October 12, 1935: Opera Star Luciano Pavarotti Is Born
Luciano Pavarotti was born on October 12, 1935, in Modena, in northern Italy. His father was a baker who loved to sing, and his mother worked in a cigar factory. As a boy, Pavarotti loved music and soccer, and he worked briefly as a schoolteacher before committing himself to a career in singing. It was a choice that would eventually take him to opera houses around the globe.
Rise to fame
He made his professional opera debut in 1961 in Reggio Emilia, singing the role of Rodolfo in Puccini's La Boheme. Over the following years he became known for a bright, powerful tenor voice and for the ease with which he sang very high notes. He appeared in many of the world's major opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where he performed regularly from 1968 onward. His performance of the aria Nessun dorma from Puccini's Turandot became closely linked with his name.
Bringing opera to everyone
In 1990, Pavarotti joined fellow tenors Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras for a concert at the ancient Baths of Caracalla in Rome, held the night before the FIFA World Cup final. The Three Tenors concert reached a huge television audience and became one of the best-selling classical recordings of all time. Through the Pavarotti and Friends charity concerts, which began in the early 1990s, he also sang alongside pop and rock performers and helped raise money for humanitarian causes.
Pavarotti died on September 6, 2007, at the age of 71, in Modena. Many listeners still point to his voice as the one that first introduced them to opera. His birthday is a lovely excuse to put on a recording of Nessun dorma and listen all the way through.