Salvatore Licitra, the opera singer, who died on Monday aged 43, was a contender for the title of the world’s next great tenor and had already been acclaimed the “new Pavarotti” on account of his ringing high notes, strong lower register, and considerable stamina.
He was catapulted to fame in dramatic fashion, stepping in at the last moment for Pavarotti in a gala performance of Puccini’s Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on the evening of May 11 2002.
Salvatore Licitra
Only 55 hours earlier, on Thursday May 9, Licitra had been relaxing at his family’s apartment in Milan. Then his manager in New York, JF Mastroianni, called. “He asked me if I feel good,” Licitra said later. “I responded that I was rested and asked him why. He said maybe there is some job for me. I asked him what type of work. He said: 'I’ll let you know.’”
Within the hour Mastroianni called back, uttering the decisive words: “Are you ready for a trip? There is some problem with Luciano.”
After Mastroianni’s call, Licitra was unable to sleep, watching television until 3.30am. He then caught a flight to London and Concorde to New York. Arriving at 9am on Friday morning, he reached the Met two hours later and spent another 12 hours going over a videotape of the production and attending piano rehearsals.
Pavarotti only added to the tension. His scheduled appearance was regarded by many as the likely finale to the superstar’s 41-year career in staged opera, and he dithered all day over whether to let his fans down or risk making a strained and under par appearance. Licitra knew only at about 7pm — an hour before curtain — that he would be going on stage. He finally met the conductor, James Levine, when the maestro dropped in to his dressing room 15 minutes later.
Licitra put any nerves behind him. He earned lengthy ovations for his two big arias and, at the end of the opera, received a three-minute standing ovation from the audience of 4,000, each of whom had paid as much as $1,800 for their non-refundable tickets to hear Pavarotti. The critics agreed that a star had been born.
Salvatore Licitra was born on August 10 1968 at Berne, Switzerland, to Sicilian parents, and returned to Italy as a teenager to open a graphics shop with his brother. He started singing at 18, mimicking great Italian tenors such as Caruso and Gigli. He worked as a graphic artist on layouts for Italian Vogue, and studied at Carlo Bergonzi’s vocal academy until 1998, when he ran out of money.
Although scheduled to sing as an understudy at the Verona festival that summer, he so impressed the conductor Daniel Oren that he made his debut on the opening night as Riccardo in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera.
Licitra was considered a genuine tenore spinto, with a voice finely balanced between the lyrical and the dramatic but with sufficient heft to play the heroes of the Italian core repertoire of Verdi and Puccini.
In Italy the frenzied search for the “Fourth Tenor”, or at least an heir to Pavarotti and his ageing Spanish contemporaries Placido Domingo and José Carreras, is likened to a papal succession. The difference is that the singing contest is carried out in full view of the faithful.
Licitra’s talent, and the drama of his substitution for Pavarotti, meant his name was added to the list of candidates for this vacancy.
After his triumph at the New York Met, he appeared on opera stages and concert platforms around the world. Under the baton of Ricardo Muti he sang at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and regularly appeared at La Scala and other venues in Europe, the United States and the Far East.
Offstage, Licitra was quick-witted, sunny and informal. He dispensed with the usual starry entourage, preferring the company of his parents, his brother and his fiancée.
Salvatore Licitra had spent nine days in a coma after crashing his scooter. His fiancée, who was riding pillion, was unhurt, but he never regained consciousness.
Salvatore Licitra was born on August 10 1968 at Berne, Switzerland, to Sicilian parents, and returned to Italy as a teenager to open a graphics shop with his brother. He started singing at 18, mimicking great Italian tenors such as Caruso and Gigli. He worked as a graphic artist on layouts for Italian Vogue, and studied at Carlo Bergonzi’s vocal academy until 1998, when he ran out of money.
Although scheduled to sing as an understudy at the Verona festival that summer, he so impressed the conductor Daniel Oren that he made his debut on the opening night as Riccardo in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera.
Licitra was considered a genuine tenore spinto, with a voice finely balanced between the lyrical and the dramatic but with sufficient heft to play the heroes of the Italian core repertoire of Verdi and Puccini.
In Italy the frenzied search for the “Fourth Tenor”, or at least an heir to Pavarotti and his ageing Spanish contemporaries Placido Domingo and José Carreras, is likened to a papal succession. The difference is that the singing contest is carried out in full view of the faithful.
Licitra’s talent, and the drama of his substitution for Pavarotti, meant his name was added to the list of candidates for this vacancy.
After his triumph at the New York Met, he appeared on opera stages and concert platforms around the world. Under the baton of Ricardo Muti he sang at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and regularly appeared at La Scala and other venues in Europe, the United States and the Far East.
Offstage, Licitra was quick-witted, sunny and informal. He dispensed with the usual starry entourage, preferring the company of his parents, his brother and his fiancée.
Salvatore Licitra had spent nine days in a coma after crashing his scooter. His fiancée, who was riding pillion, was unhurt, but he never regained consciousness.
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