The Fourth Tenor

By Graciela Chahin

ROME, Feb. 27 -- Francisco Casanova wasn't always called 'The Fourth Tenor'.

As a boy, in the Dominican Republic, he dreamed about becoming a professional singer. However, the social and economic circumstances in the Dominican Republic at the time were not ideal for him to pursue his dream. So, in his early twenties he left.

Leaving his family was very hard, but from a very early age he knew that he wanted to sing and to achieve this he had to make sacrifices. The first person that believed in him was a childhood friend, Francisco Canó.  Canó told him: “Do not expect anyone to help you because no one is interested. Leave, go to the States.”

 

To help him become the tenor he is today Casanova had a mentor, the now deceased Maestro Pier Mirana Ferraro. They met after a singing competition in Spain where Ferraro sent for him with these words, “Tell him that he has a beautiful voice. He is very musical and he is also very smart. But he has no technique, and without technique there is no career. And I am the only person in the world who can teach him”.

Casanova told The Matthew Online that Ferraro became more than a teacher but a father. The Maestro gave him lessons for free, paid for his hotel, fed him when he knew he had nothing to eat, dressed him properly for concerts and gave him pocket money.

Ferraro taught him a technique which made his voice sound “young and fresh”.  “He taught me that singing cannot be done to serve yourself, but to serve the force greater than ourselves which put us on this planet to do whatever it is that we do,” Cassanova said.

Recently, Casanova has begun to help young singers with the rigors of the profession. He spends ten to fifteen days working on vocal techniques and serves as a mentor.

In the future, the tenor wishes to buy a house on the beach, or near his native Santo Domingo. It would be a place of perfect tranquility where he and his wife, Juanita, can hide for a while. Just enough time to “refresh” himself before going back “into the turmoil of the world,” he says.