Pavarotti’s Year of Opera: Eclipse Music Group
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Join us as we celebrate the Year of Opera with the great Luciano Pavarotti. We’ll be featuring his music, his life, and his impact on the world of opera.
Introduction
In the year 2006, tenor Luciano Pavarotti embarked on a series of operatic performances that would come to be known as “The Year of Opera.” The project, conceived by his longtime manager and friend Terri Robson, was designed to celebrate the legendary singer’s 70th birthday and 50-year career in music.
Pavarotti chose ten classic operas for the project, each one representing a different phase of his life and career. He began with Verdi’s “La Traviata,” which he had first performed at La Scala in 1961. He then moved on to Puccini’s “Turandot,” which he had sung at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1974. Other operas selected for the project included Verdi’s “Don Carlo” and “Aida,” Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” Wagner’s “Lohengrin,” and Verdi’s “Otello.”
In addition to performing these ten signature roles, Pavarotti also participated in a number of special events and concerts throughout the year. He kicked off the project with a star-studded gala concert at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, featuring such fellow opera luminaries as Placido Domingo, Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Joseph Calleja, and Vesselina Kasarova. He also returned to his hometown of Modena for a special open-air concert celebrating his 70th birthday, which was attended by more than 200,000 fans.
The Year of Opera proved to be a huge success both commercially and artistically, with Pavarotti giving some of the finest performances of his later career. It was also a bittersweet time for the singer, as it would eventually prove to be his last major project before his retirement from public life due to ill health. Nevertheless, the memories of The Year of Opera remain as a lasting testament to Pavarotti’s artistry and legacy.
Pavarotti’s Year of Opera
Luciano Pavarotti was an Italian operatic tenor who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. In his final year, Pavarotti turned his attention back to opera with a series of live performances and a new album, Pavarotti’s Year of Opera.
The Three Tenors
Pavarotti’s Year of Opera: Eclipse Music Group proudly presents The Three Tenors in their debut album. This historic recording features the world-renowned tenors Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Jose Carreras in a series of legendary opera arias and popular songs. The Three Tenors have been thrilling audiences around the globe with their astonishing vocal prowess and magnetic stage presence, and this album captures their artistry at its very best.
La Scala
One of the most prestigious opera houses in the world, La Scala is located in Milan, Italy. As the home of Giuseppe Verdi’s operas Nabucco and Aida, La Scala has a long tradition of premiering the work of great Italian composers. Luciano Pavarotti made his debut at La Scala in 1961 as Rodolfo in Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème. He returned to the stage there many times over the course of his career, appearing in such roles as Don Carlo in Verdi’s Don Carlo, Riccardo in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, and Maurizio in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur.
The Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is one of the world’s most prestigious opera companies. Founded in 1883, it is based in New York City and presents around 27 different operas each year. Many of the world’s greatest opera singers have performed at the Met, including Luciano Pavarotti.
In 2006, Pavarotti announced that he would retire from singing at the end of that year. His final performance was a gala concert at the Met, which was recorded and released as an album and DVD. Entitled Pavarotti’s Year of Opera, it features him performing arias from some of his best-loved roles. These include Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La Bohème, and Tosca. The album also features duets with fellow opera stars such as Joan Sutherland, Plácido Domingo, and José Carreras.
Conclusion
Pavarotti’s Year of Opera comes to a close with a performance of Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera on December 31. The live recording of this event will be released by Eclipse Music Group on February 11, 2014.
Pavarotti’s Year of Opera was a series of live performances and recordings featuring the legendary tenor Luciano Pavarotti. The project was produced by Eclipse Music Group, an independent record label specializing in classical and opera recordings.
The series began with a gala concert at New York’s Lincoln Center on January 1, 2013, featuring Pavarotti’s final performance of “Nessun dorma” from Puccini’s Turandot. The concert was recorded live and released as an album on January 22, 2013.
Pavarotti went on to give performances and recordings of Verdi’s Rigoletto, Puccini’s La Bohème, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Rossini’s La Cenerentola, and Verdi’s La Traviata. He also recorded an album of favorite arias and duets, titled Pavarotti Forever, which was released in June 2013.
The series concluded with a performance of Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera on December 31, 2013. The live recording of this event will be released by Eclipse Music Group on February 11, 2014.
