(Accord) and Johann Strauss II’s Simplicius (EMI). In addition, Piotr Beczala
sings on a recording of Lucia di Lammermoor with Natalie Dessay in the title
role and Valery Gergiev leading the Mariinsky Opera on the Company’s own
label.
Three solo aria CDs have been released on the Orfeo label.
“Salut”, featuring French and Italian arias (2008), was followed by “Slavic
Opera Arias”, with repertoire by Borodin, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov,
Rachmaninoff, Moniuszko, Źeleński, Nowowiejski, Smetana and Dvořák. Opera News
declared it #1 on its list of 2011’s “Twelve Best Recital Discs” & it
received Classica’s coveted “Choc de l’année 2011”. In 2013 a Verdi album was
released. Since 2012 Piotr Beczala is an exclusive artist of Deutsche
Grammophon and released his second album “The French Collection” with the yellow
label in February, 2015.
His DVD releases include a series of
performances from the Zurich Opera including:Rigoletto, La Traviata, Die lustige
Witwe, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Die Zauberflöteand Simplicius (all on
Arthaus), as well as Don Giovanni (EMI). Also available are Der Rosenkavalier
(TDK) from Salzburg, Don Giovanni (Decca), Rusalka alongside Renée Fleming
(Decca) and Lucia di Lammermoor from the MET (DG). Other recent DVD releases
include the Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with Christian Thielemann leading the
Wiener Philharmoniker (Unitel/C Major) and the Farewell Concert for the Wiener
Staatsoper’s long standing Intendant, Ioan Holender (DG), among many others.
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