A tenor they call 'the next Pavarotti'
describes the Benedict effect on him
BY JANELLE GELFAND
CINCINATTI, OHIO, May 16 - When Salvatore Licitra was asked to sing for Pope Benedict XVI during the pontiff's U.S. visit last month, the tenor didn't expect the emotion he felt.
"I was thinking I would sing to a normal person, but when I saw the pope coming inside the church (New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral), I have to tell you, he is not a normal person," Licitra says over a Perrier at the downtown Hilton on Monday. "I felt something that changed me. I felt his presence, not as a person, but as one who has a connection to God, a spirituality. It was hugely emotional."
Licitra (Lee-chee-tra) makes his May Festival debut tonight in Music Hall.
He's sincere and humble - hardly the image, as some say, of the second coming of the great tenor Luciano Pavarotti. But even before Licitra stepped in on two hours' notice at the Metropolitan Opera for the ill singer in 2002, opera lovers had christened him "the next Pavarotti."
"It's a huge honor for me. But still I feel that it's not fair, for Pavarotti, for me, or for someone else, just because we are all different," he says. "Pavarotti represented a kind of god. Nobody in this time can be compared to his sound and the longevity of his sound."
The 39-year-old singer looked fresh, despite a daylong rehearsal of Verdi's "La Forza del Destino" (the Force of Destiny), in which he sings the demanding role of Don Alvaro. His dark brown eyes are intense, and he sports a mop of prematurely graying hair.
With a taste for fast cars (he takes his Porsche to a Formula One racetrack), as well as downhill skiing and even the occasional bungee jumping, he's not your typical opera singer. In fact, the former graphic artist for magazines such as Italian Vogue discovered his voice at age 19, when he impulsively sang a pop song in an Italian disco.
Licitra was born in Bern, Switzerland, and moved with his family to Milan, Italy, when he was 2. Even though Milan is home to the famous La Scala, he had never attended the opera - although years later, he would sing his first "La Forza" there. He barely knew what opera was until, after the disco incident, his mother suggested he find a teacher to somehow train that big tenor voice.
When he made his debut at age 29 in "Un Ballo in Maschera" in Parma, Verdi's homeland, the response was overwhelming. Since then, he's made a specialty of Verdi and Puccini. He's also one of the few tenors able to sing in one evening the two demanding leading roles in "Cavalleria Rusticana" and "I Pagliacci," a frequent double bill.
Verdi's 'Forza...' (The Force of Destiny), too, calls for immense stamina. Licitra sees something brave and noble about the character of Don Alvaro, who is an Inca. In the opera, the lover of Leonora has accidentally killed her father, setting the force of destiny in motion. Don Alvaro is not a victim, just terribly unlucky, he says.
"It could happen to everybody, but it's strange that Alvaro has so many problems," Licitra says. "In the end, he says, speaking to God, 'I tried to fight for good things (and) I apologize to everyone.'"
Does the thrill and adrenalin of racing his Porsche carry over into opera? For Licitra, those rare moments away from the stage are more like a relief valve.
"When I sing, I am always under pressure," he says. "You have to have something to make you relaxed, just to switch off the engine."
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 16/05/2008 22:59]