TENOR MAKES TRIUMPHANT DEBUT AT MET

By Mike Silverman
The Associated Press
May, 12 2002  

NEW YORK (AP) - For Luciano Pavarotti, it's over. For Salvatore Licitra, it's 
just beginning.
 
On a night of high drama at the opera house, Pavarotti disappointed thousands 
of his fans by deciding at the last minute he was too ill with the flu to 
sing the closing performance of the Metropolitan Opera season. Licitra, a 
young Sicilian tenor, went on instead - and scored the most triumphant Met 
debut in recent memory.
 
Licitra (pronounced li-CHEE-tra) sang the role of painter Mario Cavaradossi 
in Puccini's ``Tosca'' on Saturday, and with his bright, ringing sound and 
confident manner quickly won the affection of the 4,000 people who packed the 
house - as well as 3,000 more watching a live telecast on the Lincoln Center 
plaza outside. They showered him with extended applause and bravos after both 
his big arias and a 2 1/2-minute standing ovation at the end of the 
performance, bringing tears to his eyes.
 
For Pavarotti, closeted in his apartment just a few blocks south of the opera 
house, the cancellation likely marked a mournful end to a glorious Met career 
that began with his appearance in Puccini's ``La Boheme'' in 1968 - the same 
year Licitra was born.
 
At 66, after 373 Met performances of 20 roles, he is absent from the roster 
next season - and Met general manager Joseph Volpe made it clear he would not 
be returning in staged opera, though he might be invited back for a concert 
or recital. Nor does he have performances booked at any of the world's other 
opera houses.
 
Pavarotti had kept the audience guessing until the very last minute, with no 
sign posted in the lobby as usually happens when a star cancels. When the 
house lights went down and the spotlight came up on stage, there were groans 
of dread.
 
Stepping out from the curtain, Volpe related the events of the evening: A 
phone call from Pavarotti at 5:15 p.m. saying he would go on, but then 
another at 7:10 p.m. in which he said, ``I'm sorry, my friend, I cannot 
sing.'' The Met had even sent a vocal coach to help Pavarotti prepare. Volpe 
said later that the coach confirmed the singer was too congested to sing.
 
Volpe said he had asked Pavarotti to come to the house to give his regrets in 
person to the audience, but the singer replied, ``I cannot do that.''
 
He said he then told Pavarotti, ``This is a hell of a way to end this 
beautiful career of yours.''
 
On Sunday, Pavarotti issued an ``open letter'' to his fans, saying he had 
been looking forward to the performances but that he could not go on once the 
flu virus robbed him of a ``proper vocal condition.''
 
``The media seems to imply that the New York opera public will not forgive my 
cancellation,'' the letter said. ``But forgiveness assumes that one has made 
a mistake; no matter how much I regret with a passion not being able to sing 
at the Met on this occasion, catching the flu was certainly not a willful 
mistake I made.''
 
Licitra, who has performed the role of Cavaradossi in Europe, where he lives, 
had been flown over by the Met on the Concorde as a standby after Pavarotti 
canceled his first scheduled performance Wednesday. The understudy that night 
was journeyman tenor Francisco Casanova, and Volpe knew he'd have to do 
better to placate the closing-night gala audience, which paid nonrefundable 
ticket prices ranging from $75 to $1,875 - up from the usual $30 to $265.
 
Comparisons are of course inevitable, and it would be far too soon based on 
one performance to proclaim Licitra an heir to Pavarotti's legacy. Still, he 
would appear to be a bright hope for opera lovers who have been searching 
desperately for tenors to fill the gap in the Italian repertory left by 
Pavarotti (and the retirement a few years hence of Placido Domingo, who is 
61).
 
Licitra, 33, shares with the young Pavarotti a tone whose quality is tightly 
focused and urgent - a sound produced under pressure that never seems 
stressed and that cuts easily through the orchestra. His high notes are clean 
and strong, though he lacks that unique ``ping'' in the voice that made 
Pavarotti's high notes so thrilling in their effortlessness.
 
While Pavarotti started with a strong lyric voice and pushed it into more 
strenuous roles - with some loss of tonal beauty, many thought - Licitra has 
a bigger, deeper sound that might make him a true spinto tenor, a 
classification somewhere between lyric and heroic.
 
Licitra does not cut a heroic figure on stage. He's short and on the stout 
side. Still, like Pavarotti, he has a disarming presence, a manner that 
exudes assurance the audience will love him. This became evident once he got 
through his first aria, ``Recondita armonia,'' and the big ovation made him 
sigh with relief.
 
His third-act aria, ``E lucevan le stelle,'' was also beautifully sung, as 
was his final duet with the impassioned Tosca of soprano Maria Guleghina. 
Here was ardent, natural vocalism of a sort that has become increasingly rare 
on the world's opera stages.
 
In the third major role of the opera, bass James Morris turned in a chilling 
portrayal of the sadistic Baron Scarpia. The whole evening came off 
remarkably smoothly, given the fact that Licitra had only a couple of hours 
of rehearsal and didn't meet conductor James Levine until just before curtain 
time.
 
It may work to Licitra's advantage that the suddenness of his Met debut 
limited the advance hype. In recent seasons, excessive publicity set up 
unrealistic expectations for the debuts of Roberto Alagna and Jose Cura, to 
name just two good singers who have yet to show they are great.
 
Licitra wasn't scheduled to sing in the house until 2004, also in ``Tosca,'' 
though the Met may now try to get him back sooner. His only previous New York 
appearance was at the Richard Tucker Music Foundation gala last fall, where 
he won glowing reviews.
 
Until now, his chief notoriety stemmed from a high note he DIDN'T sing. In a 
production of Verdi's ``Il Trovatore'' at Milan's La Scala in 2000, conductor 
Riccardo Muti insisted Licitra omit the high C (unwritten by Verdi) that 
traditionally ends the aria ``Di quella pira.'' Licitra obliged and drew 
vociferous boos from an audience less interested in authenticity than 
visceral thrills. A recording of those performances was released in January 
by Sony.