Pavarotti, opera became pop and rock
When Luciano Pavarotti went on stage, the distance between theater and stadium, between opera and song, between tenor and pop star was reduced until it disappeared. With him, opera came out of the theaters to meet the general publicthe voice became an instrument of union, technique was placed at the service of emotion. In the nineties, with the concerts “Pavarotti & Friends”, managed to bring together on the same stage i symbols of rock, pop and bel cantotransforming the work into a collective, accessible and universal event. In the ninetieth anniversary of his birthwe retrace the rock and pop collaborations of Luciano Pavarotti, the tenor who more than any other managed to break down the boundaries between different musical worlds.
Son of a baker and a domestic passion for music, Pavarotti was born in Modena on October 12, 1935. His father sang in a small city choir and passed on to him the taste for sound and melody. Before choosing voice as a profession, Luciano studied to become a physical education teacher, worked at school and sold insurance policies door to door. But the discipline of singing, under the guidance of Arrigo Pola and then Ettore Campogalliani, imposed itself as destiny. In 1961 he won the Achille Peri Competition in Reggio Emilia and made his debut as Rodolfo in “Bohemia“, a role that would remain his signature throughout his career. From there, the rise was continuous: the Scala in Milan, the Covent Garden, the Metropolitan in New York, the Arena in Verona. The galleries surrendered, the audiences consecrated him. The most recognizable voice in the world crossed Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti, Bellini. But tradition also managed to make itself present and so, in the nineties, Pavarotti decided to open opera to dialogue with pop musicmaking a gesture of rupture and generosity.
Together with his wife Nicoletta Mantovani, the tenor invented “Pavarotti & Friends”, which started in Modena in 1992 like a beneficial experimentsoon becoming an annual ritual that mixed repertoires, cultures and worlds.
Almost everyone has passed on stage alongside Pavarotti: Sting, Bono Vox, Stevie Wonder, Zucchero, Lucio Dalla, Eric Clapton, Mariah Carey, the Spice Girls, Brian May, Ligabue, Joe Cocker, Barry White, Giorgia, Bocelli. Even Michael Jackson, in 1999, remotely recorded his participation for an edition dedicated to Kosovo. Only Vasco Rossi seems to be the only one who has always said “no” to Lucianoexplaining in 2018 that “charity is one of those things you do by opening your wallet and maybe even keeping quiet, otherwise you don’t understand where the advantage for those who do it ends and where charity begins. This is why I have always said no to poor Pavarotti”. Generally speaking, for artists it was impossible to decline the tenor’s invitation, because duetting with him meant overcoming every genre boundary so that singing, in its essence, became an instrument of solidarity. Each edition, in addition to being released as a compilation album and DVD, had one specific charitable purpose: the funds raised were used to help child victims of the war in Bosnia, to fight Mediterranean anemia, to support war orphans in Liberia and Kosovo, for refugees in Guatemala, Cambodia, Tibet, Afghanistan, Angola and Iraq.
On the occasion of the first edition in 1992, Sugar and Pavarotti they presented their collaboration together live on the song “Miserere”, published in both Italian and English with lyrics written by Bono. Together with the U2 frontman, the tenor and the bluesman would perform the song in the performance of the tenth and final edition of the initiative in 2003.
Also known from “Pavarotti & Friends” in 1992 are the performances of Lucio Dalla in duet with Luciano on “Caruso”, and that of Sting with whom Pavarotti performed “Panis Angelicus”. Famous is the moment when they all gathered on stage at the end for the Maestro’s performance of “La donna è mobile” from the third act of “Rigoletto”.
Among the Italian artists invited to perform on the stage of the tenor’s festival to duet with him there were – among others – Georgie who in 1994 performed “Santa Lucia luntana”, before joining Bryan Adams and others in “All for love” and “Libiamo ne’ pleased calici” from “La traviata”, as well as Ligabue and Pirò Pelù with whom Pavarotti sang in 1996 respectively in the songs “Certe notti” and “I’ te vurria vasà”, but also Eros Ramazzotti in the 1998 duet on “Se a song was enough” and Pino Daniele on “Napule è”.
“Pavarotti & Friends” also became the stage for unlikely duets or which would not have been easy to achieve on other occasions, such as Dolores O’Riordan and Simon Le Bon together in 1995 “Linger”, after their respective live collaborations with Luciano on “Ave Maria” and “Ordinary world”.
He also participated in the fourth edition Elton Johnwith which Pavarotti performed “Live like horses”, while in 1998 among the stars of the event were the Spice Girls to sing together with the tenor their “Long live forever“. In the same year there were also Céline Dion (“I hate you than I love you”), Jon Bon Jovi (“Let it rain”), and Steve Wonder (“Peace wanted just to be free”).
The 1999 edition was characterized by the participation of Laura Pausini, Mariah Carey, Ricky Martin, BB King, Joe Cocker, Boyzone, Lionel Richie, Gianni Morandi, Renato Zero and Gloria Estefanwhile the following year there were George Michael, Eurythmics, Aqua, Enrique Iglesias and Skunk Anansie.
Tom Jones, Barry White, George Benson, Anastacia, Deep PurpleBond and Morcheeba were the stars of the 2001 edition, while at the ninth edition Andrea Bocelli, James Brown, Elisa, Grace Jones, Gino Paoli, Sting and Lou Reed performed. At the final event of the series in 2003, which was held on May 27, 2003 in favor of the programs of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Bono, Brian May, Eric Clapton, Deep Purple, Laura Pausini, Ricky Martin, Andrea Bocelli, Lionel Richie, Liza Minnelli, Zucchero and Maná once again took to the stage.
A few more performances by Luciano Pavarotti subsequently followedfirst invited by Zucchero to the Royal Albert Hall for the opening of the “Zu & Co. Tour” in 2004 to duet on “Miserere”, then in the same year engaged in the farewell to the opera at the Metropolitan in New York, and finally involved in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin where on 10 February 2006 he held his last performance. Pavarotti is passed away on 6 September 2007.
