JBissett@DominionPost.com
If you’re so inclined, you could say Rich Rodriguez’s bitter departure from the West Virginia University football sideline 18 years ago – followed by his vaunted return to it for today’s season-opener against Robert Morris – is carrying all the sensory wallop of a Wagnerian opera.
You know: what with the full-throated emotion on both ends of the gridiron aria, and all.
The real opera for this game, however, comes before Rodriguez and his charges even take to the turf of Milan Puskar Stadium for the noon kickoff.
That’s when renowned tenor (and 2000 WVU grad) James Valenti strides to the Flying WV logo on the 50-yard line to sing The Star-Spangled Banner with the Pride of West Virginia Marching Band.
“I can’t tell you what a thrill that is,” said Valenti, 47, who has performed in storied concert halls across the world, including La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera in London and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
“It will be my first time singing the anthem with a marching band,” he said. “And it’s the Pride of West Virginia, so it’s pretty special.”
Valenti was still finding his muse when he first set foot on campus as a freshman after venturing across the Mason-Dixon Line from his hometown in Clinton, N.J., for college.
“Imagine that,” he joked, “a kid from New Jersey going to West Virginia University.”
His girlfriend was in the marching band and he was a football fan.
“I spent a lot of time in those stands,” he said.
Uncle Vito and Gus call the tune
He found himself spending even more time in the circular confines of the now-Canady Creative Arts Center, finding out that – yes, really – he wanted to sing opera.
Valenti was a Billy Joel fan in high school (still is) who liked to sing along with his records.
He sang in the show choir at North Hunterdon High School and when the director talked him into trying out for that year’s production of “South Pacific,” he found he was taken with the lights and applause.
Before that, there was Uncle Vito and Sag Harbor.
His dad’s brother loved to sing, Valenti said.
On Sundays, the family would often drive over to the historic village on the east end of Long Island, N.Y., for gatherings.
Uncle Vito was very exact in his road music. He always had the radio tuned to an Italian station.
Opera.
And, like his nephew, he too always sang along – in Italian.
“Yeah, Uncle Vito sang ‘Ave Maria’ at my parents’ wedding,” he said. “I started thinking, ‘Well, this music is interesting.’ I know I got a lot of it from him.”
Valenti began his WVU life as a dual major: education and music performance.
“I didn’t really want to teach, though,” he said. “I didn’t necessarily want to be a high school choir director.”
He hit a note with his voice professor Augusto Paglialunga, who sang opera professionally before moving to academia.
“Gus actually called my parents and left a message. He said I could really do something in opera if I worked at it. That’s what I did, from then on.”
It didn’t take long.
The crescendo builds …
After WVU, he trained further at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and Westminster Choir College back home in New Jersey at Princeton.
He did what all aspiring performers do: He auditioned. And auditioned more, making his professional debut at the age of 25 in Rome, in a Franco Zeffirelli production of “La Boehme.”
Performances, as said, followed the world over. All those halls and all those roles. “La Traviada.” “Carmen.” Romeo and Juliet.” Hungary to Hong Kong.
Accolades followed, including the Maria Callas Award and the Richard Tucker Award, known as the “Heisman Trophy of Opera” – which gives Valenti a charge and a chuckle.
“I’ll be a Heisman winner on Mountaineer Field,” he laughed.
Don’t stop believing
The ultimate award, he said, comes in doing what he does for his alma mater.
Valenti is a Distinguished Alumni from the College of Creative Arts and was the youngest-ever inductee of the WVU Academy of Distinguished Alumni, joining that roster in 2014.
For the past several years, he has sung at WVU Cancer Institute’s Spring Gala at the Greenbrier.
“Anything I can do for West Virginia University,” he said.
Friday, he talked to students at the CAC about their goals while giving an overview of his career.
Don’t look for any vocal histrionics during today’s reading of the national anthem, said Valenti who most recently sang it at Yankee Stadium. No flourishes, bluesy emoting or jazzy runs.
“You pretty much have to sing it straight,” he said. “Everything else is a distraction.”
It’s not as distracting being an opera singer who tours the world as one might think, he said.
Getting enough sleep is a must, he said, as jet lag is sometimes introduced to the score.
Drinking water is another.
Controlling one’s breathing – where opera singers get their true power – is everything.
“Those techniques are what you get from your teachers and coaches,” he said.
And, should you be wondering, opera singers get ear worms, too – just like everyone else.
“Right now, mine is Journey,” he said. ‘Don’t stop believing.’ I can’t get that song out of my head.”
