Salvatore Fisichella
Encyclopedia
Salvatore Fisichella is an Italian opera
tic tenor
, particularly known for his roles in bel canto
operas, especially those of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini
. He has been recognized for the ease and vocal brilliance of his singing, and for having sung more of the leading roles in Bellini's operas than any other 20th century tenor.
At the age of ten, he was already interested in church music and expressed a desire to be schooled at the local seminary where he attended Middle School. The Superiors soon noticed his vocal talent and the ‘boy with the silver voice’, as he was known, soon began singing solos in church services and during small-scale musical productions for special occasions and festivals. It was a sad day for the young Fisichella when the musical director of his early school days, Padre Giosuè Chisari (who would go on to become the chief curator of the Bellini Museum), predicted that his scholar's rich, full voice would become that of a bass
upon hearing him sing a specially adapted version of ‘Suoni la tromba’ whilst accompanying him at the piano. The young Salvatore at once burst into copious tears, sobbing that he would only ever become a tenor
, never a bass.
Having left the seminary, Salvatore began secondary education, first at the liceo scientifico
to study a science-based curriculum, then moving to study as a surveyor
. During this time, he gave little serious thought to singing and his performances were limited to romanze and singsongs with friends and schoolmates.
It was only after he had successfully completed his secondary studies as a qualified surveyor that the moment that would change his life was to arrive. Salvatore had been invited to the wedding of a client for whom he had drawn up the plans of his new home. Disaster struck when the tenor who had agreed to sing at the wedding service was unavoidably detained. The bride, who had specifically requested the Ave Maria
, was so upset that she threatened to go as far as putting off the wedding to another date. Both wedding guests and the anxious groom buttonholed and awaiting his bride at the altar, were panic-stricken. Salvatore promptly offered to take the place of the tardy tenor whose lateness had jeopardised the nuptial union. He sang the part destined for the original tenor voice with unanimously acclaimed success, not least among his admirers being the latecomer himself. And that same evening, he invited Salvatore to sing for his own singing teacher, Sara Messina, who was quick to predict a successful future in the singing world.
, set Fisichella to work for six years.
The years under Gentile were a time of both trials and dreams, above all when Fisichella found himself listening to the great opera names of the day (Mario del Monaco
, Giuseppe Di Stefano
, Franco Corelli
, Carlo Bergonzi, Gianni Raimondi
et al.). This was also the time when the young tenor, together with other pupils, began performing in the small concerts, which were arranged by their teacher.
After studying under Maria Gentile, Fisichella studied further in Rome under Ricci and Paoletti.
, for his performances of the opera pieces I puritani
, La favorite
and Rigoletto
.
Spoleto was also the venue for Fisichella's debut performance in the leading role of Massenet's Werther
conducted by Ottavio Ziino. The production toured the whole of Italy.
1971 saw him engaged by the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
for two performances of Rigoletto and no less than seven performances of I puritani
conducted by Armando La Rosa Parodi with Mirella Freni
and Cornell MacNeil
. In the same year, he also performed at the Teatro Massimo
in Palermo alongside Leyla Gencer
in Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra
conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni
. A year later, he was called upon again by the Opera di Roma, this time to work with Mirella Freni
and Ghiaurov in Gounoud's Faust conducted by George Pretre. April 1973 saw his debut performance at the Teatro Massimo Bellini
in Catania, working with Lidia Marimpietri in a production of La bohème
conducted by Zoltan Pesko.
In 1973, Fisichella took part in Elisa e Claudio
at the Festival Mercadantiano in Altamura
. In Pesaro
in 1975, he was seen to be the only tenor able to face the challenges of Rossini's Messa di Gloria, a score avoided by many of the bel canto
elite.
. In 1984, he sang with Buna Baglioni, Giorgio Zancanaro
and Bonaldo Giaiotti
at the State Theatre of Bern
in Donizetti's La favorite
conducted by Nello Santi
. On this occasion, the critic of Der Bund
defined Fisichella as "currently the best tenor singer of the Donizetti and Bellini repertoire", a definition that was taken up by the New York periodical Opera News. It was around this time that Fisichella began to collaborate with Nello Santi
, the maestro who would encourage the tenor to take up the challenging roles of I puritani, La Gioconda
, Guglielmo Tell, La nuit de mai, Rigoletto, Il pirata
, and the Messa di Requiem. In the same year, Fisichella performed Rossini's Stabat Mater
at the Konzerthaus in Vienna. In 1985, he once again played Arturo in I puritani (this time singing alongside the soprano Edita Gruberova
and baritone
Giorgio Zancanaro
, with the conductor Masini at the Bregenz Festival
. Dortmund
also saw him play Arturo. Again in 1985, Fisichella performed for the Radio Berlin concert to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Vincenzo Bellini
's death.
In November 1986, Fisichella performed the role of Arturo in I puritani
at his Metropolitan Opera
debut in New York, together with the soprano
Joan Sutherland
. The performance created a stir among the New York
press and is proclaimed an unprecedented success.
, as, for example, in his 1988 performance of La Gioconda
at the inauguration of the Teatro Regio di Torino. He performed the role of Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca
at the XXXVI Puccini Festival
in the summer of 1990.
Fisichella was one of the performers at the Megaconcert held in Verona Arena
(Concert of Tenors) to commemorate the centenary of Beniamino Gigli
's birth, (Corriere della Sera 29/8/1990). He was seen playing the role of Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor at La Scala
in Milan in May 1992.
In 1995, Fisichella performed in the production of Bellini's La favorite broadcast live on Italian National Radio. He performed together with Leo Nucci
in Rigoletto
at the Zurich Opera House
, as conducted by Nello Santi. The production was later taken to the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona
. Together with Katia Ricciarelli
, Fisichella was invited to the closing concert of the Homage to Pietro Mascagni
celebrations organised in Vizzini
to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Mascagni's death. The concert took place against the natural backdrop to Cavelleria Rusticana.
He performed Verdi's Requiem in Solingen
with The MGV Wupperhorf Choir 1812, of which he is an honorary member. On this occasion, Fisichella performed together with Rybarska, Baglioni, and Nesterenko and the concert was recorded on CD.
In 1996, Fisichella returned to Tokyo for a production of La traviata with June Anderson
. The same year saw him perform in Mario Monicelli
's centenary production of La bohème
at the 42nd Puccini Festival
in Torre del Lago
.
Fisichella performed three concerts of Verdi's Requiem conducted by Nello Santi
at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona and the Teatro Sociale in Mantua. 1997 saw him return to the Zurich Opernhaus to perform Rigoletto, alternating with Nucci and Zancanaro.
On the occasion of the inaugural concerts for the newly restored Teatro Massimo in Palermo, he performed together with Gasdia, Casolla, and Peterson in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony conducted by Neschling. He sang again with Nucci in La traviata and the Requiem Mass at the III Festival d’Opera d’Avence. At the VII Classical Open Air Festival in Solothurn, he performed with Nucci both in La bohème and Rigoletto. Another engagement followed at Verona's Teatro Filarmonico where he sang the challenging piece by Verdi
- Inno delle nazioni, conducted by Maurizio Arena.
The Cathedral of Catania saw him perform Geremia's unpublished Missa Pro Defunctis 1809 and Bellini's Messa Seconda in G minor with Katia Ricciarelli
. The concert was conducted by Douglas Bostock and was recorded for Classico records. In 1998, Fisichella was again to sing with Katia Ricciarelli
, this time performing in three large-scale New Year's concerts organised by the Sicilian Regional Authorities. He also performed in Teatro Massimo Bellini's production of Rigoletto in Catania (with Nucci and Pace, conducted by Nello Santi) and in the Concerto Dei Grandi Tenori Siciliani organised by the same theatre. This was the period in which Fisichella was presented with the Gigli D’Oro award at the second Una vita per la Musica event held in Recanati
, the native town of the tenor himself. In 1999, Fisichella was once again invited to perform at the Puccini Festival
in a production of La bohème. The same year saw Fisichella, together with two fellow performers, in a memorable open air Concerto Sotto Le Stelle in Recanati, singing in the same square where Gigli
had so often entertained his home public.
(Pittsburgh, U.S.A.), Fisichella received a welcome in the awaited annual concerto-festival at the Pasquarilla Center. 2000 continued with performances of Macbeth at the Teatro Massimo in Catania, Madame Butterfly at the Puccini Festival
, and a production of La bohème at the Den Norske Opera in Oslo
.
Fisichella opened the new millennium with two concerts in Beijing
, one on New Year's Eve, the other on New Years’ Day. On this occasion, he had the honour of being the only European singer invited to perform with the three largest choirs and orchestras of China. During the Anno Belliano celebrations, he was a contributor together with Lucia Aliberti
and Roberto Frontali in Teatro Massimo Bellini's production of Il pirata
in Catania.
Between 2001 to 2005, the tenor performed various operas, concerts & recitals around Europe. In 2001, he performed Rigoletto
in both the Opera Gala at the Stadttheater, St. Gallen
, and also at the Festival of Openair Solothurn
. In October, the tenor went on to give four performances of Tosca in Ooppera in Helsinki and sang Capuleti ei Montecchi at the Den Norske Opera in Oslo
. In November, he gave two performances of I puritani in a Bellinianino Concert at the Grand Theatre, Łódź, La bohème
and Madama Butterfly
at the Hungarian State Opera House
's Puccini Festival together with Ilona Tokody and Tamas Busa.
In 2002, Fisichella taught at the 5th International Vocal Masterslass held in Akademia Muzyczna in Gdańsk
. He also gave several performanaces in the Galakonzert at the Baltic Opera Theater and the Festival of Openair Solothurn, in the months of May and July respectively. Also in 2002, he staged a concert at the Opera in Minsk.
He was once again in the Openair Solothurn in July 2003 playing Rigoletto
and Faust
. In August, he participated in the Concert Vocale held in the Noto
Music Festival.
In the months of March, April and May 2004, he was contracted to play as Pollione in Norma
, together with Gabriella Morigi, Riikka Rantanen, Serena Farnocchia, Ilkka Vihavainen and Hannu Forsberg. This was directed by the soprano
Renata Scotto
and conducted by Alberto Hold-Garrido. In September, he staged a Lirico Concert together with the soprano Chiara Taigi in Berne Theatre
.
In July 2005, he was seen playing Faust, together with Svetozar Rangelov and Tsvetana Bandalovska at the Openair Solothurn, with Nayden Todorov
as conductor. Also in July, Fisichella rendered a Concert Lirico, conducted by Giorgio Croci at the National Opera and Ballet
(Sofia).
voice. Following a brief outline of Fisichella's career, the Dictionary of Opera by Harold Rosenthal
and John Warrack
, concludes that Fisichella's is "...a voice that has remained intact after 25 years of singing, quite simply the most lovely tone of the Italian tenors of our day."
Beatrice di Tenda
Elisa e Claudio (Mercadante
) Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra
Faust
Guglielmo Tell
I Capuleti e i Montecchi
(Romeo) I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Tebaldo)
I puritani
Il pirata
La bohème
La favorite
La Gioconda
La nuit de mai - Poème Symphonique (Leoncavallo)
La straniera
La traviata
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucrezia Borgia
Luisella (Mannino)
Macbeth
Madama Butterfly
Mefistofele
Messa di Gloria (Rossini)
Missa pro defunctis (Geremia)
Missa seconda in sol min (Bellini)
Mosè in Egitto
Nabucco
Nelson Mass (Haydn)
Norma
Otello
(Rossini) Messa di Requiem" (Verdi)
Rigoletto
Roberto Devereux
Stabat Mater (Rossini)
The Two Widows
(Smetana
)
Tosca
Werther
(Massenet)
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
, particularly known for his roles in bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
operas, especially those of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
. He has been recognized for the ease and vocal brilliance of his singing, and for having sung more of the leading roles in Bellini's operas than any other 20th century tenor.
Early years
Ever since he was a child, friends and relatives would urge him to sing to them at family get-togethers. Eager to please and not at all shy, the young Fisichella would end these performances with his pièce de resistance, ‘O Sole Mio'.At the age of ten, he was already interested in church music and expressed a desire to be schooled at the local seminary where he attended Middle School. The Superiors soon noticed his vocal talent and the ‘boy with the silver voice’, as he was known, soon began singing solos in church services and during small-scale musical productions for special occasions and festivals. It was a sad day for the young Fisichella when the musical director of his early school days, Padre Giosuè Chisari (who would go on to become the chief curator of the Bellini Museum), predicted that his scholar's rich, full voice would become that of a bass
Voice type
A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types...
upon hearing him sing a specially adapted version of ‘Suoni la tromba’ whilst accompanying him at the piano. The young Salvatore at once burst into copious tears, sobbing that he would only ever become a tenor
Voice type
A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types...
, never a bass.
Having left the seminary, Salvatore began secondary education, first at the liceo scientifico
Liceo Scientifico
Liceo Scientifico is a secondary school type in Italy. Along with Liceo Classico, it is considered the peak of the Italian upper secondary education. The access to this school is possible after the successful completion of the three year middle school and the corresponding final examination...
to study a science-based curriculum, then moving to study as a surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
. During this time, he gave little serious thought to singing and his performances were limited to romanze and singsongs with friends and schoolmates.
It was only after he had successfully completed his secondary studies as a qualified surveyor that the moment that would change his life was to arrive. Salvatore had been invited to the wedding of a client for whom he had drawn up the plans of his new home. Disaster struck when the tenor who had agreed to sing at the wedding service was unavoidably detained. The bride, who had specifically requested the Ave Maria
Ave Maria (Gounod)
The Bach/Gounod Ave Maria is a popular and much-recorded setting of the Latin text Ave Maria.Written by French Romantic composer Charles Gounod in 1859, his Ave Maria consists of a melody superimposed over the Prelude No. 1 in C major, BWV 846, from Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier, written by...
, was so upset that she threatened to go as far as putting off the wedding to another date. Both wedding guests and the anxious groom buttonholed and awaiting his bride at the altar, were panic-stricken. Salvatore promptly offered to take the place of the tardy tenor whose lateness had jeopardised the nuptial union. He sang the part destined for the original tenor voice with unanimously acclaimed success, not least among his admirers being the latecomer himself. And that same evening, he invited Salvatore to sing for his own singing teacher, Sara Messina, who was quick to predict a successful future in the singing world.
Vocal training
At that time, Catania was home to a number of good singing teachers and Fisichella chose one who was considered to be both costly and demanding. Maria Gentile, the renowned Catanese sopranoSoprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
, set Fisichella to work for six years.
The years under Gentile were a time of both trials and dreams, above all when Fisichella found himself listening to the great opera names of the day (Mario del Monaco
Mario del Monaco
Mario Del Monaco was an Italian tenor who is regarded by his admirers as being one of the greatest dramatic tenors of the 20th century....
, Giuseppe Di Stefano
Giuseppe Di Stefano
Giuseppe Di Stefano was an Italian operatic tenor who sang professionally from the late 1940s until the early 1990s. He was known as the "Golden voice" or "The most beautiful voice", as the true successor of Beniamino Gigli...
, Franco Corelli
Franco Corelli
Franco Corelli was a famous Italian tenor who had a major international opera career between 1951 and 1976. Associated in particular with the spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was celebrated universally for his powerhouse voice, electrifying top notes, clear timbre, a...
, Carlo Bergonzi, Gianni Raimondi
Gianni Raimondi
Gianni Raimondi was an Italian lyric tenor, particularly associated with the Italian repertory.Born in Bologna, Raimondi studied at the Music Conservatory of his native city with Antonio Melandri, and Gennaro Barra-Caracciolo and in Mantua with Ettore Campogalliani...
et al.). This was also the time when the young tenor, together with other pupils, began performing in the small concerts, which were arranged by their teacher.
After studying under Maria Gentile, Fisichella studied further in Rome under Ricci and Paoletti.
1970s
Fisichella won the XXIV Concorso Lirico Adriano Belli - the prestigious competition held in SpoletoSpoleto
Spoleto is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome.-History:...
, for his performances of the opera pieces I puritani
I puritani
I puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini. It was his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli, based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which is in turn based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. It was first produced at...
, La favorite
La favorite
La favorite is an opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French-language libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play Le comte de Comminges by Baculard d'Arnaud...
and Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
.
Spoleto was also the venue for Fisichella's debut performance in the leading role of Massenet's Werther
Werther
Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
conducted by Ottavio Ziino. The production toured the whole of Italy.
1971 saw him engaged by the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma is an opera house in Rome, Italy. Originally opened in November 1880 as the 2,212 seat Costanzi Theatre, it has undergone several changes of name as well modifications and improvements...
for two performances of Rigoletto and no less than seven performances of I puritani
I puritani
I puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini. It was his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli, based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which is in turn based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. It was first produced at...
conducted by Armando La Rosa Parodi with Mirella Freni
Mirella Freni
Mirella Freni, birth name Mirella Fregni, is an Italian opera soprano whose repertoire includes Verdi, Puccini, Mozart and Tchaikovsky...
and Cornell MacNeil
Cornell MacNeil
Cornell MacNeil , was an American operatic baritone known for his exceptional voice and long career with the Metropolitan Opera, which spanned 642 performances in twenty-six roles. F...
. In the same year, he also performed at the Teatro Massimo
Teatro Massimo
The Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele is an opera house and opera company located on the Piazza Verdi in Palermo, Sicily. It was dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II....
in Palermo alongside Leyla Gencer
Leyla Gencer
Leyla Gencer, or Ayşe Leyla Çeyrekgil was a world-renowned Turkish operatic soprano.Known as "La Diva Turca" and "La Regina" in the opera world, Gencer was a notable bel canto soprano who spent most of her career in Italy, from the early 1950s through the mid-1980s, and had a repertoire...
in Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra
Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra
Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra, is a dramma per musica or opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, from the play The Page of Leicester by Carlo Federici...
conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Gianandrea Gavazzeni was an Italian pianist, conductor , composer and musicologist.Gavazzeni was born in Bergamo. For almost 50 years, starting from 1948, he was principal conductor at La Scala, Milan, in 1966-68 being its music and artistic director.He had his Metropolitan Opera debut on 11...
. A year later, he was called upon again by the Opera di Roma, this time to work with Mirella Freni
Mirella Freni
Mirella Freni, birth name Mirella Fregni, is an Italian opera soprano whose repertoire includes Verdi, Puccini, Mozart and Tchaikovsky...
and Ghiaurov in Gounoud's Faust conducted by George Pretre. April 1973 saw his debut performance at the Teatro Massimo Bellini
Teatro Massimo Bellini
The Teatro Massimo Bellini is an opera house in Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. Named after the local-born composer Vincenzo Bellini, it was inaugurated on 31 May 1890 with a performance of the composer's masterwork, Norma...
in Catania, working with Lidia Marimpietri in a production of La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
conducted by Zoltan Pesko.
In 1973, Fisichella took part in Elisa e Claudio
Elisa e Claudio
Elisa e Claudio, ossia L'amore protetto dall'amicizia is a two-act melodramma semiseria by the 19th Century Italian composer Saverio Mercadante from a libretto by Luigi Romanelli based on the play, Rosella by Filipo Casari...
at the Festival Mercadantiano in Altamura
Altamura
Altamura is a town and comune of Apulia, southern Italy. It is located on the Murge plateau in the province of Bari, 45 km South-West of Bari, close to the border with Basilicata. As of 2011 its population was of 69,728.-Overview:...
. In Pesaro
Pesaro
Pesaro is a town and comune in the Italian region of the Marche, capital of the Pesaro e Urbino province, on the Adriatic. According to the 2007 census, its population was 92,206....
in 1975, he was seen to be the only tenor able to face the challenges of Rossini's Messa di Gloria, a score avoided by many of the bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
elite.
1980s
In 1983, he performed in a production of La bohème with Katia RicciarelliKatia Ricciarelli
-Biography:Born at Rovigo, Veneto, to a very poor family, she struggled during her younger years when she studied music.She studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, won several vocal competitions in 1968, and made her professional debut as Mimì in La bohème in Mantua in 1969,...
. In 1984, he sang with Buna Baglioni, Giorgio Zancanaro
Giorgio Zancanaro
Giorgio Zancanaro is an Italian baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, especially Verdi.He studied in his native Verona with Maria Palanda, and was revealed at the Verdi Competition in Busseto in 1969. He made his official operatic debut the following year in Mantua, as...
and Bonaldo Giaiotti
Bonaldo Giaiotti
Bonaldo Giaiotti is an Italian operatic bass, particularly associated with the Italian repertory.Born in Udine, he studied in his native city and later in Milan with Alfredo Starno, where he made his debut at the Teatro Nuovo in 1957...
at the State Theatre of Bern
Berne Theatre
Bern Theatre, known in the city as Stadttheater Bern, is an opera house and theatre in Bern, Switzerland.Famous past performers include Agnes Baltsa, Inge Borkh, Renato Bruson, Grace Bumbry, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Salvatore Fisichella, Käthe Gold, Alexander Moissi, Jessye Norman, Liselotte...
in Donizetti's La favorite
La favorite
La favorite is an opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French-language libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play Le comte de Comminges by Baculard d'Arnaud...
conducted by Nello Santi
Nello Santi
Nello Santi is an Italian conductor. He is often called "Papa Santi" by his fellow musicians to show their high respect for his work.-Biography:...
. On this occasion, the critic of Der Bund
Der Bund
Der Bund is a daily German-language newspaper published in Bern, Switzerland. Established in 1850 and associated with the cause of liberalism, it was among the leading quality newspapers in Switzerland for much of the 19th and 20th centuries. In economic distress since the 1980s, its circulation...
defined Fisichella as "currently the best tenor singer of the Donizetti and Bellini repertoire", a definition that was taken up by the New York periodical Opera News. It was around this time that Fisichella began to collaborate with Nello Santi
Nello Santi
Nello Santi is an Italian conductor. He is often called "Papa Santi" by his fellow musicians to show their high respect for his work.-Biography:...
, the maestro who would encourage the tenor to take up the challenging roles of I puritani, La Gioconda
La Gioconda (opera)
La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo, tyran de Padoue, a play in prose by Victor Hugo, dating from 1835...
, Guglielmo Tell, La nuit de mai, Rigoletto, Il pirata
Il pirata
Il pirata is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani from a French translation of the tragic play Bertram, or The Castle of St Aldobrando by Charles Maturin...
, and the Messa di Requiem. In the same year, Fisichella performed Rossini's Stabat Mater
Stabat Mater
Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Roman Catholic hymn to Mary. It has been variously attributed to the Franciscan Jacopone da Todi and to Innocent III...
at the Konzerthaus in Vienna. In 1985, he once again played Arturo in I puritani (this time singing alongside the soprano Edita Gruberova
Edita Gruberová
Edita Gruberová , is a Slovak soprano who is one of the most acclaimed coloraturas of recent decades. She is noted for her great tonal clarity, agility, dramatic interpretation, and ability to sing high notes with great power, which made her an ideal Queen of the Night in her early years...
and baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
Giorgio Zancanaro
Giorgio Zancanaro
Giorgio Zancanaro is an Italian baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, especially Verdi.He studied in his native Verona with Maria Palanda, and was revealed at the Verdi Competition in Busseto in 1969. He made his official operatic debut the following year in Mantua, as...
, with the conductor Masini at the Bregenz Festival
Bregenzer Festspiele
Bregenzer Festspiele is a performing arts festival which is held every July and August in Bregenz, Austria.Founded in 1946, the festival presents a wide variety of musical and theatrical events in several venues:...
. Dortmund
Theater Dortmund
Theater Dortmund is a theatrical organization that produces operas, musicals, ballets, plays, and concerts in Dortmund, Germany. It was founded as the Stadttheater Dortmund in 1904...
also saw him play Arturo. Again in 1985, Fisichella performed for the Radio Berlin concert to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
's death.
In November 1986, Fisichella performed the role of Arturo in I puritani
I puritani
I puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini. It was his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli, based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which is in turn based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. It was first produced at...
at his Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
debut in New York, together with the soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
. The performance created a stir among the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
press and is proclaimed an unprecedented success.
1990s
Fisichella's vocal range, flexibility and incisive phrasing have led the singer to branch out beyond the bel canto repertoire into verismoVerismo
Verismo was an Italian literary movement which peaked between approximately 1875 and the early 1900s....
, as, for example, in his 1988 performance of La Gioconda
La Gioconda (opera)
La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo, tyran de Padoue, a play in prose by Victor Hugo, dating from 1835...
at the inauguration of the Teatro Regio di Torino. He performed the role of Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
at the XXXVI Puccini Festival
Festival Puccini
The Festival Puccini is an annual summer opera festival held in July and August to present the operas of the famous Italian composer Giacomo Puccini....
in the summer of 1990.
Fisichella was one of the performers at the Megaconcert held in Verona Arena
Verona Arena
The Verona Arena is a Roman amphitheatre in Piazza Bra in Verona, Italy, which is internationally famous for the large-scale opera performances given there. It is one of the best preserved ancient structures of its kind....
(Concert of Tenors) to commemorate the centenary of Beniamino Gigli
Beniamino Gigli
Beniamino Gigli was an Italian opera singer. The most famous tenor of his generation, he was renowned internationally for the great beauty of his voice and the soundness of his vocal technique. Music critics sometimes took him to task, however, for what was perceived to be the over-emotionalism...
's birth, (Corriere della Sera 29/8/1990). He was seen playing the role of Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
in Milan in May 1992.
In 1995, Fisichella performed in the production of Bellini's La favorite broadcast live on Italian National Radio. He performed together with Leo Nucci
Leo Nucci
Leo Nucci is an Italian operatic baritone, particularly suited to Verdi roles.Born at Castiglione dei Pepoli, near Bologna, he studied with Giuseppe Marchese and made his stage debut in Spoleto, as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, in 1967, he then joined the chorus of La Scala in Milan, and...
in Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
at the Zurich Opera House
Zurich Opera House
Opernhaus Zürich is an opera house in the Swiss city of Zurich. It has been the home of the Zurich Opera since 1891.- History :...
, as conducted by Nello Santi. The production was later taken to the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. Together with Katia Ricciarelli
Katia Ricciarelli
-Biography:Born at Rovigo, Veneto, to a very poor family, she struggled during her younger years when she studied music.She studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, won several vocal competitions in 1968, and made her professional debut as Mimì in La bohème in Mantua in 1969,...
, Fisichella was invited to the closing concert of the Homage to Pietro Mascagni
Pietro Mascagni
Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was an Italian composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music...
celebrations organised in Vizzini
Vizzini
Vizzini is a town and comune in the province of Catania, on the island of Sicily. It is located 60 km from Catania in the Hyblaean Mountains, on the most northwesterly slopes of Monte Lauro....
to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Mascagni's death. The concert took place against the natural backdrop to Cavelleria Rusticana.
He performed Verdi's Requiem in Solingen
Solingen
Solingen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the northern edge of the region called Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr area, and with a 2009 population of 161,366 is the second largest city in the Bergisches Land...
with The MGV Wupperhorf Choir 1812, of which he is an honorary member. On this occasion, Fisichella performed together with Rybarska, Baglioni, and Nesterenko and the concert was recorded on CD.
In 1996, Fisichella returned to Tokyo for a production of La traviata with June Anderson
June Anderson
June Anderson is a Grammy Award-winning American coloratura soprano. Originally known for bel canto performances of Rossini, Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini, she was the first non-Italian ever to win the prestigious Bellini d'Oro prize...
. The same year saw him perform in Mario Monicelli
Mario Monicelli
Mario Monicelli was an Italian director and screenwriter and one of the masters of the Commedia all'Italiana , three times nominated for Oscar.-Biography:...
's centenary production of La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
at the 42nd Puccini Festival
Festival Puccini
The Festival Puccini is an annual summer opera festival held in July and August to present the operas of the famous Italian composer Giacomo Puccini....
in Torre del Lago
Torre del Lago
Torre del Lago is a town of almost 11,000 inhabitants, a frazione of the comune of Viareggio, in the province of Lucca, Tuscany, Italy, between the Lake of Massaciuccoli and the Tyrrhenian Sea....
.
Fisichella performed three concerts of Verdi's Requiem conducted by Nello Santi
Nello Santi
Nello Santi is an Italian conductor. He is often called "Papa Santi" by his fellow musicians to show their high respect for his work.-Biography:...
at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona and the Teatro Sociale in Mantua. 1997 saw him return to the Zurich Opernhaus to perform Rigoletto, alternating with Nucci and Zancanaro.
On the occasion of the inaugural concerts for the newly restored Teatro Massimo in Palermo, he performed together with Gasdia, Casolla, and Peterson in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony conducted by Neschling. He sang again with Nucci in La traviata and the Requiem Mass at the III Festival d’Opera d’Avence. At the VII Classical Open Air Festival in Solothurn, he performed with Nucci both in La bohème and Rigoletto. Another engagement followed at Verona's Teatro Filarmonico where he sang the challenging piece by Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
- Inno delle nazioni, conducted by Maurizio Arena.
The Cathedral of Catania saw him perform Geremia's unpublished Missa Pro Defunctis 1809 and Bellini's Messa Seconda in G minor with Katia Ricciarelli
Katia Ricciarelli
-Biography:Born at Rovigo, Veneto, to a very poor family, she struggled during her younger years when she studied music.She studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, won several vocal competitions in 1968, and made her professional debut as Mimì in La bohème in Mantua in 1969,...
. The concert was conducted by Douglas Bostock and was recorded for Classico records. In 1998, Fisichella was again to sing with Katia Ricciarelli
Katia Ricciarelli
-Biography:Born at Rovigo, Veneto, to a very poor family, she struggled during her younger years when she studied music.She studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, won several vocal competitions in 1968, and made her professional debut as Mimì in La bohème in Mantua in 1969,...
, this time performing in three large-scale New Year's concerts organised by the Sicilian Regional Authorities. He also performed in Teatro Massimo Bellini's production of Rigoletto in Catania (with Nucci and Pace, conducted by Nello Santi) and in the Concerto Dei Grandi Tenori Siciliani organised by the same theatre. This was the period in which Fisichella was presented with the Gigli D’Oro award at the second Una vita per la Musica event held in Recanati
Recanati
Recanati is a town and comune in the Province of Macerata, Marche region of Italy. Recanati was founded around 1150 AD from three pre-existing castles. In 1290 it proclaimed itself an independent republic and, in the 15th century, was famous for its international fair...
, the native town of the tenor himself. In 1999, Fisichella was once again invited to perform at the Puccini Festival
Festival Puccini
The Festival Puccini is an annual summer opera festival held in July and August to present the operas of the famous Italian composer Giacomo Puccini....
in a production of La bohème. The same year saw Fisichella, together with two fellow performers, in a memorable open air Concerto Sotto Le Stelle in Recanati, singing in the same square where Gigli
Beniamino Gigli
Beniamino Gigli was an Italian opera singer. The most famous tenor of his generation, he was renowned internationally for the great beauty of his voice and the soundness of his vocal technique. Music critics sometimes took him to task, however, for what was perceived to be the over-emotionalism...
had so often entertained his home public.
2000s
In JohnstownJohnstown, Pennsylvania
Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States, west-southwest of Altoona, Pennsylvania and east of Pittsburgh. The population was 20,978 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Cambria County...
(Pittsburgh, U.S.A.), Fisichella received a welcome in the awaited annual concerto-festival at the Pasquarilla Center. 2000 continued with performances of Macbeth at the Teatro Massimo in Catania, Madame Butterfly at the Puccini Festival
Festival Puccini
The Festival Puccini is an annual summer opera festival held in July and August to present the operas of the famous Italian composer Giacomo Puccini....
, and a production of La bohème at the Den Norske Opera in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
.
Fisichella opened the new millennium with two concerts in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, one on New Year's Eve, the other on New Years’ Day. On this occasion, he had the honour of being the only European singer invited to perform with the three largest choirs and orchestras of China. During the Anno Belliano celebrations, he was a contributor together with Lucia Aliberti
Lucia Aliberti
Lucia Aliberti is a prominent Sicilian soprano opera singer. She is much appreciated for her performances of the bel canto roles of , Bellini, Gioacchino Rossini, Donizetti, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Vivaldi, Mercadante, etc.A dramatic soprano of vocal agility, Lucia Aliberti was awarded...
and Roberto Frontali in Teatro Massimo Bellini's production of Il pirata
Il pirata
Il pirata is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani from a French translation of the tragic play Bertram, or The Castle of St Aldobrando by Charles Maturin...
in Catania.
Between 2001 to 2005, the tenor performed various operas, concerts & recitals around Europe. In 2001, he performed Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
in both the Opera Gala at the Stadttheater, St. Gallen
St. Gallen
St. Gallen is the capital of the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration and represents the center of eastern Switzerland. The town mainly relies on the service sector for its economic...
, and also at the Festival of Openair Solothurn
Solothurn
The city of Solothurn is the capital of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. The city also comprises the only municipality of the district of the same name.-Pre-roman settlement:...
. In October, the tenor went on to give four performances of Tosca in Ooppera in Helsinki and sang Capuleti ei Montecchi at the Den Norske Opera in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
. In November, he gave two performances of I puritani in a Bellinianino Concert at the Grand Theatre, Łódź, La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
and Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
at the Hungarian State Opera House
Hungarian State Opera House
The Hungarian State Opera House is a neo-Renaissance opera house located in central Budapest, on Andrássy út. It is home to the Budapest Opera Ball, a society event dating back to 1886.-History:...
's Puccini Festival together with Ilona Tokody and Tamas Busa.
In 2002, Fisichella taught at the 5th International Vocal Masterslass held in Akademia Muzyczna in Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
. He also gave several performanaces in the Galakonzert at the Baltic Opera Theater and the Festival of Openair Solothurn, in the months of May and July respectively. Also in 2002, he staged a concert at the Opera in Minsk.
He was once again in the Openair Solothurn in July 2003 playing Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
and Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
. In August, he participated in the Concert Vocale held in the Noto
Noto
Noto is a city and comune in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily . Its located 32 km southwest of the city of Syracuse at the foot of the Iblean Mountains and gives its name to the surrounding valley, Val di Noto...
Music Festival.
In the months of March, April and May 2004, he was contracted to play as Pollione in Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...
, together with Gabriella Morigi, Riikka Rantanen, Serena Farnocchia, Ilkka Vihavainen and Hannu Forsberg. This was directed by the soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
Renata Scotto
Renata Scotto
Renata Scotto is an Italian soprano and opera director.Recognized for her sense of style, musicality and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered one of the preeminent singers of her generation, specializing in the bel canto repertoire with excursions into the verismo and Verdi...
and conducted by Alberto Hold-Garrido. In September, he staged a Lirico Concert together with the soprano Chiara Taigi in Berne Theatre
Berne Theatre
Bern Theatre, known in the city as Stadttheater Bern, is an opera house and theatre in Bern, Switzerland.Famous past performers include Agnes Baltsa, Inge Borkh, Renato Bruson, Grace Bumbry, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Salvatore Fisichella, Käthe Gold, Alexander Moissi, Jessye Norman, Liselotte...
.
In July 2005, he was seen playing Faust, together with Svetozar Rangelov and Tsvetana Bandalovska at the Openair Solothurn, with Nayden Todorov
Nayden Todorov
Nayden Todorov is a Bulgarian conductor.- Positions :*Plovdiv Youth Orchestra *Vratza Philharmonic Orchestra *Sofia Festival Orchestra...
as conductor. Also in July, Fisichella rendered a Concert Lirico, conducted by Giorgio Croci at the National Opera and Ballet
National Opera and Ballet
The National Opera and Ballet is a national cultural institution in Bulgaria that covers opera and ballet. It is based in an imposing building in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria....
(Sofia).
Accolades, awards and distinctions
- 1970 – XXIV Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto "Adriano Belli"
- 21 August 1977 – "Polifemo D'Argento", Pride of Sicily award
- 1984 – "Manifestazcione Pucciniane", Puccini festival
- 27 August 1986 – "Orfeo Musicale"
- 10 December 1989 – "Membro Onorario MGV Wuppehuf Choir 1812", Solingen. (Honorary membership of MGV Wupperhof Choir 1812)
- 5 September 1990 – "Chiostro D'Argento"
- 26 September 1990 – "Premio Mafalda Favero 1990"
- 3 January 1991 – "Targa Bel CantoBel CantoBel Canto may refer to:*Bel canto, an opera term that literally means "beautiful singing"*Bel Canto , a novel by Ann Patchett*Bel Canto , a Norwegian pop/electronica band*Bel Canto , 2006 Roberto Alagna album...
" Biancavilla (Catania) Bel Canto Shield - 13 July 1991 – "Premio Internazionale Vincenzo Bellini" Vincenzo Bellini International Prize
- 16 October 1994 – "XV Bellini D’Oro 1994", awarded by the Sicilian Tourist Authority at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania with the following commentary:
- "Salvatore Fisichella continues in the great singing tradition of the provinces around Etna. Gifted with extraordinary ease of voice and vocal brilliance, especially in the top range and extreme top range as demanded by Bellini's scores, he is worthy of full honours as being the only tenor of this century to have played and sung the major opera roles of the cigno catanese Bellini."
- 17 December 1994 – "VIII Premio Internazionale Giacomo Lauri Volpi" International Prize
- 18 August 1996 – "XVI Premio Castagno Di Cento Cavalli"
- 24 November 1996 – "Premio Nuraghe D’oro Alla Carriera", Cagliari
- 21 December 1996 –"Cavaliere Della Repubblica Italiana" for Artistic Merit
- 1 November 1998 – "Gigli D’Oro" 2nd edition, Una vita per la musica, Recanati (A lifetime of Music Prize) with the following commentary:
- "Admirable descendant of a plethora of great voices, Fisichella's refined singing and generous sensitivity play their part in the worldwide repute of Italian bel canto."
- 25 October 1999 – "Premio Internazionale Di Siciliana, Pigna D’Argento" with the following commentary:
- "The voice of the Catanese singer Salvatore Fisichella is without doubt one of the most interesting among post-war opera singers. With particular expertise in 19th century repertoire he has played the highest number of tenor roles inspired by the genius - his great compatriot Vincenzo Bellini. With top notes that are both clear and bright and a solid mid range, Fisichella holds the standard of bel canto singing high, performing scores that are often little heard due to their demanding nature. Continuing in the splendid tradition of the great Sicilian opera singers before him with performances in all the major theatres of the world, he has already numerous international awards to his name. Almost thirty years since his debut, Fisichella continues to maintain an enviable vocal freshness thanks to skillful technique and intelligent career choices."
- 30 October 1999 – "Cavaliere Del Supremo Ordine Di Malta OSY – USA OF KRAC"
- 19 June 2001 – "Premio Internazionale Sicilia Il Paladino" with the following commentary:
- "For exceptional merit in opera and for raising the international prestige of the bel canto tradition."'
- 7 April 2003 – "Beniamino Gigli Muistokonsertti Prize" awarded by Finnish National OperaFinnish National OperaThe Finnish National Opera in Helsinki is the leading opera company in Finland. Its home base is the Opera House on Töölönlahti bay in Töölö which opened in 1993, and is state-owned through Senate Properties...
, Helsinki.
- 7 April 2003 – "Beniamino Gigli Muistokonsertti Prize" awarded by Finnish National Opera
The Voice
Fisichella has a full lyric tenorTenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
voice. Following a brief outline of Fisichella's career, the Dictionary of Opera by Harold Rosenthal
Harold Rosenthal
Harold David Rosenthal OBE was an English music critic, writer, lecturer, and broadcaster about opera. Originally a schoolmaster, he became drawn to music, particularly opera, and began working on musical publications...
and John Warrack
John Warrack
John Warrack is an English music critic, writer on music, and oboist. He is the son of Scottish conductor and composer Guy Warrack. From 1954–1961 he was music critic for The Daily Telegraph, and from 1961–1972 he was music critic for The Sunday Telegraph. From 1978–1983 he served as the Artistic...
, concludes that Fisichella's is "...a voice that has remained intact after 25 years of singing, quite simply the most lovely tone of the Italian tenors of our day."
Repertoire
Attila (opera)
Attila is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the play Attila, König der Hunnen by Friedrich Ludwig Zacharias Werner. Initially, Verdi had enlisted Francesco Maria Piave to prepare the libretto, after Verdi's own scenario...
Beatrice di Tenda
Beatrice di Tenda is a tragic opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini, from a libretto by Felice Romani, after the play of the same name by Carlo Tedaldi-Fores...
Saverio Mercadante
Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. While Mercadante may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond his own lifetime, he composed as impressive a number of works as either; and his development of...
)
Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra
Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra, is a dramma per musica or opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, from the play The Page of Leicester by Carlo Federici...
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
I Capuleti e i Montecchi
I Capuleti e i Montecchi is an Italian opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini.The libretto by Felice Romani was a reworking of the story of Romeo and Juliet for an opera by Nicola Vaccai called Giulietta e Romeo. This was based on Italian sources rather than taken directly from Shakespeare...
(Romeo)
I puritani
I puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini. It was his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli, based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which is in turn based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. It was first produced at...
Il pirata
Il pirata is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani from a French translation of the tragic play Bertram, or The Castle of St Aldobrando by Charles Maturin...
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
La favorite
La favorite is an opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French-language libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play Le comte de Comminges by Baculard d'Arnaud...
La Gioconda (opera)
La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo, tyran de Padoue, a play in prose by Victor Hugo, dating from 1835...
La straniera
La straniera is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini, from a libretto by Felice Romani, based on L'étrangère by Charles-Victor Prévot, vicomte d'Arlincourt...
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
Lucrezia Borgia (opera)
Lucrezia Borgia is a melodramma, or opera, in a prologue and two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after the play by Victor Hugo, in its turn after the legend of Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezia Borgia was first performed on 26 December 1833 at La Scala, Milan with...
Macbeth (opera)
Macbeth is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and additions by Andrea Maffei, based on Shakespeare's play of the same name...
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
Mefistofele
Mefistofele is an opera in a prologue, four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito.-Composition history:...
Mosè in Egitto
Mosè in Egitto is a three-act opera written by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, which was based on a play by Francesco Ringhieri, L'Osiride, of 1760....
Nabucco
Nabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the Biblical story and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue...
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...
Otello (Rossini)
Otello is an opera in three acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Berio di Salsi, based on Shakespeare's play Othello....
(Rossini)
Rigoletto
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Roberto Devereux
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The Two Widows
The Two Widows is a two-act Czech opera by Bedřich Smetana based on the libretto of Emanuel Züngel. The libretto is based on Jean Pierre Felicien Mallefille's one-act play "Les deux veuves." The opera was composed between June 1873 and January 1874, with its first première on March 27th, 1874 at...
(Smetana
Smetana
Smetana is a Slavic loanword in English for a dairy product that is produced by souring heavy cream. Smetana is from Central and Eastern Europe, sometimes perceived to be specifically of Russian origin. It is a soured cream product like crème fraîche , but nowadays mainly sold with 15% to 30%...
)
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
Werther
Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
(Massenet)
Discography
- Rossini: Otello - Philips 6769081
- Rossini: Mose en Egitto – Philips 6769023
- Sternstunden der Musik – Aul 30522/23 S. F.
- Jussi BjörlingJussi BjörlingJohan Jonatan "Jussi" Björling was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th Century, Björling appeared frequently at the Royal Opera House in London, La Scala in Milan, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City as well as at other major European opera...
Memorial Concert – Swedish Society Discofil SLT 33275/6 - Salvatore Fisichella Volume 1 – Felmain Records FM 14
- Salvatore Fisichella Volume 2 – Felmain Records FM 14
- Die Wuperhorfer Salvatore Fisichella – Liederabend Operagala
- I Grandi Interpretti della Lirica – Salavatore Fisichella – Felmain Records
- Weihnachtliches Konzert die Wupperhofer
- La nuit de mai
- Verdi: Messa di Requiem
- Bellini: Messa nº 2, Geremia: Missa Pro Defunctis
- Bellini: I puritani – Serenissima
- Tenor Arias Volume 1
- Concert of Tenors – Arena di Verona 1990 (in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Beniamino GigliBeniamino GigliBeniamino Gigli was an Italian opera singer. The most famous tenor of his generation, he was renowned internationally for the great beauty of his voice and the soundness of his vocal technique. Music critics sometimes took him to task, however, for what was perceived to be the over-emotionalism...
's birth) - Mose – Preghiera – Philips CD
- Le Voci dell’Etna – Tima Club 74
Radio productions
- Werther (Massenet) – 1970 (RAIRAIRAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
, Spoleto) - Operatic Concert – 1971 (RAI, Milan)
- Concert – 18th century opera – 1972 (RAI, Naples)
- The Two Widows (Smetana) – 1974 (RAI, Milan)
- Messa di Gloria (Rossini) – 1976 (RSI, Lugano)
- Messa di Gloria (Rossini) – 1982 (RSI, Lugano)
- Stabat Mater (Rossini) – 1984 (ORFORFORF may refer to:* ORF , the Austrian public service broadcaster.* Open reading frame, a portion of the genome.* The IATA airport code for Norfolk International Airport in Norfolk, Virginia.* ORF format , Olympus raw image file format....
, Vienna) - Concerto Belliniano – 1985 (Radio Berlin)
- Guglielmo Tell (Rossini) – 1986 (DRS, Radio Basel)
- Concerto Verismo – 1989 (DRS, Radio Basel)
- Stabat Mater (Rossini) – 1989 (DRS, Radio Basel)
- La nuit de mai (Leoncavallo) – 1990 (RSI, Lugano)
- La favorite (Donizetti) – 1995 (RAI, Catania)
Television productions
- Jussi Björling Memorial – 1985 (Stockholm)
- I puritani (Bellini) – 1985 (ORF, Bregenz-Festival)
- Guglielmo Tell (Rossini) – 1988 (Condor, Opernhaus-Zurich)
- Concerto Per Il Centenario – 1990 (RAI 1, Teatro Bellini-Catania)
- La nuit de mai (Leoncavallo) – 1990 (RSI, Lugano)
- My Favorite Opera: Guglielmo Tell – 1993 (Film/RSI, Lugano)
- La favorite (Donizetti), Teatro Massimo Bellini – 1995 (Catania)
Sources
- Opera and Concert Database, Operissimo Concertissimo
- Opera Gems, Salvatore Fisichella - Repertoire
- CLOR Catalogue download, Discography, Singer Index lists Salvatore Fisichella with 11 recordings in which he takes part in.
- Salvatore Fisichella Biography
- Salvatore Fisichella Discography
- Puccini Festival 1990 and 2000 1904-2007 List for Madama Butterfly
External links
- Grandi Tenori Articles & Reviews A reflection on Rossini's and Verdi's Otello
- Opera Gems Featured Bits