Obituary: Salvatore Licitra / Tenor at Metropolitan Opera, debuted as fill-in for Pavarotti
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Salvatore Licitra, 2002
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Salvatore Licitra, a tenor with a ringing, powerful voice who rode a sensational surprise Metropolitan Opera debut to dozens of performances with the company, died Monday in Catania, Sicily, nine days after being severely injured in a motor scooter accident. He was 43.
His death was reported on his website, salvatorelicitra.com.
News reports said Mr. Licitra lost control of his scooter after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage on the evening of Aug. 27 near Ragusa, a town where he was to receive a prize Sept. 3, and sustained severe head injuries. He was not wearing a helmet, Reuters said, and was riding with his girlfriend, who was unhurt in the crash.
Mr. Licitra arrived on the New York City scene with a splash in May 2002 to fill in at the Met for Luciano Pavarotti in two performances of Puccini's "Tosca" that most believed would be Pavarotti's farewell to the company. (Pavarotti died in 2007.) The second performance, on the final night of the Met season, was also simulcast to thousands sitting outside the house in the Josie Robertson Plaza at Lincoln Center.
Claiming illness, Pavarotti had canceled both performances, and Joseph Volpe, then the Met's general manager, flew the Italian Mr. Licitra to New York on the Concorde as a last-minute substitute.
The first night's audience, though geared up for a major Pavarotti event, nevertheless greeted Mr. Licitra with applause, and his big, warmly Italianate sound and full-voiced high notes -- reminiscent of some of Pavarotti's own -- earned him cheers after his arias and an extended standing ovation at the end.
"He is a genuine find, an exciting tenor with a big, dark-hued and muscular voice," Anthony Tommasini wrote in his review in The New York Times.
In the following Met seasons, Mr. Licitra sang in Verdi's "Forza del Destino" and "Un Ballo in Maschera," Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana," Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" and Puccini's "Trittico" and "Turandot." He was to appear in the title role of Verdi's "Ernani" in February.
While retaining some of the raw power that was so impressive at his debut, Mr. Licitra was showing signs of increasing vocal strain in recent years. Reviewing a performance of "Turandot" at the Met in The Times last year, Mr. Tommasini found his voice "uneven, leathery and curiously cautious" and worried about the fulfillment of his early promise.
First Published September 8, 2011 12:00 am
