Singing Electrician Lights Up UBS Arena

With a microphone in his hand and a hard hat on his head, Kyle Viverito stood at the top of the Tailgate Bar inside UBS Arena, ready to fulfill a lifelong dream.
The tenor was preparing to sing Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" during the second intermission of the Islanders-Maple Leafs game on Nov. 21. For the aspiring singer, who works as an electrician by day, a chance to stand alone on stage sing in front of 17,000 people is one he's sought his entire life.

"It's like my whole life has been leading up to this point," Viverito said. "I keep telling people I've never felt so in the zone and prepared for a moment like this. It's like the Kelly Clarkson song when she won American Idol. To me, it's the same feeling."
How Viverito wound up on this grand stage is something out of "A Star is Born".
The 34-year-old electrician had only been on the job at UBS Arena for a couple of days. He shared with his co-workers that he had been one of the finalists for the Islanders' anthem auditions two years prior. There was some skepticism amongst the construction crew, as the Venn diagram between tradesman and showman isn't exactly a perfect circle.

Viverito sang his colleagues a few bars from Arabian Knights, which was fitting since he was practicing for an audition on the Broadway production of Aladdin. Unbeknownst to Viverito, Richard Browne, the Managing Partner of Sterling Project Development, was in the vicinity and overheard his singing. Browne was impressed and approached Viverito, asking him to sing something else. He belted out "for the land of the free," holding the note on "free" as only an opera singer could. They exchanged information and Browne told Viverito he would hear from him again soon.
Browne followed up on his word, and a few weeks later, Viverito was approached by the New York Islanders Game Presentation team. Viverito was offered the chance to sing the national anthem during a hockey game dress rehearsal at UBS Arena a week before the building's opening. A week later, Viverito was asked again to open for Chicago during a charity event at UBS Arena.
"To me this was all the opportunity of a lifetime," Viverito said.
As quickly as the opportunities have come of late for Viverito, getting himself prepared for this moment has been a lifetime in the making. The Merrick native discovered his voice when he was forced (his words) to join his sixth grade chorus. He went through scale exercises with his music teacher and started taking formal singing lessons.
"Ever since that day, being a singer has been the only thing I've ever wanted," Viverito said.
As a kid, Viverito envisioned himself as a pop star more than an opera singer, but his classical training opened him up to a world of Italian Aria's. At 22, he made the decision to move to Germany to pursue singing opportunities, landing a gig at Anhaltisches Theater Dessau for a year before returning to Long Island to join the Local Union 3 IBEW.

He sang locally at Regina Opera Brooklyn, the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company of Long Island, and NYC Opera among others, while working as electrician. In a broad sense, that's been Viverito's music path for the past 10 years, waiting for an opportunity like the one at UBS Arena.
"I've always maintained my singing lessons and kept hope in my heart that something would happen," he said. "Even if I never make it as a big star, singing at every game as a professional singer and getting paid, that's the same dream. You're still singing in front of 20,000 people and it's something special. I've never given up, but it's just been harder and harder. With all of this going on, it's been a whirlwind of dream come true."
Viverito didn't necessarily think his life would change when he started working on the construction of UBS Arena as a traveler with Local 25. As a lifelong Islanders fan, it's not lost on him that a lot of his passions have converged at the Islanders' state of the art new home. It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks, going from singing on the job site to standing on the stage at an Islanders game, but Viverito has never felt more in the moment.
"At this point, anything that has happened right up to this point has been enough to make my dreams come true since I was a kid," Viverito said. "Even if it all ended tomorrow and I went back to being an electrician, I had this moment in my life."
Perhaps "New York, New York" was a perfect song for his big break. For all Viverito knows, this could be a brand new start of it.