Monday, September 05, 2011

Salvatore Licitra

The Italian tenor Salvatore Licitra died today at 43, nine days after a traffic accident in which he lost control of a Vespa scooter and crashed. He wasn't wearing a helmet at the time, but reports I've seen say he may have suffered a cerebral hemorrhage before the accident.

His career was not very long; he started singing on the late side and rocketed to prominence after replacing Luciano Pavarotti at the last minute in a Met Tosca in 2002. He got quite a few mixed reviews and was considered inconsistent. However, the one time I saw him live, in last year's SF Opera Fanciulla del West, he was in good voice and sang very well.

RIP, Salvatore Licitra; you should have been around for 20 more years.

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