Piotr Beczala Rides In On A Swan To Rescue A Distressed Bayreuth

It was less than a week ago when Roberto Alagna's manager informed the Bayreuth festival that the tenor would not be able to perform as Lohengrin in the new Bayreuth production of said opera later this month. According to reports, Alagna's manager informed the Wagner's that he simply had not been "... able to sufficiently study the part due to work overload (sic).”

This, of course, would have lead to something of a panic, for Bayreuth and Yuval Sharon's new productions of Lohengrin. Thankfully, a much better prepared Lohengrin has been found at short notice, in the form of the very fine Piotr Beczala. Beczala made his role debut as Lohengrin in 2016 at Dresden, see video below. Besczala is having something of a good year having only this year being announced as the recipient of the  International Opera Awards "Best Male Singer" award.  The Bayreuth production will see him once again, reunited with conductor Christian Thielemann.