Sometimes referred to as "Cincinnati’s favorite’s tenor," Marco Panuccio died on Nov. 28. He was just 48 years old.
According to the Cincinnati Business Courier, Panuccio died at his Clifton home of complications of COVID-19.
But those are just the bare bones of the story. They don’t begin to describe the incalculable void that his death will leave in the local music community.
Panuccio, who came to Cincinnati more than 20 years ago for graduate studies at the College-Conservatory of Music, was the kind of person who lit up every room he entered. He had an irrepressible character, seeming to infuse every gathering he attended with joy.
"Marco Panuccio was an opera singer," longtime friend and colleague Ashley Tongret wrote on her Facebook, "but with his unapologetically grand personality, he could almost seem like a character from an opera. He was smart and hilarious and insightful and profane. He could be cutting, but also extremely kind. I will miss his big hugs and Italian double-cheek kisses, his sass, and his love. He was our mascot and our fan, and we are forever Fanucci."
"Fanucci" is how Panuccio’s many fans referred to themselves on their Facebook page.
Raised in eastern Pennsylvania, he was the only one of his siblings who showed an aptitude for music, following the influences of his mother Carol, who spent most of her adult life singing in nearby church choirs.
But it was at Easton High School, when he came under the influence of choir director Edward Milisits, that he decided a career in music is what he wanted. He earned a pair of degrees at Temple University and started singing in the chorus of the Opera Company of Philadelphia.
Soon after that, he came to Cincinnati, which would become home to him even as his career grew and he traveled extensively to sing with opera companies and orchestras in Europe and throughout the U.S. After returning to Italy several times, he would change his first name from Mark to Marco. That’s how they referred to him in Italy, he explained. Besides, it would pay homage to his much-beloved Italian heritage.
"One of the things I liked the most about Marco was his – I won’t call it 'pragmatism,'" said Evans Mirageas, the artistic director of Cincinnati Opera. "It’s more elevated than that. He saw his role as a singer to bring joy to anybody who was available to hear him, whether it was from the stage of Music Hall or the back of a pickup truck traveling around Greater Cincinnati."
Although he had performed on some of the world’s biggest stages, Panuccio became one of the mainstays of Cincinnati Opera’s mobile touring programs, the Opera Express and the Share the Love truck, which brought opera excerpts to just about anywhere a four-wheeled vehicle could take them, from grocery store parking lots to neighborhood driveways.
"Marco treated each engagement seriously," Mirageas said. "He never phoned it in."
Panuccio was capable of great comedy on the stage, but he continued to be a serious student of vocal music and noted singers.
Christopher Milligan, Cincinnati Opera’s CEO and general director, was the company’s marketing director when he first crossed paths with Panuccio in 2003. They immediately struck up a friendship.
"If it hadn’t been for opera, I don’t think we would have been friends," said Milligan. "But we had this shared loved of the art form. We could listen to recordings together for way too long. We studied how different tenors would sing the same aria. We would listen to the smallest details of each performance. I know it sounds crazy. But it was wonderful."
We're talking on the phone, but as Milligan stops talking, it is clear that Panuccio’s death has affected him deeply.
"Marco would kill me for saying this, but as we talk about him, I am reminded of that song from 'Wicked,'" the "Wizard of Oz" prequel that closed just last week at the Aronoff Center. Milligan quotes the lyrics of "For Good," one of the show’s most memorable songs. "Because I knew you, I have been changed for good."
In the course of the past decade, Panuccio had sung 13 roles with Cincinnati Opera. He also performed with the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops orchestras, where his rendition of "O Holy Night" became an audience favorite. Indeed, it inspired an annual presentation of the same name, during which Panuccio and other musicians would gather to perform seasonal music. In time, he would give similar presentations in other cities around the country.
The last of those performances took place without an audience at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains in Dec. 11, 2020. You can watch the presentation on YouTube.
After opening with "Silent Night," he spoke to the viewers.
"If somebody would have told me one year ago that this is how we would have celebrated 'O Holy Night 2020,' I would have thought you quite strange. But here we are."
He talked of the complications of putting together the program during a pandemic. But then he added that "I’m just blessed to have amazing friends that are here to do what we love to do. And that is to perform live music."
You can hear Evans Mirageas’ tribute to Panuccio on WGUC’s website.
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