roberto alagna tenor
june 7TH, 1963

Singing is in the Franco-Sicilian tenor Roberto Alagna’s blood. His illustrious maternal great-grandfather Jimmy sang for the great Enrico Caruso when the the maestro happened to drop by one day in his leather goods shop in New York City, U.S.A., and Enrico was so impressed that he suggested Jimmy audition for the Metropolitan Opera Chorus! What a complement! (although Jimmy declined the suggestion of the maestro—or “Commendatore”, “the Commander” as Jimmy endearingly liked to call him—as he preferred to focus on his business.) (2).

Roberto ’s vocal mentor Rafael Ruiz, was a direct student of  the legendary Italian tenor Aureliano Pertile (1885-1952). It was that fact that caught the attention of Luciano Pavarotti when Roberto met him at an LP signing event at the Printemps department store in Paris. A year later, without knowing it, Roberto was invited to audition in the first round of the Pavarotti International Voice Competition in Pesaro, Italy, the birthplace of legendary nineteenth century composer Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868). He sang his good luck song ‘La Danza’ from Rossini for Luciano and thought that he’d been eliminated as Luciano didn’t permit him to sing a second piece for him as did all the other participants. Au contraire, Luciano loved his voice and he was qualified to the next round (3). Indeed years later, Saimir Pirgu, an Albanian tenor,  who studied with Luciano told Roberto something he didn’t know about Luciano: “every time we took lessons with Luciano, he spoke of only one tenor, Roberto, and he would say ‘here take this LP and sing like this” (4).

After winning the Pavarotti  International Voice Competition in Philadelphia—the hometown of Mario Lanza—in 1988, Roberto’s  career really skyrocketed. He made his debut with the Glyndebourne Touring Company in the role of Alfred Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata. From 1990 onwards, he has performed a series of major roles, respectively at the leading opera houses; La Scala, Covent Garden and the New York Metropolitan. 

In 1995 he won an Olivier Award for his performance of Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette which was singled out for its diction and fine nuances, and was a turning point in his career giving him his place with the the greats of the French repertoire. Alagna also has sought out long neglected repertory to perform, and has from his lyric tenor beginnings has as his voice matured,  ventured into the heavier spinto roles such as Samson in Samson et Dalia, Canio in I Pagliacci, Mauricio in Adriana Lecouvreur and Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut. 

Roberto is known for his charismatic stage presence and has obtained widespread popularity through his recording a variety of diverse music genres, not to mention, his appearances in films and music videos. His album ‘Sicilian’ released in 2008 was a huge success and reached the popular audience with sales over 350,000 (5).

Roberto Alagna was appointed a Chevalier de la légion d’honneur in 2008 (6).