Salvatore Licitra

About

Official Site: http://www.salvatorelicitra.com

Though he was not scheduled for a formal Met debut until the 2004-05, Licitra stepped in on short notice to replace the ailing Luciano Pavarotti as Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca, in what was believed to be the legendary tenor’s farewell operatic performance in the house on Saturday, May 11, 2002. Singing not only to a long-sold-out house expecting to hear Pavarotti but also some 3,000 fans watching a live telecast in the plaza outside the Met, Licitra won over the crowd in a performance that The New York Times described as “the starry anointing of a potential successor,” capped with “an ecstatic standing ovation.” “It was his athletic and ardent singing that won you over … He is a genuine find, an exciting tenor with a big, dark-hued and muscular voice,” Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times wrote of Licitra’s performance, noting his “viscerally powerful” top notes and his “ability to shape long pianissimo phrases with sensitivity.”

It was only in November of 2001 that Salvatore Licitra sang in the U.S.

for the first time, at the Richard Tucker Foundation Gala. In reviewing that performance, Anne Midgette of The New York Times described him as “an Italian tenor with a deep baritonal lower register, a brighter upper register, and strong secure high notes that in true Italian tenor tradition, he was happy to hold out for ages in ‘Ma se m’è forza perderti’ from Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera. If he could withstand the inevitable ‘fourth tenor’ hype, he could be one to watch.”

An exclusive Sony Classical recording artist, Licitra’s most current release is his first operatic recital disc and features the most celebrated tenor arias from the operas of Verdi and Puccini – including the two Tosca arias that won him thunderous ovations in his Met debut.

The tenor already established himself with the listening public, notably in his first complete opera recording of La Scala’s Verdi centenary production of Il Trovatore, with Riccardo Multi conducting, featuring Barbara Frittoli, Leo Nucci and Violetta Urmana. The tenor made his Sony Classical debut in 2000 on the soundtrack of the Sally Potter film The Man Who Cried, for which he is the singing voice of actor John Turturro, performing arias from Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers and Tosca, among others.

Licitra has joined forces with tenor Marcelo Álvarez in an album of new songs created especially for them by a carefully selected group of the greatest writers and arrangers working in music today. Duetto is scheduled for release in June 2003.

Licitra’s 2002-03 season includes performances of Tosca and a new production of Simon Boccanegra at the Vienna State Opera; Tosca and a new production of Un Ballo in Maschera in Zurich; a new production of Un Ballo in Maschera that will tour several Italian cities. The tenor will make his debut in Munich in Tosca, and in Tel Aviv in Un Ballo in Maschera. He returns to the Western Hemisphere for concert debuts in San Francisco/Berkeley, Orange County CA and Vancouver. On January 23, 2003, he returns to New York for a concert performance of La Forza del Destino, under the auspices of Robert Bass’s Collegiate Chorale.

Though he has already enjoyed great acclaim for his appearances at La Scala, the mammoth Arena of Verona, and other prestigious Italian and European opera companies, Salvatore Licitra discovered his voice by accident.

When he was 18 he and his parents were vacationing in Sicily, where he had taken a summer job as a graphic artist. One day, after work, he at home listening to the radio and heard someone sing a song he liked. He started imitating the singer on the radio, when his mother called the garden, “WHO is that singing?!” When he told her it had been he, she was surprised at the basic quality of the voice and urged him to seek a teacher.

While still a graphic artist, he joined a chorus, singing in churches and concerts. The chorus master was a woman who also gave private lessons on the side. Young Salvatore became a student of hers, but when she felt she could no longer give him the kind of lessons he needed she turned him over to a woman who had taught her. He stayed with her for a number of years only to discover that natural voice had almost been ruined. As if guided by divine intervention, he came to the attention of Carlo Bergonzi, the famous tenor of the latter part of the last century. Bit by bit, the old master found again the fundamental voice that had been there from the start and began building on its natural foundation. It was in this study period that Licitra felt positive enough about his voice to enter 6 different voice competitions – and lost all of them. (None of those who won, however, have made a career so far.) He also began appearing in legitimate opera productions in small roles, like Gastone in La Traviata.

In 1998 he auditioned for the Arena of Verona and received a contact to cover the tenor leads in Rigoletto, Aida and Un Ballo in Maschera. At one rehearsal he had to step in for the tenor who was to sing the role of king Gustavo at the opening night of Un Ballo in Maschera. After the rehearsal Daniel Oren, the conductor, was so impressed with Licitra that he insisted the young tenor be given the premiere, instead of the other tenor.

Fortified by the great audience reception and by glowing reviews, the rather inexperienced young tenor did something that is typical of innocent rashness – he auditioned for the pinnacle of Italian opera houses, La Scala. This audition was, of all things, for the fiendishly difficult role of Don Alvaro in La Forza del Destino, which was to be mounted in new production under the baton of La Scala’s music director, Riccardo Muti.

Although the maestro was not at that first audition he heard enough positive reports about it that he asked for a separate private audition that landed Licitra a contract to make his La Scala debut in the alternate cast of La Forza del Destino. His success in that production led to follow-up engagements at La Scala as Cavaradossi in Tosca, Gustavo in a new production of Un Ballo in Maschera, Don Alvaro in La Forza del Destino during the La Scala tour in Japan, Macduff in a new production of Macbeth and Manrico in the new production of Il Trovatore which not only opened the 2000/2001 season of La Scala but also was its first homage to Verdi in the year-long centennial of his death.

When a young tenor with such credentials appears on the scene, the international houses, of course, take notice. Already behind him are debuts at the Vienna State Opera and the companies of Rome, Zurich, Lisbon, etc. while future commitments between now and 2006 include debuts at the Paris Bastille Opera, London’s Covent Garden, Munich’s Bavarian State Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and returns to La Scala, the Arena of Verona, the Metropolitan Opera, etc. On the immediate horizon, his new repertoire will include leading roles in Aida, Andrea Chenier, Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana, Adriana Lecouvreur, Simon Boccanegra, Norma, Aida and Turandot.

As the English critic Rupert Christiansen wrote after hearing him in the above-mentioned Il Trovatore. “Licitra’s vocal promise is sensational.”

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