Double Ten National Day weekend sees two prestigious events in Taipei’s National Concert Hall, a concert by renowned Italian tenor Salvatore Licitra tomorrow night and a performance of Beethoven’s gargantuan 9th Symphony the following afternoon.
Licitra has been prominent in international opera circles ever since he stood in at the Met in Tosca for an indisposed Pavarotti in 2002. He specializes in the late-19th-century verismo repertoire, and hence in some of the greatest operas ever written. This association is confirmed by the program he will give tomorrow
in his only Taiwan appearance this year.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF NEW ASPECT
He’ll sing arias from Macbeth, Andrea Chenier, Cavalleria Rusticana, La Fanciulla del West, Tosca, Manon Lescaut and Pagliacci, and will be accompanied by the Taipei Symphony Orchestra.
Last year Licitra debuted as Calaf in Turandot at the Met, and in the title role of Verdi’s early opera Ernani at the Lyric Opera, Chicago. The critic for the New York Times was in two minds about his Calaf, writing that “to gain control of his unwieldy voice, Mr Licitra seems to rein it in,” but the Chicago critics found him powerful despite an announcement of his partial indisposition (and hence less than total volume) in the intermission of the Ernani premiere.
But most listeners will have heard of him as one of the Three Tenors at a concert in Beijing as part of the Summer Olympics celebrations in 2008.
With his Sicilian parentage, Licitra is generally considered to have an exceptionally powerful voice backed by a strong physical presence. He may not always please everyone but is nonetheless a major presence in the international opera world, and Taipei is lucky to get him for
what will inevitably feel like a quasi-political event this weekend.
More unambiguously political will be the NSO’s concert featuring Beethoven’s 9th on Sunday afternoon. This is, after all, the work whose final, choral movement was sung at the fall of the Berlin Wall. Leading the Taiwanese soloists will be tenor Fernando Wang who in August won the first Singapore International Vocal Competition, beating 149 other competitors. Gunther Herbig will conduct, and the NSO will be joined in that famous last movement by the Taipei Philharmonic Chorus. Before the interval the same forces will perform Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. Tickets are sold out, but some returns may become available.
Salvatore Licitra performs at Taipei’s National Concert Hall tomorrow at 7.30pm. Tickets are NT$1,000 to NT$3,000, available from NTCH box offices or online at www.artsticket.com.tw.
The National Symphony Orchestra performs an all-Beethoven concert on Sunday at 2.30pm, also in the National Concert Hall. For reservations call (02) 3393-9888.
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