Luciano Pavarotti

Few opera tenors throughout history have matched the worldwide renown attained by Luciano Pavarotti. His robust, resonant, and instantly identifiable voice carried him to a degree of household recognition ordinarily granted only to pop performers and film celebrities, simultaneously elevating opera to fresh heights of broad public appeal.

Born in Modena, Italy, on October 12, 1935, he first drew local notice as a youth playing on the town soccer team and soon joined his father, a capable amateur tenor and committed opera enthusiast, in choral singing. After the chorus captured first prize at an international competition, Pavarotti’s direction was set; his solo debut took place in 1961 when he portrayed Rodolfo in La Boheme at the opera house in Reggio Emilia.

Early momentum brought engagements across Italy and then in Amsterdam, Vienna, Zurich, and London. His American debut occurred in February 1965 in a Miami production of Lucia di Lammermoor with Joan Sutherland, the first of their repeated collaborations.

The Pavarotti phenomenon crystallized on February 17, 1972, during a Metropolitan Opera performance of La Fille du Regiment in New York. After he completed an aria with nine high Cs without apparent strain, the audience responded with sustained applause and his celebrity was confirmed. In later seasons he assumed the roles of Arturo, Massenet’s Des Grieux, Alfredo, the Duke, and Nemorino; as his timbre grew darker and fuller he also sang Manrico, Ernani, Radames, Calaf, and Otello.

In 1977 he again appeared as Rodolfo for the opening episode of the long-running Live at the Met television series and went on to feature in more than a dozen Lincoln Center broadcasts. His complete stage repertoire was eventually recorded, and he sold millions of copies of solo albums containing opera arias, traditional pieces, and holiday favorites. Stadium concerts and other high-profile spectacles formed part of his schedule, while some of his largest audiences resulted from joint appearances with Placido Domingo and José Carreras as the Three Tenors.

Pavarotti’s final performance occurred at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, where he delivered a characteristically moving and powerful account of “Nessun Dorma” before an adoring crowd. On 6 September 2007 the operatic world lost one of its greatest voices when Luciano Pavarotti succumbed to pancreatic cancer at the age of 71.