The tenor with the graceful voice

When I was young, it became normal for me and the neighboring kids to listen to the sound of the violin. It was because every 3 p.m., I and the other kids would hear Mano Marcos Arca play the violin at his balkonahe. He played the violin so well I thought at some point I saw angels descending from heaven. But to many, Mano Marcos was a loony. My young mind presumed that the old folks thought he was unusual.

Who in the world would think that in a remote town like ours someone played the violin like a whiz? Mano Marcos was a whiz. My friends and I would stand on the street fronting his house as he played the violin. We became his audience. It felt like we were listening to a concerto. Mano Marcos would play for almost an hour. And after his performance, he would stand up, take a gentle but dignified bow then retreat to his house.

He hardly talked but he loved to drink. He also did not mingle with people his age. But he was a diligent worker. Mano Marcos could have been part of an orchestra. But nobody dared ask him where he learned to play violin. We just listened to his beautiful music. When he was not playing, we would watch him clean his violin like he was bathing a baby. He handled it with so much tenderness.

Mano Marcos was married to a controlling, scheming and wily woman. He had a son Samuel who did not talk much. He also played the violin.

Then one day, Mano Marcos just stopped playing. We did not know why. We also did not ask him why. We could only surmise that his loud-mouthed wife must have told him to stop. Had we been old enough to understand the world, we could have told Mano Marcos to join an orchestra in the big city.

I like listening to violin music. I used to have a collection of Paganini’s violin concertos. In an orchestra, aside from the conductor who never stops to mesmerize me, my eyes are drawn to the violin section. Here are some of the world’s biggest names in classical music who have touched the lives of others because of their music.

Luciano Pavarotti: He made his opera debut in the role of Rodolfo in La Bohème and his American debut with the Greater Miami Opera alongside Joan Sutherland. He became an internationally-known celebrity when his rendition of Giacomo Puccini’s aria, Nessun Dorma (from Turandot) became the theme song of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. This was followed by the hugely successful Three Tenors concert held on the eve of the World Cup final at the ancient Baths of Caracalla in Rome with fellow tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras and conductor Zubin Mehta, which became the biggest-selling classical record of all time. Pavarotti was presented with the Grammy Legend Award. He holds two Guinness World Records: one, for receiving the most curtain calls at 165; and two, for the best selling classical album (this album is In Concert by The Three Tenors and is thus shared by fellow tenors, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras). Pavarotti gave his last performance in an opera at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 2004 where he received a 12-minute standing ovation for his role as the painter Mario Cavaradossi in Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca.

Plácido Domingo is a world-famous Spanish operatic tenor. He is known for his versatile, strong voice that possesses a ringing and clear tone throughout its range. In addition to his singing roles, he also conducts opera performances and acts as General Director of the Washington National Opera in Washington, DC and the Los Angeles Opera in California. He continues to add more operas to his repertoire, such as Franco Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac at the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House in London. Placido has appeared in six opera films and over 100 recordings, most of which are full-length operas, often recording the same role more than once.

Jose Carreras was born in Barcelona, Spain. He made his first major breakthrough in Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia. And at age 28, Carreras had sung the lead tenor in 24 different operas. His collaborations with Hungarian soprano Sylvia Sass — on stage and in the recording studio — were among the highlights of his career. At the height of his career, Carreras was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. After enduring almost a year of intense treatment, he resumed his singing career. Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Pavarotti gave a concert at the opening of the World Cup in Rome where hundreds of millions of people watched. In addition to opera, Carreras has also performed lighter genres such as zarzuela. He also recorded West Side Story with conductor Leonard Bernstein. Carreras is mostly admired for his Verdi and Puccini roles.

One singer whose life and career has been touched by Pavarotti is Vittorio. Vittorio is often compared to Josh Groban but unlike Josh, Vittorio is a real opera singer. Vittorio sang as a boy treble with Luciano Pavarotti many years ago. That performance with Pavarotti earned him the title ‘Il Pavarottino.’ At 23, Vittorio was the youngest Italian tenor to sing at Milan’s La Scala. He is a tenore di grazia — light tenor with a graceful voice. Vittorio has been bitten by the crossover bug and today he has an album under MCA Music titled In The Hands of Love which features his launching single You Are My Miracle, a duet with Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls.

Says Nicole, "He has a voice that’s to die for, very mellow despite all that Italian emotion and expression. He is very young to be a working tenor but you can tell immediately that he is the real thing."

In the Hands of Love held one of the highest classical chart debuts for a new artist in the UK, landing him in the Top 10 alongside the likes of Andrea Bocelli. Included in the album are Stevie Wonder’s All In Love is Fair, Keane’s Bedshaped and Maria from West Side Story. Vittorio was born in Rome but raised in Arezzo near Florence.