Renowned Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti has announced that he will step down from the opera stage in the year 2005 after having gone a world tour. The tenor has also revealed that he will marry his good friend and mother of his child Nicolita Mantofani.
According to an Italian magazine, Pavarotti said that he will go on a final world tour, which he named it a goodbye tour, and will make it a point to sing on every opera stage he has ever stood on. The first concert he will hold will take place at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York-USA.
He added that no singer or artist is eternal and there comes a time when everyone must stand up and say enough. For Pavarotti he feels that he has contributed most of his life to the opera and the time has come for him to step back and enjoy the rest of his life with the ones he love.
Pavarotti and Irish singer Bono, a member of the popular U2 band, sang for the Iraqi people, at a UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) charity event in mid-may in Italy.
Pavarotti has sung at many charity events alongside well-known singers, such as Elton John, Brian Adams, Lisa Manely, and many more. Every charity concert Pavarotti holds, the proceeds are given to a certain organization that disperses to countries or groups that are in need most.
Two months ago, Pavarotti received a standing ovation for his splendid performance at the annual Culture and Arts Festival in Doha-Qatar. Spectators from around the Middle East came to be part of the rare opportunity of watching Pavarotti. The orchestra was brought in from abroad especially for the Cultural Festival making the concert an unforgettable musical experience.
With his extraordinary and powerful voice and his unique, jovial personality, Pavarotti has become the "personification" of opera, in forty years he has interpreted 26 different operas, 331 concerts, 315 recitals, for a total of 1266 performances in more than 60 countries all over the world.
It was in 1961 that Pavarotti made his real debut in the singing world by winning the international "Achille Peri" prize. 1961 was indeed a fundamental year in the tenor's life, a sort of watershed marking the passage from youth to maturity. It was the year in which he got his driver's license, married Adua Veroni after an engagement of eight years and - above all - it was the year of his first professional triumph: on the 29th of April Luciano Pavarotti debuted at the Teatro Municipal of Reggio Emilia, singing the part of Rodolfo in a widely applauded performance of Bohème conducted by Francesco Molinari Pradelli. –Albawaba.com
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
