Muti and Mehta praise tragic Licitra

Tributes have begun to trickle in for the tenor Salvatore Licitra, who died after a road accident, aged 43.

The conductor Riccardo Muti told Corriere della sera: La notizia della prematura scomparsa di Salvatore Licitra mi lascia costernato. […] Era un artista a cui mi legava una affettuosa amicizia maturata in moltissime collaborazioni in teatro e in disco (I am deeply dismayed by his untimely death. This was an artist with whom I had an affectionate friendship that matured through many collaborations on stage and disc”.

His colleague Zubin Mehta was more fulsome:

“I’m just devastated,” said Mehta. “He was pure pleasure for conductors. He was an excellent singer, an intelligent musician and a wonderful actor on stage. ..  I’m so sorry, I can’t express in words how much it hurts…. (He had) a very beautiful voice and musical intelligence, which comes naturally to him. His pronunciation was similar to that of Pavarotti. I say Pavarotti because beyond everything else, he had an unusual pronunciation of the Italian language. Salvatore had it too, very similarly. He had great dictation, a wonderful sense of music. For me, as a friend and conductor, I feel it’s a very big loss.”