The Polish-born Met Opera star is very much flavour of the month but beware of his famous black-list.

Piotr Beczała is on something of a role at the moment. His Richard Tauber CD was a Limelight Editor’s Choice and is reviewed here. Even better, we have ten copies to give away over the next week or so: click here to enter. Meanwhile, here are some of the things he had to say about singing, his career and that notorious black list.

What inspired you to become an opera singer?

It was not inspiration – it was a mistake! I was at technical school and escaped from a maths exam to the choir auditions because I was not prepared. Fortunately, or by accident, they said yes and I started my career in the school choir. The next step was the choir in my home city of Czechowice. The third step was a small semi-professional madrigal choir. At that point I did the exam for the music academy and they took me in. It was not a proper plan!

You studied with the legendary Sena Jurinac. Was she formidable?

She saved my life. I started in Czechowice as a...