Piotr Beczała is widely acknowledged as one of the most exciting, impressive, and sought-after lyric tenors of our time. He kicked off the 2013/2014 season with two season opening productions in a row: first, he was heard as Lensky in the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Eugene Onegin, then he returned to the Teatro alla Scala to sing Alfredo in a new production of La traviata. He returned to the US to perform the Prince in Dvořák’s Rusalka at the Metropolitan Opera and Gustav III in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera at the San Diego Opera. In Europe he sings Rodolfo (Puccini: La bohème) in Paris and the title role of Gounod’s Faust at the Vienna State Opera. He can be heard in concert in Berlin, Munich, Baden-Baden, London and Prague and returns to the Salzburg’s Whitsun Festival to perform Rossini’s Stabat Mater under the baton of Sir Antonio Pappano.
In 2006 Piotr Beczała made two important debuts in Milan’s La Scala (January 2006) and Metropolitan opera in New York (December 2006), on both scenes as the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto. In February 2009 he stepped in for Rolando Villazón in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor alongside Anna Netrebko; this performance in Metropolitan Opera was broadcasted live in HD world-wide. Since then, Beczała’s renown has changed from the rising star from Poland to the absolute world top class. He frequently sings at La Scala, Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, the Opéra Bastille in Paris, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Zurich Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Covent Garden in London, Dresden’s Semperoper, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Hamburg State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, State Opera Berlin, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Teatro Real in Madrid, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, and the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, among many others, and at the festivals in Salzburg or Verbier. 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.
Piotr Beczała 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 Zurich Opera, a distinction he still enjoys. During that time he appeared in a wide array of lyric roles, providing an excellent foundation for his subsequent development into the major artist he is today.
Piotr Beczała is represented on dozens of CDs in a vast array of works, ranging from staples of the repertory, including a live Gounod’s Faust from Vienna on Orfeo and Verdi’s La traviata from Munich on Farao (nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award), to such rarely-heard works as Karol Szymanowski’s King Roger and Offenbach’s Rheinnixen – both on the Accord label, and Johann Strauss II’s operetta Simplicius on EMI. 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 Zauberflöte and Simplicius (all on Arthaus), as well as Don Giovanni (EMI). Also available are Der Rosenkavalier (TDK) from Salzburg, Don Giovanni (Decca), Lucia di Lammermoor and most recently Eugene Onegin from the Met (Deutsche Grammophon). In autumn 2012 Piotr Beczała signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon, his first solo album with the Yellow Label Heart’s Delight – a tribute to Richard Tauber was released in May 2013.