Luciano Pavarotti
One of the most successful and admired opera singers of all time, Luciano Pavarotti was king among tenors from the late 1960s through the 1990s. His voice was noted for its exciting upper register, and tailor-made for the operas of Verdi, Bellini, Donizetti, and Puccini, and as it darkened slightly over the years, for the verismo composers as well. His vocal longevity, which kept him singing youthfully well into his sixties, and still beautifully after that, was a credit to his commanding technique and artistry, and remarkable considering his nearly 40 years of performing.
Pavarotti's father was a baker, and his mother worked in a cigar factory. As a boy, he sang alto in the cathedral choir, and when his voice changed he joined the Modena city choir. He had brief careers as a schoolteacher and an insurance agent; during that time, his major extracurricular activity was not music but soccer, and his play made him a local star. However, increased involvement in the choir (which took prizes in international competitions) led him to pursue vocal studies, and he eventually settled on singing as his aspiration.
Pavarotti studied voice with Arrigo Polo in Modena, then with Ettore Campogalliani in Mantua. His operatic debut was as Rodolfo in La Bohème in Reggio Emilia (April 19, 1961), and soon increasing success led to a debut in Amsterdam on January 18, 1963, as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor. After singing the same role with Joan Sutherland in Miami in 1965, he was engaged to travel with her in the Sutherland Williamson International Grand Opera Company, touring Australia. In 1966 he appeared at Covent Garden as Tonio in La fille du régiment, where his seemingly effortless handling of the nine successive high Cs in the aria "Pour mon âme" sent his career into high orbit. He repeated the feat at the Metropolitan Opera in 1972, and for more than two decades after that he was a fixture on the operatic scene, appearing in nearly every major European and American house, and even China, where he performed Puccini's La bohème in the 1980s.
Pavarotti appeared in the first "Live from the Met" broadcast on the PBS network and was the most consistent draw on that series for years. His outstanding catalogue of recordings on the London (Decca) record label preserves nearly every role he ever performed and is hard to match for its quality and scope. His charity work included AIDS benefit concerts and world hunger gala events, as well as his "Pavarotti and Friends" concerts to benefit children, especially in the former Yugoslav states. He also founded a quadrennial contest to identify talented young singers and boost their careers. And, as one of the "Three Tenors," he brought operatic singing to a wider popular audience than previously might have been thought possible. In 2003 he released his first solo crossover CD, Ti adoro. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2006, yet remained positive and hopeful of still being able to record and perform until his death.
© TiVo
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Pearlfisher's Duet - World Famous Operatic Duets
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Pavarotti Edition, Vol.7: Arias
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Pavarotti Edition, Vol.2: Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
An Evening at the Opera: Famous Arias And Duets
Agnes Baltsa, Edita Gruberova, Luciano Pavarotti, Jon Vickers
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 25 Jan 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Pavarotti Edition, Vol.9: Italian songs
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Pavarotti Edition, Vol.1: Donizetti
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
All-Star Tenors Salute The World
José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 17 May 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Christmas Round The World
Magdalena Kožená, Mercedes Sosa, Roberto Alagna, Luciano Pavarotti
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pagine Inedite (Revised by Pietro Spada)
Claudio Abbado, Luciano Pavarotti
Opera Extracts - Released by WMI Italy on 29 Sep 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Pavarotti Edition, Vol.6: Puccini, Mascagni, Leoncavallo
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Tenor's Valentine
José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 5 Jan 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Aïda
Maria Chiara, Luciano Pavarotti, Coro Del Teatro Alla Scala Di Milano, Orchestra del Teatro della Scala di Milano, Lorin Maazel
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1969
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Pavarotti Edition, Vol.5: Puccini
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Macbeth
Elena Souliotis, Luciano Pavarotti, Nicolaï Ghiaurov, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Lamberto Gardelli, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1971
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Luciano Pavarotti, Vol. 2
Opera - Released by Baierle records on 17 Dec 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Song to Remember
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by RReMark on 1 Jan 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Luciano Pavarotti, Vol. 2
Opera - Released by Autarc Media GmbH on 17 Dec 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best of Luciano Pavarotti
Opera - Released by Baierle records on 14 Dec 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Amore II - Great Italian Love Arias
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 26 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Luciano Pavarotti: The Ultimate Collection Live – Over 100 Tracks Live in Concert and at the Opera
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo