Charles Castronovo

He studied voice at the California State University and made his debut in Los Angeles in the mid-1990s. He was a comprimario in his first years, and still so when making his Met debut in 1999. His first Met role was Beppe, but mostly, he sang much smaller parts such as the First Prisoner in Fidelio. He stayed two seasons, until 2001.

Why on Earth he became a lead tenor after that, is a mystery even for contemporary operatic standards. His voice is almost constantly on the edge of cracking, and his musicality doesn't leave a lot but everything to be desired. Trifle! Before long, he sang at Covent Garden, the Vienna, the Munich and the Berlin Staatsoper, La Monnaie, the Paris Opéra, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Salzburg Festival, the Savonlinna Festival, in Amsterdam, in Genova, at the Met again; and in roles like Don José, Gounod's, Berlioz' and Boito's Faust, Don Ottavio, Tamino, Gennaro, Edgardo, Roberto Devereux, Lenskij or Rodolfo. I heard him as Alfredo, and it was much like the above excerpt...

Reference 1, reference 2: Kutsch & Riemens, reference 3: Met archives, feference 4