Later this month, tenor Paul Pitts will sing in Israel at a celebration for the nation’s 60th anniversary of statehood, perform a concert in Belgium and sing in Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” at Regina Hall in New York City.

This Sunday, his destination is Ashtabula, where he’ll visit his college friend, the Rev. Michael Legg, and sing during the Sunday morning worship service at Legg’s church, Ashtabula First Church of the Nazarene, 1820 S. Ridge W.

Pitts, 56, has called the “Pavarotti of Christian music. He’s based in Orlando, Fla., but most of his time is on the road entertaining and comforting audiences ranging from crusade crowds to opera devotees. As of Tuesday, he’d already logged 6,000 miles this week working in a profession that, thus far, has not been affected by the national sour economy.

“I can sit behind the wheel of a car for 10 hours a day but I can’t stand to sit behind a desk that long,” says Pitts, who owned a commercial Christian radio station in Reno, Nev., and worked as a correspondent for the Christian Broadcasting Network before becoming a full-time professional vocalist in 1995.

A Dayton native with in-laws in Ashtabula County, Pitts started singing when he was four years old. His sister, Ruth, would take him into the family’s living room, perch him on top of the old upright piano and teach him Christian hymns. Pitts gave his life to Christ at the age of 8.

He fell in love with performing while in high school. He got a role in a large-scale production of the “Pajama Game” and never looked back.

“I got bit by the bug, performing, singing and acting,” he says.

He went into church music after attending what is now Mount Vernon Nazarene University. The seminal event in his life and ministry came in 1994, when Pitts lost his wife of 21 years. He spent the last 3 1/2 years of her life at her bedside, a long walk through the valley of death that changed the face of his ministry.

“It gave me a compassion for people who are sick and for people who have spouses who are ill,” Pitts says. “It’s a message of healing that I bring, that God is bigger than any of our problems. The God who created this universe loves us more than we could ever imagine. It’s really true. I believe that more than anything else.”

From gospel to opera

After his wife died, Pitts completed his degree at the University of Central Florida. He began studying with Louis Roney and, three months, later made his debut with the Florida Symphony Orchestra. He now studies at the Metropolitan Opera and is in the audition process for productions. His opera credits include Don Jose in “Carmen,” Rodolfo in “La bohème,” Lt. Pinkerton in “Madame Butterfly,” Florestan in “Fidelio,” Canio in “Pagliacci,” Cavaradossi in “Tosca” and Macduff in “Macbeth.”

“Mr. Pitts has one of the most beautiful voices in existence today with impeccable diction and admirable declamatory skills. In short, he is the Canio of our time,” stated a reviewer regarding his performance in New York.

Pitts says that through electronic media, his performances, more than 5,000 of them, have reached every continent and more than 1 billion people.

His sacred work includes television performances on the Rev. Charles Stanley’s “In Touch,” “Old Time Gospel Hour,” and at the Crystal Cathedral. Earlier this week, he sang in Long Beach, Calif., with a Benny Hinn crusade.