[...] Licitra is endowed with a beautiful voice, which has a golden tone, projection and the sense of dramatic urgency one associates with legendary tenors. His diction is crystal clear and his stage presence impressive.[...]
[...] The arias of the program were undertaken with ease, from his thrilling appearance in the middle of Pietro Mascagni's Prelude from Cavalleria Rusticana to Ruggiero Leoncavallo's "Vesti la giubba" from Pagliacci. Likewise, the three arias by Giacomo Puccini (from Tosca and Manon Lescaut) were memorable. Licitra's dramatic interpretations never seemed forced, and he seemed to fully embody his characters for the couple of minutes he had in each aria.[...]
Palm Beach Daily News, December 16, 2009
"As Ernani, the Italian tenor Salvatore Licitra provides a fine portrayal of the title character. His ringing tone is prominent from the start, where he explains his longing for Elvira to his band and informs the men of his decision to rescue his beloved from Silva. [...] All in all, his extroverted approach to the role, and reliably solid tone in the solo passages, makes Licitra a strong member of all the ensembles. His duet with Elvira in the second act, “Ah, morir, potessi adesso” also stands out for the way Licitra matches Radvanovsky’s passion. Similarly, the duet between Ernani and Silva - “A te, scegli, seguimi” - defines Licitra and Giacomo Prestia characters very convincingly as they sing to the nicely angular accompanying figures in the orchestra."
MusicWeb International
"[...] Licitra made a worthy hero, vocally and dramatically. At its best, Licitra’s tenor has the requisite Italianate warmth, volume and lyric squillo, and Licitra was credible dramatically in a thankless role, with powerful top notes and his voice blending gracefully with Radvanovsky in the duets and final scene."
Chicago Classical Review
"In the part of Ernani, Italian tenor Salvatore Licitra demonstrated a heroic determination on opening night."
South Town Star
"The four principals are excellent and well-matched in this ensemble work. Salvatore Licitra as Ernani has a youthful, supple voice."
Windy City Times
"As, Ernani, the nobleman disguised as an outlaw masnadiero, Salvatore Licitra displayed the vocal weight required for the rousing Verdian melodies, and simultaneously the flexibility to sing a role, whose music was written nine years after “Lucia di Lammermoor” and seven after “Roberto Devereux”."
OperaWarHorses.com
Salvatore Licitra returns to Chicago in the title role of Verdi’s Ernani in a new production at the Lyric Opera on October 27, 2009.
The highly anticipated production by José Maria Condemi will be conducted by Renato Palumbo. Salvatore Licitra sings the title role aside Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky and Boaz Daniel. More performances will be on October 31, Nov. 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20 and 23, 2009.
(by Alessandro Logroscino and Aldo Baquis) (ANSAmed)
TEL AVIV - A triumphant performance of Aida took place at the Opera House in Tel Aviv. The premiere of Aida offered by La Scala, under Daniel Baremboim's direction, was arranged to mark the anniversary of the Israeli city.
The initiative was a gift from Milan to Tel Aviv, the city that symbolises the Zionist experience and is the cradle of the country's musical tradition since the birth of the state of Israel, which this year celebrates its first centenary. It was marked by spontaneous applause from the audience which the conductor described as ''warm and spontaneous''.
Baremboim, who has not been immune in the past from controversy in Israel (due to his performance of music by Richard Wagner and his acceptance of honorary citizenship of Palestine as a public gesture of peace), was this time welcomed without any signs of tension. His scheduled visit to Ramallah, on Palestinian territory, where (as he himself told journalists) he will simply attend a concert on Friday which he had never planned to conduct, did not stop many leaders from Israeli politics attending last night's opera: from the head of state Shimon Peres, to ministers Ehud Barak and Avigdor Lieberman, to the leader of the opposition Tzipi Livni.
Italians politicians in attendance included the minister for Equal Opportunities, Mara Carfagna, the president of the Lazio Regional Council, Piero Marrazzo and the councillor for Culture from the Milan town council, Massimiliano Finazzer Flory. After receiving praise from the critics before the performance (the local press didn't hesitate from describing the historic setting of 1963 as ''brilliant'', the result of direction by Franco Zeffirelli and choreography by Vladimir Vassiliev, put forward for the first time in Israel), the opera, which sold out many months ago, received standing ovations from the audience.
With applause distributed equally for the choir, the orchestra, the dancers and the lead voices: Salvatore Licitra (Radames), Lithuanian Violeta Urmana (Aida) from the St Petersburg school and the young Russian Ekaterina Gubanova (Amneris). But above all for the conductor.
For Baremboim, who was born in Buenos Aires to a Jewish family and who spent his childhood in Tel Aviv, ''it was a very important moment'', he said, underlining the role of Tel Aviv (or rather ''Tel Aviv-Yaffo'', as he clarified, mentioning the principally Arab suburb of the city and his personal pacifistic battle for ''a possible integration'') as ''Israel's principal cultural and economic centre''. Whilst the city's opera house was born ''in a curious way, almost at the same time as the new Cairo opera house.'' (ANSAmed).
As the Italian news agency ANSA reports the day after the performance on July 4, Mr. Licitra received a seven minutes long ovation after starring in the leading role of Verdi’s masterpiece Aida aside soprano Violetta Urmana who sang the titel role (see “Successo per Salvatore Licitra alla Scala”, ANSA June 5, 2009).
La Scala is one in a series of Aida performances the young Italian tenor sings in a short period of time. Last month he opened the new Aida production at the Munich State Opera conducted by Daniele Gatti. Next he will accompany the Scala cast to Israel. The Tel Aviv performances will be again conducted by Maestro Barenboim. Finally, the famous summer festival of Taormina, Italy, will present Mr. Licitra as the Egyptian conquerer Radames during their 2009 summer season.
Salvatore Licitra continues to be highly in demand on all major opera stages worldwide. The coming season includes Ernani in Zurich, Don Carlo at the Vienna State Opera, a new Ernani production at the Lyric Opera Chicago, Il Tabarro, Aida and his role debut as Calaf in Pucchini’s Tourandot all at the New York Metropolitan Opera as well as Ballo in Maschera in Bilbao and his debut in Fanciulla del West in San Francisco.
Tenore nell'Aida diretta da Barenboim e regia di Zeffirelli
(ANSA) - MILANO, 5 LUG - Successo alla Scala di Milano per il tenore Salvatore Licitra nell'Aida diretta da Daniel Barenboim nell'allestimento di Franco Zeffirelli. Serata di debutto per il cast che a partire dal 14 luglio portera' l'opera in tournee in Israele con Licitra nella parte di Radames e l'applaudita Violeta Urmana in quella di Aida. Dal pubblico, in prevalenza straniero, sono arrivati alla fine oltre sette minuti di applausi.