Pavarotti - The Duets

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Pavarotti’s blistering success in opera coincided with the growth of television as an everyday part of our lives, and he was soon making frequent performances that were broadcast to homes around the world. Pavarotti’s 1977 appearance as Rodolfo in La bohème for the first Live from the Met telecast attracted one of the largest audiences ever for a televised opera. Thousands bid Pavarotti farewell". BBC News – Entertainment. 8 September 2007 . Retrieved 2 January 2017. In 1955, he experienced his first singing success when he was a member of the Corale Rossini, a male voice choir from Modena that also included his father, which won first prize at the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales. He later said that this was the most important experience of his life, and that it inspired him to become a professional singer. [4] At about this time Pavarotti first met Adua Veroni. They married in 1961. When his teacher Arrigo Pola moved to Japan, Pavarotti became a student of Ettore Campogalliani, who at that time was also teaching Pavarotti's childhood friend, Mirella Freni, whose mother worked with Luciano's mother in the cigar factory. Like Pavarotti, Freni went on to become a successful opera singer; they would go on to collaborate in various stage performances and recordings together. Pavarotti annually hosted the Pavarotti & Friends charity concerts in his home town of Modena Italy, joining with singers from all parts of the music industry, including B.B. King, Andrea Bocelli, Zucchero, Jon Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Bono, James Brown, Mariah Carey, Eric Clapton, Dolores O'Riordan, Sheryl Crow, Céline Dion, Anastacia, Elton John, Deep Purple, Meat Loaf, Queen, George Michael, Tracy Chapman, the Spice Girls, Sting and Barry White to raise money for several UN causes. Concerts were held for War Child, and victims of war and civil unrest in Bosnia, Guatemala, Kosovo and Iraq. After the war in Bosnia, he financed and established the Pavarotti Music Centre in the southern city of Mostar to offer Bosnia's artists the opportunity to develop their skills. For these contributions, the city of Sarajevo named him an honorary citizen in 2006. [49]

His major breakthrough in the United States came on 17 February 1972, in a production of La fille du régiment at New York's Metropolitan Opera, in which he drove the crowd into a frenzy with his nine effortless high Cs in the signature aria. He achieved a record seventeen curtain calls. Pavarotti sang his international recital début at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, on 1 February 1973, as part of the college's Fine Arts Program, now known as the Harriman–Jewell Series. Perspiring due to nerves and a lingering cold, the tenor clutched a handkerchief throughout the début. The prop became a signature part of his solo performances. He began to give frequent television performances, starting with his performances as Rodolfo ( La bohème) in the first Live from the Met telecast in March 1977, which attracted one of the largest audiences ever for a televised opera. He won many Grammy awards and platinum and gold discs for his performances. In addition to the previously listed titles, his La favorite with Fiorenza Cossotto and his I puritani (1975) with Sutherland stand out. a b Herbert H. Breslin, The King and I: The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti's Rise to Fame by His Manager, Friend and Sometime Adversary, New York: Doubleday Publishing, 2004 ISBN 978-0-385-50972-5 ISBN 0-385-50972-3Not many opera singers become household names. But Pavarotti did, and in fact the name ‘Pavarotti’ has become synonymous with opera for music lovers and non-music lovers alike. In 1982, Pavarotti starred in a movie, the romantic comedy Yes, Giorgio. Sadly the film flopped, but the big screen was an opportunity for the name ‘Pavarotti’ to spread far and wide. On 28 April 1965, Pavarotti made his La Scala debut in the revival of Franco Zeffirelli’s production of La bohème, with his childhood friend Mirella Freni singing Mimì and the legendary Herbert von Karajan conducting. Apparently Karajan had particularly asked for Pavarotti; his career was set.

The collections both feature previously unreleased music and superstar duets with artists including Bono, Andrea Bocelli, Elton John, James Brown and Lou Reed. Pavarotti: Music From The Motion Picture From left: journalist Vincenzo Mollica, Pavarotti, Lucio Dalla and Zucchero on the first edition of Pavarotti & Friends (1992) President of Decca Records Rebecca Allen commented: “These duets are a wonderful reminder of Pavarotti’s humanitarian side. He used his fame and art to help benefit people, and was able to bring the most brilliant and like-minded singers together for a good cause. By the early 1970s, Pavarotti’s fame and status as one of the greatest tenors in the world created the demand for the tenor to perform regular concerts and recitals. He felt awkward because he didn’t know how to present himself and hold his hands when he wasn’t playing a character on the opera stage. Joan Sutherland quoted in Paul Arendt, "It Was All About the Voice," The Guardian, (London), 7 September 2007: "The young Pavarotti was a revelation to the opera world. He made his debut in the United States with us in Miami in 1965. He then came as part of our company to Australia, where he sang three times a week for 14 weeks, and we went on to make countless recordings together".In 1998, Pavarotti was presented with the Grammy Legend Award. By that time, only 11 other artists had ever been given the same award, including Billy Joel, Liza Minelli and Frank Sinatra. Richard Dyer, "Opera star Luciano Pavarotti dies: Epic career spanned 40 years", The Boston Globe, 6 September 2007 At the beginning of the 1980s, he set up The Pavarotti International Voice Competition for young singers, performing with the winners in 1982 in excerpts of La bohème and L'elisir d'amore. The second competition, in 1986, staged excerpts of La bohème and Un ballo in maschera. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of his career, he brought the winners of the competition to Italy for gala performances of La bohème in Modena and Genoa, and then to China where they staged performances of La bohème in Beijing ( Peking). To conclude the visit, Pavarotti performed the inaugural concert in the Great Hall of the People before 10,000 people, receiving a standing ovation for nine effortless high Cs. The third competition in 1989 again staged performances of L'elisir d'amore and Un ballo in maschera. The winners of the fifth competition accompanied Pavarotti in performances in Philadelphia in 1997.

Arias by Verdi & Donizetti – Arias from Luisa Miller, I due Foscari, Un ballo in maschera, Macbeth, Lucia di Lammermoor, Il duca d'Alba, La favorita and Don Sebastiano (with the Wiener Opernorchester under Edward Downes, 1968). [66] Pavarotti's one venture into film was Yes, Giorgio (1982), a romantic comedy movie directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, in which he starred as the main character Giorgio Fini. The film was a critical and commercial failure, although it received an Academy Award nomination for Best Music, Original Song.

Luciano Pavarotti to Promote UN Causes During Series of Concerts, 2005–2006", U.N. Press release, 5/4/2005. Retrieved 6 September 2007

Gareth Malone (2011). Music for the People: The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Classical Music. HarperCollins Publishers. pp.34–. ISBN 978-0-00-739618-4 . Retrieved 30 July 2013.Castonguay, Gilles (6 September 2007). "Luciano Pavarotti dead at 71". Reuters. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007 . Retrieved 6 September 2007.