Piotr Beczała is among the most sought-after tenors of our time. Since his debut at the Met in 2006 as Duca ("Rigoletto"), he has also sung Lenski ("Eugene Onegin"), the Prince ("Rusalka"), Edgardo, Rodolfo, Vaudémont ("Iolanta"), Riccardo, Gounod’s Roméo, Faust, Maurizio ("Adriana Lecouvreur") and Werther there, as well as Des Grieux ("Manon"). His interpretation of Duca earned him the Echo Klassik award as Singer of the Year in 2014. At La Scala in Milan, he sang Duca, Rodolfo and Alfredo ("La traviata"). At the Salzburg Festival, where he debuted in 1997 as Tamino, he celebrated successes as Roméo, the Prince, Rodolfo and Faust, as well as in concert performances of Iolanta and Werther. He is also in demand worldwide as a concert and lieder singer. Piotr Beczała, who comes from Poland and has been a Swiss citizen since 2012, studied at the Music Academy in Katowice. He was a long-standing ensemble member at the Zurich Opera House. In addition to a number of DVDs, among others from the Zurich Opera House, his discography includes solo albums such as "Heart’s Delight: The Songs of Richard Tauber", "The French Collection", "Salut", "Verdi" and "Slavic Opera Arias". At the International Opera Awards 2018, he was named Singer of the Year. In 2016, he debuted as Lohengrin alongside Anna Netrebko at the Semperoper Dresden and sang the role again, among others, in Zurich in 2017, at the Bayreuth Festival in 2018, at the Vienna State Opera in 2020, as well as in Baden-Baden in 2026. In Zurich, he was most recently seen as Prince Sou-Chong in "The Land of Smiles", as Werther, as Chevalier des Grieux in "Manon", in a lieder recital, at an operetta gala and as Calàf in "Turandot". In this season, he could be heard, among others, as Andrea Chénier at the Met, as Radamès in "Aida" in Paris, as well as the Prince in "Rusalka" and Don José in "Carmen" at the Vienna State Opera. At the Bavarian State Opera, he sang Manrico in "Il trovatore" as well as Faust this season.
11. January 2018
At the end of last season, Piotr Beczala astonished the audience as Prince SouChong in Franz Lehár's operetta Das Land des Lächelns. Before he can be experienced as Werther in the same named opera by Jules Massenet in May 2018, he will first return to the Zurich Opera House with a song recital.
Accompanied by Sarah Tysman on the piano, he will not only interpret songs by Ottorino Respighi, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari and Francesco Paolo Tosti, but also rarities by the two Polish composers Stanislaw Moniuszko and Karol Szymanowski.
Program
STEFANO DONAUDY (1879 – 1925)
Vagissima sembianza (Alberto Donaudy)
Freschi luoghi, prati aulenti (Alberto Donaudy)
O del mio amato ben perduto incanto! (Alberto Donaudy)
ERMANNO WOLF-FERRARI (1876 – 1948)
Quando ti vidi (Volkslied), op. 12/1
Io del saluti ve ne mando mille (Volkslied), op. 11/2
E tanto c’è pericol (Volkslied), op. 11/3
O sì che non sapevo (Volkslied), op. 11/4
OTTORINO RESPIGHI (1879 – 1936)
Lagrime (Dichter unbekannt)
Scherzo (Zangarini)
Stornellatrice (Zangarini/Donini)
Nevicata (Negri)
Pioggia (Aganoor Pompilj)
Nebbie (Negri)
FRANCESCO PAOLO TOSTI (1846 – 1916)
L’ultima canzone (Cimmino)
Chi sei tu che mi parli (D’Annunzio)
Ideale (Errico)
KAROL SZYMANOWSKI (1882 – 1937)
Sechs Lieder nach Gedichten von Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, op. 2
Nun bin ich alle Welten los
Du bist nicht tot
Vom Felsen ab herniederquellt
Öfters wie betrunken
Deiner Stimme Klang
Wohin ich lenk’ mein’ Schritt
MIECZYSLAW KARLOWICZ (1876 – 1909)
Öfters wie betrunken (Przerwa-Tetmajer)
Auf der ruhigen, dunklen See (Przerwa-Tetmajer), op. 3/3
Herbstblätter (Przerwa-Tetmajer)
In der Abendstille (Przerwa-Tetmajer), op. 3/8
Für die Traurige (Gliński), op. 1/1
Vor der ewigen Nacht (Krasiński), op. 3/6
Die verzauberte Prinzessin (Asnyk), op. 3/10
STANISLAW MONIUSZKO (1819 – 1872)
Zwei Morgenröten (Lenartowicz)
Die Spinnerin (Czeczot)
Heidenröslein (Grajnert)
Froh und glücklich (Wasilewski)

