Michael Amante — the American tenor who can sing it all — will appear at Westbury Music Fair on Friday, May 2nd at 8 p.m.
Whether commanding the heroic volleys of Puccini’s “Nessun dorma” or melting the tender phrases of “O Sole Mio,” Amante rewrites the book on anybody’s idea of what a tenor can be.
The New York Times declared that this “swashbuckling Italian tenor exhibits both the voice and charisma of a crossover star,” and Tony Bennett has hailed him as “the new Mario Lanza.” Throw in some Jon Bon Jovi, too. Movie-star handsome and charming, Michael Amante combines an operatic tenor’s debonair, old-world finesse with the sheer adrenalin rush he discovered as a teenager, when his tenor voice first made itself known soaring over the sound of metal bands in rock clubs.
Amante’s career has taken him into the opera house and the musical theater, where he has sung leading roles in “La Boheme” and “Madama Butterfly,” as well as “West Side Story,” “Grease and Jesus Christ Superstar.” But it is singing directly his audience that brings him real fulfillment, effortlessly making the connection that makes people feel “that good.”
That quest has led Amante from the clubby confines of New York’s Algonquin Hotel to St. Patrick’s Cathedral to Shea Stadium, where he sang the national anthem for the New York Mets during the team’s 2000 playoff games.
The son of a tradition that celebrates singing and musicmaking, he is proud of his popularity with Italian-American audiences and of his relationship with the Order of the Sons of Italy and the National Italian American Foundation. Winner of the Italian Charities’ Christopher Columbus Award, the Lione de San Marco Award for opera, Il Cuore di Carabinieri and the Sergio Franchi Foundation Award, Amante has serenaded audiences at a wide range of cultural and charitable events, and he has been featured on NBC’s coverage of New York’s Columbus Day parade and on the soundtrack of the film “While My Pretty One Sleeps.”
Michael Amante’s self-titled 2001 release features favorite operatic arias from “Rigoletto,” “Turandot,” “La Boheme” and “Aida,” as well as popular Italian songs such as “O sole mio” and “Non ti scordar di me,” it introduces a soaring new love song “Ho bisogno d’amore (I Have a Need for Love)” that showcases the all-American exuberance, the Italian soul and the sheer beauty of Amante’s singing.
Tickets are $40 and are available at Westbury Music Fair’s box office, all Ticketmaster locations and online at CC.com and musicfair.com. To charge tickets by phone call Ticketmaster at 631-888-9000 or 212-307-7171. All shows, dates, and times are subject to change without notice. Applicable tax and service charges are added to each ticket price.
