# Luciano Lamonarca

Luciano Lamonarca (born 11 August 1978) is an Italian opera singer, crossover artist, keynote speaker, philanthropist, and event producer. He has performed under the patronage and auspices of the United Nations, UNESCO, European Union, Presidency of the Italian Republic, and Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Venues in which he has performed include the United Nations General Assembly, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna, and Teatro Politeama in Palermo. With his more than three hundred benefit event performances as of 2022, involvement in numerous charitable causes, and commitment to making art with a purpose, Luciano Lamonarca has rightfully earned the sobriquet "The Goodwill Tenor."

## Personal life and education

Luciano Lamonarca was born in Milan as the second and youngest son of Pasquale Lamonarca and Anna De Nicolo. His family later moved to Ruvo di Puglia in the southern Province of Bari where he began his musical education. Originally trained as a clarinetist, at age 18 he devoted himself to opera after hearing a recording of Mario Del Monaco’s rendition of “Un Amore Così Grande.” From 1998 to 2008, he participated in several master classes conducted by Salvatore Fisichella, Roberto Scandiuzzi and Daniele Barioni, and he studied with Gino Lo Risso-Toma, Carmen Sensaud, and Ignazio Campisi. In 2008, he moved to the United States.

## Artistic accomplishments

Among the first performances in the United States was that at New York's Madison Square Garden for the opening of the worldwide premiere of the movie Carnera: The Walking Mountain. Among the honored guests at that occasion were the American Actor Burt Young and Academy Award Winner F. Murray Abraham. In April 2008, he was selected as the European representative for a concert held at the United Nations General Assembly where he sang before an audience of ambassadors, delegations, President of the 62nd Session of the General Assembly H.E. Srgian Kerim, and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Later in that same year, he performed with I Solisti del Teatro Regio di Parma at the Public Service Awards Ceremony, organized by the Department of Public Administration of the United Nations.
In March 2009, he performed in a concert, titled "Mamma," at New York's Merkin Concert Hall. Then in 2010, he performed at New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in a concert that honored tenor Giovanni Consiglio and again in December when he sang at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in a concert-tribute to the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
In 2011 at the Tenth Anniversary of the Attack on the Twin Towers in Westchester County (New York), his featured performance was broadcast by News 12. In November of the same year, he was again the featured performer at "United Academia," a concert celebrating the first anniversary of United Nations Academic Impact.
In 2013, he returned to Merkin Concert Hall as a special performing guest of the United Nations Symphony Orchestra. In May, he performed for the first time in Chisinau, Moldova, at the prestigious Sala cu Orgă din Chișinău in a benefit concert, titled Sing for You, in support of the Regina Pacis Foundation.
From 2014 to 2017, he invested his energy and time in performing in multiple concerts and events in support of charitable causes. On December 7, 2018, he returned to Weill Recital Hall where he performed with the Four Phantoms (Brent Barrett, Ciarán Sheehan, Franc D'Ambrosio, and Marcus Lovett).
In December 2023 and in December 2024 he was a special performing guest of The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), opening the United Nations agency celebratory concerts both times at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage.

## Albums and digital projects

IIn March 2009, Luciano Lamonarca released his first album, titled “Mamma,” dedicated to his mother and launched in a concert at Merkin Concert Hall in New York. In January 2012, he released his second album, “The Impossible Dream,” a compilation of Italian operatic arias and American pop-operatic hits, made in partnership with the New York Choral Society. In October of the same year and with the approval of stage director Giancarlo del Monaco, he produced the online music project “Ricordando Mario Del Monaco” as a tribute to the legendary tenor Mario Del Monaco. In May 2018, he recorded the single “God Bless America” in partnership with the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of its composition by Irving Berlin. Later that year in October, he recorded the single “Volare” on the 60th anniversary of its composition by Domenico Modugno. In May 2024, he released “The Song of Saint Pio,” a reinterpretation of the same song composed by Rico Garofalo, in five different languages.

## Media credits

Luciano Lamonarca has been interviewed and featured in numerous articles and television interviews by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, New York Daily News, New York Post, Fox News, NBC, CBS, News 12, RAI Uno, RAI Tre, RAI International, The Italian Times, The Italian Tribune, Italia! magazine (in Russian), La Repubblica, America Oggi, Quotidiano.Net, and Il Corriere del Mezzogiorno.

## Public recognition

Luciano Lamonarca received a Proclamation for artistic merit from the Westchester County Executive, Hon. Robert Astorino, on October 7, 2013, and from the New York State Comptroller, Hon. Thomas DiNapoli, on October 24, 2013.

## Philanthropy and other charitable projects

Because of his involvement in numerous charitable causes, his commitment to making art with a purpose, and having performed in more than three hundred benefit concerts and events in the span of a little over a decade, Luciano Lamonarca became known as “The Goodwill Tenor.” In 2009, he donated part of the proceeds from the sales of his first album “Mamma” to the City of Hope in Zambia, a missionary project by Salesian Nuns to help orphan girls and victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence. A portion of the proceeds from his 2012 album “The Impossible Dream” was donated to the “Mini Maestros Program,” which enabled New York City public school students and their parents to attend New York Choral Society performances at Carnegie Hall at no cost.
He initiated, organized and performed in United for Abruzzo, an artistic tour of Manhattan, Staten Island, and Pennsylvania that raised funds for the victims of the earthquake in Abruzzo in 2009. In the spring of 2011 he introduced two philanthropic projects. The first, An Evening of Italian Opera Arias, was a gift of voice for cancer patients, families, and friends and a show of support for Musculoskeletal Cancer Research at Wintergarden and for Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, at Columbia University Medical Center. The second was the concert Luciano Lamonarca and Friends, in April 2011, at Victor Borge Hall at the Scandinavia House, benefiting the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.
Luciano Lamonarca has created and performed in numerous other artistic-philanthropic projects to benefit orphans and the poor from various communities and charitable organizations both in the United States and in foreign countries.
For his constant and tireless commitment to spreading Christian values through national and international performances, the Chamber of the Italian Parliament bestowed on him the first “Christmas Award.”

## Personal life

IIn May 2010, he married Valentina Popa, whom he met immediately after his performance at the United Nations General Assembly on April 15, 2008. They have a son, Sebastian, who was born on September 3, 2015. He resides in Westchester County, New York.