Pavarotti joins Hollywood Walk of Fame
NewsThe Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced on Friday that the Italian tenor, who died in 2007, will receive a star on the city’s sidewalk.
The event will take place on August 24 in the presence of his daughter, Cristina Pavarotti and the conductor James Conlon.
Luciano will be the 2,730th star in this terrestial Hollywood galaxy.
Nessun dorma, you never know what’s coming next.
Will Ruth Leon recommend ‘Yes, Giorgio’?
First thought when I read this. You have to see the Siskel & Ebert review to really appreciate it.
Bravo! Well deserved!
I heard Pavarotti three times. Two were arena concerts. The third-and the best-was a recital in 1977 at Royal Opera. That was a great experience. His voice was bright like a lazer and the ease of his singing from the lowest to the highest notes was apparently effortless. I didn’t get anxious that he wasn’t going to make a particularly difficult phrase or passage. There was lots of excitment with people shouting out for their favourite encores. And, of course, he finished with Nessun Dorma. Beautifully phrased with a wonderfully produced climactic B natural! He signed autographs for a long time and I noticed he was courtious and friendly to men but his attention increased when a women was in front of him. He would kiss their hand and a have a chat to them. All very facinating to observe at close quarters. Walk of Fame very deserved!
I heard him at the University of Tennessee Knoxville in a sold out 25,000 seat basketball arena.
When he walked out onto the stage (in-the-round) he breathed in deeply, and made a remark about the “wonderful” smell of popcorn in the air.
They handed him a giant plastic garbage bag filled with popcorn at the end of the gig as a gag. And he took the bag on the private jet with him to his next stop.
BTW – his performance in that venue was riveting.
Well deserved
Curious about who is paying for it. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce solely approves (or doesn’t) persons who are proffered to them for inclusion. Approval also requires the proffering party to pay for the installation of the ‘star’ on the sidewalk and other ceremonial expenses.
Good grief, it’s not the subway heading towards Santa Monica.
To put this in perspective: Andrea Boccelli got his star (while still alive) before Luciano Pavarotti.
(There are plenty of other opera singers with a star, most of whom I’ve never heard of, but you know, Hollywood is … Hollywood.)
Here are some names of opera singers who have stars of the Hollywood Walk of Fame: Licia Albanese, Marian Anderson, Enrico Caruso, Feodor Chaliapin, Maria Callas, Geraldine Farrar, Beniamino Gigli, Lotte Lehmann, Lauritz Melchior, Ezio Pinza, Jan Peerce, Lily Pons, Beverly Sills, Renata Tebaldi, Blanche Thebom, Lawrence Tibbett, Helen Traubel, and perhaps a few that I am missing.
Which are those that you haven’t heard of?
And it would be nice if Pavarotti’s friend from birth,the great soprano Mirella Freni was on that list
Pavarotti__the greatest tenor ever!
“Maestro,” implored Frank Sinatra to his friend, Luciano Pavarotti, “I’m having trouble closing out a note so that it sounds almost as thin as a butter knife. I want to finish it out quietly like that. I have trouble doing that. What do you think I should do?”
‘You just close up your mouth,'” replied the tenor.
“That’s all he said,” Sinatra recalled, “and I fell on the floor. That was the answer, but I thought he was going to give me a dissertation on how to let the breaths run out.”
http://www.azuremilesrecords.com/thesummerkisses.html
The gesture is completely justified considering the strides Luciano Pavarotti made in continuing to popularize opera with the broadest public, and, unlike Mr. Boccelli, but like Caruso, Gigli and Melchior with their stars, he knew how to sing!!
Bocelli has a pleasant voice, but to compare him to the beloved Luciano is ludicrous! There will never be another Pavarotti…..
Jonas Kauffman is sensational and a great singer/actor, but his Nessun Dorma cannot touch the ringing, true, emotional tones of “Big Luciano “, whom we lost far too soon.
Well deserved honor! He shared his gift with us as for as long as he could A brilliant singer an extraordinary man!!