A Lucky Break for an Opera Student!

Adriano Graziani, who is switching from a career in banking to become a full-time singer, was asked if he would stand in for the tenor who had fallen ill with a cold. Graziani, 32, had called up for tickets to a gala concert last month by the Welsh National Opera (WNO). He had less than two hours to remind himself of the scores and make his way to the Millennium Centre in Cardiff for a last-minute rehearsal before the evening show.

His performance, to an audience of more than 200 at a gala event, was so well-received that he has been asked to perform a lead role with the WNO in a production of La Bohème next year.Mr Graziani, who was already known to the WNO through his studentship at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice, told The Times he was trying to buy a ticket for a Friends of Welsh National Opera performance in Cardiff.

Mr Graziani is hoping to join the list of singers who have had a lucky break before becoming stars. Perhaps the best known is Paul Potts, who was manager of a branch of Carphone Warehouse when he won the television show Britain's Got Talent last year with his rendition of popular favourite, Nessun dorma from Puccini's Turandot.