Tenor Salvatore Licitra dies at age 43.

[CBHagman]

This morning I was shocked to see an obituary posted for tenor Salvatore Licitra. I feel as though the man's career had barely begun.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/arts/music/salvatore-licitra-tenor-at-the-met-dies-at-43-after-crash.html?_r=1

Salvatore Licitra, a tenor with a ringing, powerful voice who rode a sensational surprise Metropolitan Opera debut to dozens of performances with the company, died on Monday in Catania, Sicily, nine days after being severely injured in a motor-scooter accident. He was 43.

(SNIP)

Mr. Licitra also appeared at La Scala in “Tosca,” “Un Ballo in Maschera,” “Macbeth” and “Il Trovatore,” which, in 2000, began the company’s yearlong celebration of the centennial of Verdi’s death. For the “Trovatore” performances, Mr. Muti, a strict adherent to the letter of the score, forbade him to sing the traditional unwritten high C at the end of his aria “Di quella pira,” and the conductor was roundly booed for it. (Mr. Licitra sang the note six months later in Verona, to cheers.)

Mr. Licitra made his American debut as a guest soloist at the Richard Tucker Music Foundation gala in New York in November 2001. In addition to the Met and La Scala, he sang major roles at leading opera companies including the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera in London, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Deutsche Oper and Staatsoper in Berlin, and the operas of Paris, Rome and San Francisco.

His website, only partially updated, as the sad news is posted but formerly upcoming performance dates not yet removed:

http://www.salvatorelicitra.com/home.php