On the British television show Britain’s Got Talent last year, a Welsh cell phone salesman and amateur opera singer named Paul Potts sang the aria Nessun dorma. Many people have since seen the video of that show, which has launched Potts’ career. He is coming to Washington this week, to sing a recital at Lisner Auditorium (March 3, 8 p.m.). Even with tickets at $42.50, it has already almost sold out. While the pop culture curiosity of the event makes it hard to resist (even for me), there are better singers scheduled to perform in the area this week.

>> Tenor Lawrence Brownlee will give a recital the same evening (March 3, 8 p.m.) at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington in Rockville. In my most recent review of Brownlee, his voice was called “impressive” and “consistently suave and accurate.”

>> A completely different tenor, Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, will be featured at the week’s most exciting musical program, presented on Sunday afternoon by Opera Lafayette (March 9, 3 pm). The Genesis of Don Giovanni will trace the origins of the Don Juan legend in opera, leading up to Mozart’s Don Giovanni, with excerpts from Gazzaniga’s Il Convitato di Pietra and Melani’s L’Empio Punito. A few $30 tickets, in the rear section, are still available for this concert at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church (4900 Connecticut Ave. NW).

>> She is not a tenor, but rising mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard (pictured) will give a keenly anticipated recital with pianist Brian Zeger on Friday (March 7, 7:30 p.m.). For tickets to this Vocal Arts Society concert at the Embassy of Austria, call (202) 365-9064.

ALSO RECOMMENDED:
>> Pianist Ingrid Fliter will join the National Symphony Orchestra for this week’s concerts (March 6 to 8) in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. She will play the first Beethoven concerto, programmed with works by Webern and Strauss. Tickets: $20 to $80. Students may be able to purchase special $10 tickets (Thursday and Friday performances only) through the Attend! program.