If you’ve attended one of the many Italian cultural festivals in Northern California, you’ve likely heard Pasquale Esposito and been taken in by his voice and charmed by his stage presence. He’s an internationally recognized tenor and recording artist who moved from his home, Naples — also the home of his idol, Enrico Caruso — to the Bay Area more than 25 years ago.
Although he could have chosen the grand opera as a career path, he opted instead to devote his talents to pop opera and to teaching and encouraging the next generation of artists. He’s recorded more than a dozen albums, sung with the San Francisco Opera and created four PBS specials, the first a journey through Caruso’s Italy, the second a celebration of Italian piazzas, then “In the Spirit of Christmas” and “Il Tempo (Time),” dedicated to the songs that have influenced him.
We chatted with him at his family’s San Jose home, where he maintains a recording studio and classroom for his nonprofit, the Notable Music and Arts Organization.
On his earliest operatic experience >>> Esposito says his grandfather heard him sing “O Sole Mio” at the age of 6 and whisked him off to the local church, San Giovanni e Paolo, where Caruso had sung in the choir a century earlier.
On what brought him to the Bay Area >>> “Destiny,” he says. “I am 19, 20 years and traveling. I find myself in Budapest with a friend who was playing guitar, and we are singing here and there. I met an American girl, and she invited me to visit Palo Alto that same summer. I fell in love with California.” He recalls spending $30 to use a computer at a University Avenue internet cafe to fill out a long immigration application, then heading back to Italy.
A couple of years later, he received a call telling him he’d won the U.S. green card lottery. He immigrated here in 1998 and earned a bachelor’s degree in music from San Jose State University — a program he continues to support. He says: “If I didn’t meet that girl in Budapest, I wouldn’t be here.”
On where you may have first heard him >>> Esposito worked his way through college by singing in restaurants and cafes, including Aldo’s in Los Gatos, Cafe Fino in Palo Alto and Siciliano in Redwood City.
On how to pronounce his name like an Italian >>> His engaging personality prompts most people to simply call him “Pasquale.” But the correct pronunciation of his last name is Es-PO-si-to. “Many people murder my last name. I never correct them.”
On the operas he loves >>> “‘La Boheme’ is definitely one of my favorites. And ‘Tosca’ is what I like to listen to in order to relax. Puccini was a genius. What he did was revolutionary. He thinks like a singer and prepares you for the high notes,” which Esposito says explains the composer’s impact on many modern-day musicals.
On the joys of teaching >>> Esposito is passionate about spreading the joy of music. His nonprofit Notable Music and Arts Organization gives scholarships to students who cannot afford lessons. He’s currently teaching 20 students in person and virtually — including youngsters in San Jose, a girl who lives in Turin, Italy, and a priest who moved from Menlo Park to New Jersey — and 20 more are on the waiting list.
His goal is to make students feel comfortable no matter what the music genre. “It’s unbelievable what you can achieve,” Esposito says, citing the example of a student rapper who wanted to expand his repertoire. “Now he’s singing Schubert. I get goosebumps.”
He sees the commercialization of music and the trouble that schools have funding music and arts as troubling signs, and dreams of opening a music academy in the South Bay that will reach more kids. “Art can be a path to a better future,” he says.
On his Freddie Mercury idea >>> Esposito bemoans the loss of the type of music Freddie Mercury — and his big voice — gave the world. “After Queen and Freddie Mercury, there was no one singing rock opera,” he says, and so he aims to rectify that.
On why festival audiences love him >>> “When they see me, it’s very interesting what happens. They see their grandparents, their parents. You cannot believe the sacrifice it takes for an immigrant to build a good way of life. So when I sing ‘Volare,’ you melt. And why? Because I am bringing back the memories of (sitting) around the table with your nonna, your nonno, your papa, the smell of the Sunday when your mother was cooking.”
Where to hear Esposito this year >>> He’s already booked to perform at the big Italian festas in Lodi (June 9), Salinas (July 6), Monterey (Sept.7-8) and San Jose’s Little Italy (Oct. 6). In Sonoma on June 28, a show called “Pasquale Sings Sinatra, Bennett and Martin” will be held at the Sebastiani Theatre. From Dec. 5-15, five Christmas concerts are scheduled from San Francisco to Sacramento to San Jose. For winery events, fundraisers and other concerts, check his website, https://pasqualeesposito.com.
