Writing

1. BY JASON MOUSSAB
Correspondent
WAYNE - From the likes of
actress Lisa Edlestein to profes-sional
football player Greg Olsen,
many celebrities have passed
through Wayne.
Luigi Boccia, an opera tenor
who specializes in Italian and
French operatic repertoire from
the 19th and 20th century, is trying
to add his name to the list.
“I always joke by saying that I
was born in Wayne accidentally,”
he said. “But the joke is not far
from the truth.”
Boccia’s father grew up in Seri-no,
Italy, while his mother was
raised in Paterson. His parents met
for the first time during one of his
mother’s summer trips to Italy.
They fell in love, but his mom
returned to the U.S. to finish
school.
“So, after they dated for a while,
my father went to the U.S. and
proposed,” he said. “When they
got married, my mom was still fin-ishing
school so they were living in
New Jersey as newlyweds.”
When they found out that Boc-cia’s
mother was pregnant, his par-ents
decided it would be conven-ient
for him to be born in the Unit-ed
States. Thus, he was delivered
at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Wayne.
Then, a few months after Boc-cia
was born and his mom was
done with school, there was a big
earthquake in the Serino region.
His father, who still had family and
friends in Italy, decided that it was
time to go back to his hometown
with Luigi and his wife.
While there, Boccia found one
of his fathers’ LP albums of famous
tenor Luciano Pavarotti singing
Neapolitan songs. He knew some
of the lyrics that Pavarotti sang.
“I remember the excitement
when I found the booklet inside
the LP cover with all the words,”
he explained. “Not only I could
sing the songs, but I could sing the
right words.”
Boccia’s fascination of opera
grew, and he started to imitate the
sound that Pavarotti was making
with his voice.
“One day, I was singing a cap-pella
without music and my grand-mother
from the other room said
‘turn the hi-fi down, I am watching
TV!’ I told her that it was me and
not the hi-fi,” he said. “I guess she
told my father that she had mistak-en
me for the record, so the next
thing I know, my father is bringing
me another LP of Pavarotti singing
operatic arias this time.”
Furthermore, Boccia went to
college in Cremona, which is an
hour from Milano, and had the
privilege to go to Teatro alla Scala,
a world famous opera house. Up
until Boccia finished his master’s
degree, he was singing for fun, but
wasn’t receiving professional train-ing.
“Then one day I decided to go
visit, through a friend of mine, a
legendary tenor from the past,
Gianni Raimondi, who had sung
with Callas, Tebaldi, Caballe and
all the great singers of his era,” he
said. “Raimondi heard me sing
and offered me free lessons
because he believed I had poten-tial
for an operatic career… That
was more than ideal, it was like a
dream.”
Boccia said that having Rai-mondi
believing in his talent, a
person who he had admired,
respected and studied with for two
years, was the biggest influence in
his life.
Currently, the singer will be per-forming
in “The Barber of Seville”
as Count Almaviva on June 8 and
10 at the Aprea Theater in Clifton.
“’Barber’ is a brilliant comedy
by a genius Italian composer,
Rossini, and a great Italian libret-tist,
Sterbini. The music is upbeat,
witty, very descriptive of the com-ic
situations you see on stage,” he
said of the play.
Furthermore, Boccia is also
scheduled to play Nemorino, a
poor peasant, in “L’Elisir d’amore
– The Elixir of Love” – on June 22
and 24 at the Opera at Florham.
In addition, Boccia won first
prize this year in the Alfredo Silip-igni
New Jersey State Opera Com-petition
as well winning first prize
in the Violetta DuPont Singing
Competition and Gerda Lissner
International Singing Competition
in 2011 and 2008, respectively.
“I spent the first 24 years of my
life in Italy and after graduation I
decided it was time to find out
more about the country that had
given hope and opportunity to so
many people, my family included.
And here I am, 30 years later, hav-ing
the honor to perform for the
NJ State Opera.”
22 JUNE 7, 2012 WAYNE TODAY
Community
Opera singer showcases his talents
PHOTO COURTESY OF JARED FLOOD
PHOTOGRAPHY
Up and coming opera singer
Luigi Boccia of Wayne will be
performing in “The Barber of
Seville” as Count Almaviva
this weekend in Clifton and in
“L’Elisir d’amore – The Elixir of
Love” on June 22 and 24 at
the Opera at Florham.
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