Tenor Salvatore Licitra Returns to New York to Perform in a Requiem For September 11

Special Outdoor Performance of the Verdi Requiem At New Jersey's Liberty State Park Observes One-Year Anniversary Of September 11 Attacks on America

PRNewswire
NEW YORK
08/15/2002

Only months after his celebrated Metropolitan Opera debut, Italian tenor Salvatore Licitra is returning to the New York area to lend his voice to A Requiem for September 11, New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey announced today. This commemorative concert event will feature a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem in the outdoor theater at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey, beginning at 7 p.m. on September 11. Thirteen/WNET will produce the concert for television, to be aired nationwide on PBS beginning at 10 p.m. that evening.

In the performance, Licitra will join the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, with Zdenek Macal conducting, and soloists Sylvie Valayre, soprano; Dolora Zajick, mezzo-soprano; and Samuel Ramey, bass. Rider University's Westminster Symphonic Choir, led by Joseph Flummerfelt, will also participate in the performance.

This milestone event follows Licitra's unexpected Metropolitan Opera debut in May, when he won glowing reviews after stepping in on brief notice for Luciano Pavarotti in a gala performance of Tosca. An exclusive Sony Classical artist, the tenor is featured on his first solo recording of Verdi and Puccini arias, entitled "Salvatore Licitra -- The Debut," released worldwide this summer.

Produced in connection with observances being held throughout the metropolitan area, A Requiem for September 11 is intended to create an atmosphere for people to remember, reflect and seek comfort in a performance of one of the most dramatic and moving choral/orchestral works in the classical repertoire. The concert is free of charge and open to the public. For security reasons, everyone attending the concert must have an admission ticket. Tickets are available at locations throughout New Jersey and, in New York, at the offices of Thirteen/WNET.

Both the concert and the telecast are being presented through the partnership of Thirteen/WNET, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Johnson & Johnson, and with the support of Governor James E. McGreevey and Liberty State Park. Additional funding support is being provided by the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies.

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SOURCE: Sony Classical

CONTACT: Susan Schiffer of Sony Classical, +1-212-833-4763,
susan_schiffer@sonymusic.com