The Singing Policeman

Opera star Jorge Antonio Pita stars in Puccini's Butterfly

The Canadian Opera Company is reviving its popular 1998 production of Madama Butterfly, directed by Brian Macdonald and designed by Susan Benson. For the first time ever, Elio Boncompagni conducts with the company, while Xiu Wei Sun makes her COC debut as Cio-Cio-San and tenor Jorge Antonio Pita, also a new face, sings the part of Pinkerton - the role in which he debuted, at the very early age of 22, at the Vienna State Opera.
"When I was 22, I probably felt as the character feels," says Pita, "as a young man in a strange land." Pita was born in Cuba, of Spanish parents, but he grew up in Miami. While still in high school he met the renowned tenor Placido Domingo, who noticed his young talent.
"He then took me to the Metropolitan Opera," says Pita. "He has always been kind of a mentor to me." Pita studied at Indiana University under renowned Met soprano Gabriela Tucci, and embarked on a career that has included many of the great tenor roles in the Italian opera repertoire in venues like the Berlin State Opera and London's Royal Covent Garden. Some of his performances have included Alfredo in La Traviata, The Duke in Rigoletto, Edgardo in Lucia Di Lamermoor, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, the Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier, Lensky in Eugene Onegin, and Fenton in Falstaff.
Pita returns to Madama Butterfly as a much more experienced Pinkerton; but not only because of his performance history. "In 1994-95 I decided to stop," he says, and for the following six years he worked as a police officer with the Miami-Dade Police Department, which covers some of the toughest turf in the U.S. (or don't you recall Miami Vice?).
Pita sees intriguing parallels between the apparently very different worlds of law enforcement and opera performance. "The professionalism and the intensity of the work are something that the two careers have in common," he explains. "You have to deal with and control your emotion in a correct way."
However, throughout his police career, Pita knew he had not seen the last of the opera stage. "There's always something in the back of your mind," he says. Eventually, he continues, "I felt in my heart that it was time to go back." He returned to opera in 2000 performing La Bohème in Cape Town, South Africa and La Rondine at Opera North
Pita will sing the role of Rodolfo in La Bohème in Oslo at the end of the year, then travels to New York, where he will perform with New York City Opera. Does he harbour an idea at the back of his mind that he may go back into the police force at some time? Pita's answer is just one word long.
"No."
The Canadian Company presents Puccini's Madama Butterfly in repertoire with Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri between March 28 and April 19 at the Hummingbird Centre for the Arts. For tickets, call 416-363-8231 or visit www.coc.ca.

Publication Date: 2003-03-30
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=2529