Pavarotti's legend rings out a year after his death
Concerts and events commemorating Luciano Pavarotti are being held around the world to mark the first anniversary of the Italian tenor's death on Sept. 6, 2007.
The tributes were announced Friday by Pavarotti's widow, Nicoletta Mantovani, and his longtime friend, film and opera director Franco Zeffirelli, at Italy's culture ministry in Rome.
The events kick off on Saturday in Pavarotti's hometown of Modena in northern Italy with a free performance of Verdi's Requiem. It will be followed by a repeat performance on Sunday.
Giorgio Pighi, mayor of Modena, told Agence France-Press that the large number of requests for tickets prompted the decision to hold the second performance.
With the support of Italy's culture minister and La Scala theatre in Milan, a singing competition has also been organized. About 250 men and women from around the world will participate. The final will be held Oct. 3, with tenor Carlo Bergonzi presiding over the jury.
On Oct. 17, the Vittoriano museum in Rome will open an exhibit on Pavarotti's life, with a collection of photographs, films and costumes.
Outside Italy
About 3,000 people will attend a performance of Verdi's Requiem at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on Sept. 18.
Some of the biggest names in pop music — including Elton John, Bono, Céline Dion and Sting, who all sang with Pavarotti — will take part in Pavarotti and Friends, a charity concert in Petra, Jordan, on Oct. 12. The tenor's own Pavarotti and Friends charity concerts with pop singers widened his already huge audience.
Mantovani, 38, said proceeds from the concert would be donated to the United Nations, "which Luciano passionately supported and represented with pride as a messenger of peace."
In France, a memorial concert will be held in Parc Saint-Cloud in Paris on Sept. 13. And conductor Leone Magiera, who worked with Pavarotti for many years, is planning a Paris tribute concert on Jan. 27.
Pavarotti died of pancreatic cancer in Modena at the age of 71. Two days later, several thousand people attended his funeral.
His strong voice and charismatic personality made him the most powerful tenor since Enrico Caruso.
He was also one of the few opera singers to become a pop star with his Pavarotti and Friends charity concerts.
His Three Tenors projects, in which he shared the stage with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras, sold millions of recordings and videos.
He married Mantovani in 2003 and they had a daughter, Alice. He also had three daughters from a previous marriage.