{"id":30272,"date":"2012-02-16T03:03:29","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T01:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gbopera.it\/?p=30272"},"modified":"2016-12-19T17:17:05","modified_gmt":"2016-12-19T16:17:05","slug":"no-make-uppiotr-beczala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/no-make-uppiotr-beczala\/","title":{"rendered":"“No Make-Up!”…Piotr Beczala"},"content":{"rendered":"

Piotr Beczala<\/strong>\u2019<\/strong>s name is definitely no stranger to everyone who loves opera. He surely is one of the most internationally acclaimed tenors nowadays. Currently starring in Rigoletto\u00a0<\/em>at Op\u00e9ra de Paris, Beczala will star in many important productions. In March, he will debut as Des Grieux in Massenet\u2019s\u00a0Manon\u00a0<\/em>at the Met in New York (which will also be broadcast in HD), then he will be in Zurich for\u00a0La Boh\u00e8me\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Un Ballo in maschera<\/em>\u00a0and in Vienna, at Staatsoper, for\u00a0Lucia di Lammermoor.\u00a0<\/em>After singing \u00a0Boh\u00e8me\u00a0<\/em>at the Salzburg Festival (August 2012), Beczala will sing Rodolfo at La Scala in Milan in September 2012. For further information on this artist, you can visit his website<\/a>.
\nWhich is the main feature of your personality?
\n<\/strong>Honesty, I am also very serious about my work.\u00a0 I like people\u2026\u00a0
\nYour worst flaw?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Ask my wife.\u00a0
\nWhich is your star sign?
\n<\/strong>Capricorn.
\nAre you superstitious?
\n<\/strong>Not more than other normal\u00a0 people (not singers).
\nAre you a spiritual person?
\n<\/strong>Yes , but I still have both feet on the ground.
\nHave you ever envied someone?
\n<\/strong>Never , I am free from jealousy.
\nWhat did you dream to become as an adult when you were a child?
\n<\/strong>My dream was to be a Ship\u2019s Captain.
\nDid your family influence your choices?
\n<\/strong>Not at all before I started to sing , but now we (my wife Kasia and I) make all\u00a0 decisions together.
\nWhich is your most cherished memory?
\n<\/strong>My 40th<\/sup> birthday.\u00a0 My wife invited my friends to surprise me in Krakow, we spent the afternoon in a salt mine in Wieliczka , had dinner in a restaurant 130 meters underground and finally landed in an old Polish Manor It was the last time I was able to spend some time with my great friend Wojtek Drabowicz who died four months later in a car crash.
\nThe moment you felt the proudest?
\n<\/strong>After my last Edgardo in Lucia <\/em>in my second season at the Met . When I stepped onto the stage for my solo bow it started to \u201crain\u201d confetti from above the stage. \u00a0I didn\u2019t know what it is meant but my friends told me that happens very rarely and means \u201c we love you\u201d from the audience\u2026It was a very special moment.
\nThe greatest disappointment?
\n<\/strong>I don\u2019t have one \u2026 I learned from my wife to see all situations in a positive way, which is not always easy.
\nWhat\u2019s missing in your life today?
\n<\/strong>Time for vacation , without thinking about singing.
\nWhat are you afraid of the most?
\n<\/strong>To not be needed\u2026
\nDo you have a recurrent dream?
\n<\/strong>Yes , a single handicap in golf and to play with Sean Connery on the Old Course at St . Andrews.
\nHow important is money to you?
\n<\/strong>At our level, we singers are making good money , but I am singbecause I love to and money is secondary.
\nWhich is the item you like spending money on the most?
\n<\/strong>You mean , something for fun?? That would be my new \u201ctoy\u201d \u2013 an old timer\u00a0 from 1958 ! \u00a0I took four years to restore it and it is wonderful now!
\nDo you collect anything?
\n<\/strong>Except good memories? \u00a0I have a couple of nice watches, and I love old long play recordings.
\n Which are your favorite readings? <\/strong>
\nI try to read a lot, whatever I can get.\u00a0 I especially enjoy Polish literature , but also some mystery thrillers by international writers, my favorite now is Paulo Coelho and his mystic, philosophic world.\u00a0
\nWhich is your favorite perfume?
\n<\/strong>I buy perfume to my wife;\u00a0 \u00a0for myself it is different in summer and winter\u2026 currently \u201cBel Ami<\/em>\u201d from Herm\u00e8.
\n Favorite city?
\n<\/strong>Paris, New York, Vienna and Krakow!!!
\nFavorite color?
\n<\/strong>Blue.
\nFavorite flower?
\n<\/strong>My wife loves Lilies of the Valley and orchids.
\n<\/strong>Your favourite singers?
\n<\/strong>Fritz Wunderlich , Tito Schipa, Georges Thill, Sergiej Lemeschev, Jussi Bjoerling.
\nWhich is the first record you ever bought?
\n<\/strong>A Fritz Wunderlich recital.
\nThe film you love the most?
\n<\/strong>All James Bond\u2026!
\nYour favorite season and why?
\n<\/strong>I love all Four Seasons (not only Vivaldi\u2019s). I am happy with snow in winter and sun and heat in summer.\u00a0 I like balance in life and four seasons are a part of it!\u00a0 Many generations ago, my family came from Italy and another part from Sweden , which makes it hard to decide.
\nHow is your relationship with technology and which is the electronic gadget you can\u2019t do without?
\n<\/strong>Technology is very important today; it is a time of communication. But to be honest the only electronic gadget which I really need is my own brain!
\nHow\u2019s your attitude towards TV ?
\n<\/strong>TV is a part of our lives, whether someone likes it or not.\u00a0 It is especially important in art and culture!
\n How is your relationship with politics?
\n<\/strong>My profession is international and it means not being political! Music is non-political or should be, I have of course my political opinion , like everybody . \u00a0I like pure democracy as it exists in Switzerland, a small country where all important questions are decided by the people.
\n Do you have causes that are very important for you?
\n<\/strong>Yes, too many! \u00a0From big to small things. What is most important is \u201cWorld Peace\u201d but also to respect other people and not hurt anybody. There should be less greed.
\n Day or night?
\n<\/strong>Day and night.
\nWhich is the situation you consider the most relaxing?
\n<\/strong>Relaxing is a pure luxury in these days\u2026 I am looking for it whenever I can , because it is so important to find relaxation after stress. I go outdoors , walking in the mountains to hear the sound of nature, breathing FRESH air deeply!
\nTell us your ideal day.<\/strong>
\nI wake up late, make breakfast together with my wife Kasia, enjoy it on the terrace of our country house;\u00a0 after a nice round of golf with friends, go back home to prepare the barbecue (that is my job),have a great evening with friends ending with playing bridge and having wine and hearing Fritz Wunderlich singing Viennese songs\u2026 that is perfect!
\nWhich is your hideaway?
\n<\/strong>That\u2019s Zabnica, our country home in Poland, in the mountains with a small creek at the end of the road; \u00a0no cellphone service. and only three hours by car to Vienna.\u00a0
\n<\/strong>What\u2019s the soundtrack to your everyday life?
\n<\/strong>I am singing in my head, mostly the new music which I am studying at that moment \u2026
\nWhat do you miss the most when you\u2019re away from home?
\n<\/strong>Home? \u00a0We try to create a \u201chome\u201d wherever we are at that moment! My wife is great at this! We rent apartments for long stays in Paris , London or Munich and after couple of small fix-ups we have a home. We have our own homes in Krakow , Switzerland and New York. \u00a0Someday, we will create a real HOME\u00a0 , that is our plan for the future!
\nThe holiday or the trip you\u2019d like to take?
\n<\/strong>Many ideas\u2026 a trip along the west coast from San Diego to the north of USA with a camper , or ten days going from one ch\u00e2teau to another in France with friends and a driver to taste the great wines or on a boat in the Caribbean \u00a0Islands.
\nWhat or who makes you feel embarrassed?
\n<\/strong>People without class\u2026 someone whose behavior indicates bad upbringing .
\n How would you define your relation with food ?
\n<\/strong>Oh! I love good food, but I have to be careful; quality not quantity, like some tenors with pasta after the performance !!
\nMediterranean diet, macrobiotics or fast food?
\n<\/strong>Mediterrean: Spain , France , Italy or Greece But nooooo fast food!\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/strong>Your favourite dish?
\n<\/strong>I love the antipasti in Italy and Greece , terrines and pat\u00e9\u2019 in France , Serrano ham and steaks in Spain. I love good fish as well. I have to stop thinking about it. This is making me hungry.\u00a0\u00a0
\nRed or white wine<\/strong>?
\n<\/strong>Red , but it depends on the food of course , I don\u2019t like the new style which does not differentiate. \u00a0\u00a0Chardonnay with duck is maybe \u201ccool\u201d but it tastes bad or even worse Merlot with grilled shrimp . Brrrrrr! You kill the wine and the food at the same time. What a pity!
\nWhich is the place where cooking is the worst ever?
\n<\/strong>North Pole.
\nWas music a vocation?
\n<\/strong>Not at the beginning, but now \u2026 YES. It is also an obligation! I am singing not only for me , but for the public , critics and at times just for fun.\u00a0 I am doing it also for the next generation of singers to show them the way.
\nWhat would you want someone who doesn\u2019t know your voice to listen to?
\n<\/strong>Come to the performance and we will talk about it afterwards!
\nIf you were granted the chance to choose a role, which one would it be?
\n<\/strong>For already many years, I am enjoying this wonderful and comfortable situation.\u00a0 I am singing roles which I like and think are good for my voice: Faust , Werther , Romeo , Duca , Lensky but I would like someday to sing\u00a0 Verdi\u2019s Otello. \u00a0I hope my singers\u2019s\u00a0 life is not too short to make this happen.
\nWhat do you do an hour prior to go on stage?
\n<\/strong>I am always at the opera house one and a half hours before the start and I warm up a little; then I am going to makeup ,get in my costume, , finish warming up the voice and start!\u00a0 What\u2019s never missing in your dressing room?
\n<\/strong>No special routine, no pictures or a talisman. \u00a0I need fresh air, \u00a0nice atmosphere and my wife with her happy smile!
\nWhat do you\u00a0 think of when looking at yourself in the mirror?
\n<\/strong>Before the performance starts: who is that guy??? \u00a0Faust?? \u2026 I try hard to imagine the person who I am playing , my character, not myself! It helps to be believeable on stage. Privately I am agreeing with myself , with who I am , what I am doing with my life\u2026 let\u2019s shave!
\n Your mood at the moment?
\n<\/strong>Great, but it is Monday.
\nWhat\u2019s your motto<\/strong>?
\n<\/strong>With honesty go your way\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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