Piotr Beczała

Life

Beczała was born in Czechowice-Dziedzice in southern Poland and initially trained in Katowice. He studied under Sena Jurinac in Switzerland. His first engagements were with the Linz State Theatre from 1992 to 1997, after which he became a regular member of Zurich Opera. Between 2004 and 2006, Beczała made several major international house debuts. In April 2004, he made his debut at London's Royal Opera House as the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier, later returning in October of that year in the title role of Faust, then in June 2005 as the Duke in Rigoletto, and in September 2006, again in Faust. In November 2004, he made his San Francisco Opera and American debut as Lensky in Eugene Onegin. Beczała's La Scala debut came in January 2006 as the Duke in Rigoletto, the role in which he also made Metropolitan Opera debut on December 19, 2006. In 2007, Beczała was awarded the Munich Opera Festival Prize.

In 2012/2013, Beczała reprised his role as the Duke in Michael Mayer's new "Rat Pack" production of Rigoletto at the Met. Following a hostile reception from the loggionisti at the opening night of the 2013/14 La Scala season in La traviata, Beczała announced his refusal ever to appear in another production at La Scala.

Beczała's commercial recordings include a Farao Classics recording of La traviata (as Alfredo Germont), and the complete songs of Karol Szymanowski.