Early years

Alagna was born outside the city of Paris in 1963 to a family of Sicilian immigrants. As a teenager, the young Alagna began busking and singing pop in Parisian cabarets, mostly for tips. Influenced primarily by the films of Mario Lanza and learning from recordings of many historic tenors, he then switched to opera, but remained largely self-taught. He was discovered by Gabriel Dussurget, the co-founder of the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

Career

After winning the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition, an initiative backed by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, that started in Modena in 1988, Alagna made his professional debut as Alfredo Germont in La Traviata with the Glyndebourne touring company. This led to many engagements throughout the smaller cities in France and Italy, mainly again as Alfredo, a role he would eventually sing over 150 times. His reputation grew and he was soon invited to sing at major theaters such as La Scala in 1990, Covent Garden in 1992 and the Metropolitan Opera as Rodolfo in 1996. His performances of Roméo in Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod at Covent Garden in 1994 (opposite Leontina Vaduva) catapulted him to international stardom.

Alagna opened the 2006/07 season at La Scala on 7 December 2006 in the new production of Aïda by Franco Zeffirelli. During the second performance on 10 December, Alagna, whose opening performance was considered ill-at-ease, was booed and whistled from the loggione (the least expensive seats at the very back of La Scala), and he walked off the stage. The tenor's reaction to his public criticism was denounced as immature and unprofessional by La Scala management and Zeffirelli, who said, "A professional should never behave in this way. Alagna is too sensitive, it is too easy to hurt his feelings. He does not know how to act like a true star." The role of Radames was taken over successfully for the rest of the performance by his understudy Antonello Palombi, who entered on stage wearing jeans and a black shirt.

In 2007 while at the Metropolitan Opera singing the role of Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly, Alagna replaced the indisposed tenor Rolando Villazon as Romeo in Roméo et Juliette opposite soprano Anna Netrebko for two performances in September and two performances in December. His wife had flown to New York to be with him for the September engagements, and as a result was fired from the Lyric Opera of Chicago for missing her rehearsal dates for La Bohème. Alagna was also engaged by the Metropolitan Opera at the last minute to cover for the indisposed Marco Berti in a 16 October 2007 performance of Aida. After the performance, the audience gave him a standing ovation. The 15 December performance of Roméo et Juliette starring Alagna and Netrebko was broadcast by the Met into 447 theaters worldwide in high definition and seen by about 97,000 people.

Repertoire

In recent years, Alagna has been an advocate of restoring to prominence neglected French operas - Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac, Massenet's Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame, Lalo's Fiesque, and new works - Vladimir Cosma's Marius et Fanny and his brother David Alagna's Le dernier jour d'un condamné. He has also recorded light music with an homage album to Luis Mariano, Sicilien, and Pasión.

Personal life

Alagna's first wife, Florence Lancien, died of a brain tumor in 1994; they had one daughter, Ornella, who was born in 1992. In 1996, he married Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu. The couple announced a divorce in 2009, but had reunited by 2011. However, in January 2013, the couple mutually agreed on a formal divorce. Alagna and the Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak had begun a relationship, and their daughter, Malena, was born on 29 January 2014.

Alagna has worked together on several projects with his brothers Frédérico Alagna and the stage director and composer David Alagna. The three brothers recorded an album of light music, Serenades, and worked together on the younger brother David's opera based on Hugo's Last Day of a Condemned Man. Alagna has often sung Alfano's Cyrano opposite his sister-in-law Natalie Manfrino as Roxanne. The government of France named Alagna a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 2008.

Opera roles

Role	Work	Composer
Alfredo	La traviata	Verdi
Manrico	Le trouvère	Verdi
Don José	Carmen	Bizet
Rodolfo	La bohème	Puccini
Roméo	Roméo et Juliette	Gounod
Edgardo	Lucia di Lammermoor	Donizetti
Edgar	Lucie de Lammermoor	Donizetti
Fritz	L'amico Fritz	Mascagni
Hoffmann	Les Contes d'Hoffmann	Offenbach
Mario Cavaradossi	Tosca	Puccini
MacDuff	Macbeth	Verdi
Nemorino	L'elisir d'amore	Donizetti
Paolo	Francesca da Rimini	Zandonai
Roberto	Roberto Devereux	Donizetti
Cyrano	Cyrano de Bergerac	Alfano
Don Carlos	Don Carlos	Verdi
Don Carlo	Don Carlo (Italian adaptation)	Verdi
Werther	Werther	Massenet
Le Chevalier des Grieux	Manon	Massenet
Jean	Le jongleur de Notre-Dame	Massenet
Faust	Faust	Gounod
Hoffmann	Les contes d'Hoffmann	Offenbach
Ruggero	La rondine	Puccini
Orphée	Orphée et Eurydice	Gluck
Pinkerton	Madama Butterfly	Puccini
Turiddu	Cavalleria rusticana	Mascagni
Canio	Pagliacci	Leoncavallo
Duc de Mantoue	Rigoletto	Verdi
Fiesque	Fiesque	Lalo
Marius	Marius et Fanny	Cosma
Radamès	Aida	Verdi
Rodrigue	Le Cid	Massenet
Ulysse	Pénélope	Fauré
Enée	Les Troyens	Berlioz
Nadir	Les pêcheurs de perles	Bizet
Riccardo	Un ballo in maschera	Verdi
Calaf	Turandot	Puccini
Des Grieux	Manon Lescaut	Puccini

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	Credits	Charts					Certification
1996	Chants sacrés		—	19	—	—	—
2001	Puccini: Tosca	Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna and Ruggero Raimondi	—	89	—	—	—
2002	Donizetti: Lucie de Lammermoor	Natalie Dessay, Roberto Alagna, Ludovic Tézier and Evelino Pidò	—	150	—	—	—
2003	Bizet: Carmen	Gheorghiu & Alagna	—	59	—	—	—
2005	Chante Luis Mariano		14	4	—	89	—
2006	Tenor		86	40	—	—	—
	Viva Opéra!		29	43	—	—	—
2007	Credo - Airs sacrés		56	18	—	—	—
2008	Sicilien		4	2	—	71	—
2009	Le jongleur de Notre-Dame		—	198	—	—	94
	Sicilien - Live		72	56	—	—	—
2010	Hommage à Luis Mariano - C'est magnifique!		53	27	—	—	—
	Les stars du classique		—	191	—	—	—
2011	Pasión		5	4	34	100	—
2012	Pasión Live		—	80	—	—	—
2013	Robertissimo		24	11	—	—	—
2014	Little Italy		—	71	—	—	—
	Ma vie est un opéra		50	33	—	—	—

Singles

Year	Album	Charts
2003	"Petit Papa Noël"	91

[ Source: Wikipedia ]