Early life and debuts
Born in
Bern,
Switzerland, to
Sicilian parents, Licitra grew up in
Milan. He fell into
opera by accident. As many tenors before him, he was not altogether confident about his vocal capabilities and started working as a graphic artist for Italian
Vogue
. Nevertheless, from the age of 19, he started attending singing classes on a regular basis and enrolled at the 'Music Academy of Parma' and the Corsi Verdiani. After 8 years of studies, initially as a choir vocalist, he left his voice teacher and enrolled at
Carlo Bergonzi's voice academy in
Busseto.
Licitra made his debut in
Un ballo in maschera
in
Parma in 1998, in a performance for Bergonzi's students. His success led to a contract as cover in
Ballo
,
Rigoletto
and
Aida
in
Verona, and he ended up singing them all. Buoyed by positive audience reception, he auditioned for
Riccardo Muti at
La Scala, who hired the young tenor for Alvaro in a new production of
La forza del destino
.
Fame: La Scala
Then his rise to stardom was almost meteoric: March 1999 he debuted at
La Scala under
Riccardo Muti in
La Forza del Destino
as Alvaro, then sang in
Tosca
and
Madama Butterfly
at the
Arena di Verona in June and July, then
Tosca
at La Scala in March 2000, again with Muti. The performance was recorded and released on
Sony Classical. In May he debuted in
Madrid in
La forza del destino
, and in Verona, he was awarded the
Premio Zenatello as tenor of the year, and sang in
La forza del destino
at the Arena in July. In September he traveled to
Japan with the La Scala ensemble for performances of
Forza
.
Milan honoured him with the Honorary
Citizenship Medal and Sony offered him an exclusive recording contract.
A controversial performance of
Il Trovatore
, recorded and issued by
Sony, opened the 2000/2001 season at La Scala and the centennial anniversary of
Verdi's death, the
Anno Verdi
. The
opera had not been performed at La Scala in 22 years and Muti, who was the conductor and who had personally hand-picked Licitra for the role of Manrico, forbade his tenor to sing the traditional, interpolated
high C of the 3rd act cabaletta,
Di quella pira
. There was an uproar in the audience, who booed the maestro's decision. Six months later Licitra sang the part again in Verona and interpolated two
high C's, the public burst out in a wild frenzy and he had to encore the aria, interpolating once more the C's.
Prior to
Il Trovatore
in Verona, he had performed in ''Un ballo in maschera
at La Scala under Muti, then repeated the success in Rome in December. In November he made his American debut as a guest soloist at the 26th annual Richard Tucker Music Foundation Opera Gala in New York. In December he left for Vienna and the Wiener Staatsoper to sing in
Tosca'', then Manrico in
Il Trovatore
at the
Sao Carlos in
Lisbon in January 2002 and Alvaro (''Forza'') in
Turin in February.
The Met and beyond
The
Met followed unexpectedly on 12 May 2002 when he stepped in for
Luciano Pavarotti (66) in Tosca, who cancelled the performance two hours before curtain up. Licitra, who was not scheduled to debut there until 2004, was flown in by the Met as a back-up singer and eventually received a 43-second ovation at the conclusion of
Recondita armonia
and a 46-second ovation at the conclusion of the gloss aria
E lucevan le stelle
.
In the short time since his debut in 1998, Licitra has been dubbed the
New Pavarotti
, a tenor "worthy of the great
Italian tradition". The
New York Times
reported after his American debut with the Richard Tucker Gala: "... an Italian tenor with a deep baritonal lower range, a brighter upper register, and strong secure high notes [...] in true Italian tenor tradition [...] If he can withstand the inevitable "fourth tenor" hype, he could be one to watch."
Since then, he has added the following roles to his repertoire: the title roles in
Andrea Chénier
,
Ernani
,
Don Carlos
, Turiddu in
Cavalleria rusticana
, Canio in
Pagliacci
, and Luigi in
Il Trittico
.