The story goes that Roberto Alagna was discovered singing for tips in a smoky pizza parlour in Paris. A respected singing teacher heard him and phoned an agent friend of his and the rest, as they say, is history.

He won the Luciano Pavarotti competition in 1988 and sang his first professional opera in the same year (Traviata in Glyndebourne). Recordings followed quickly for EMI and for Decca.

The rags-to-riches story is often quoted in the press, but Alagna's road to the top of his profession has not always been easy. Because he has grown up completely in the limelight of the media, Alagna's every move and development has been the subject of intense scrutiny. And personal tragedy struck in 1994 when his wife Florence died, leaving him the sole parent of their daughter. His ebullient nature and his true lyric voice however have carried the day and Alagna, now happily re-married to soprano Angela Gheorghiu is enjoying an international career.

His great roles of Roméo in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette), Rodolfo in La Bohème, Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore (both Nemorino and Rodolfo recorded for Decca) Alfredo in La Traviata, Don Carlos and more recently Cavaradossi in Tosca are in demand throughout the world.