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Topic: Auditioning for Pavarotti: the Ultimate Test Return to archive
December 1st, 2004 11:04 AM
Ten Thousand Motels Auditioning for Pavarotti: the Ultimate Test
By Paul Majendie

MODENA, Italy (Reuters) - For aspiring tenors, there can be no more terrifying experience on a misty Modena morning -- singing your heart out on a bare stage to convince Luciano Pavarotti to pick you as a pupil.

Some trembled with nerves, their voices cracking under the pressure. One poor tenor forgot the words of his chosen aria and had to face the ignominy of being prompted by Pavarotti himself.

Other singers soared, seizing the moment in their audition to dazzle the world's most famous opera star.


Pavarotti did not bat an eyelid when aspiring tenors chose to audition with the arias that he had sung to acclaim for audiences over the past 40 years.


For 55 wannabes from around the world, this was their chance for glory at the Modena Music Academy.


He picked five who will start next January. They can look forward to regular lessons from Pavarotti whenever he is back in his hometown from touring.

Other hopefuls are being picked at auditions being organized later in the United States and Britain.

The tension was palpable in the Teatro Storchi's darkened auditorium as the contenders vocally limbered up in the drab dressing rooms and then sipped nervously from water bottles in the wings.

One even put a taperecorder on stage so she could capture her moment before Pavarotti.

Hopes soared when he would ask a singer to pick a second aria. They knew they were in with a chance too when he stopped them and tried to freshen a phrase.

To Japanese soprano Sanae Kachi, Pavarotti was all encouragement, telling her: "You have a very lovely voice. There are some things to work on but it will come."

"I was crying tears of joy," she told Reuters after her brief moment of operatic fame. "I turned on the best voice I have to sing for him."

Pavarotti, swathed in scarves as he sat in the theater aisle taking notes, offered each aspiring star a courteous "Thank you" at the end -- even if they had crumbled on a High C.

There was no Broadway-style director barking "Don't call us, we'll call you" to a crestfallen hopeful.

Only once was the flow interrupted when Pavarotti took a call from one of his daughters on his mobile phone -- which has a burst of Bizet's Carmen as its ringtone.

To Italian tenor Fabio Andreotti, Pavarotti said: "Always try to get to the end of the phrase. Think where you are breathing from."

That stage must have felt like the loneliest place in the world but Andreotti conquered his nerves to deliver a solid performance.

"He was very kind and understanding," the noticeably relieved Andreotti told Reuters afterwards. "Pavarotti is Pavarotti. He certainly is the greatest tenor of the last century."

With Pavarotti now announcing a 40-city tour of the globe next year before bowing out like a superstar, the end of an era is in sight for the 69-year-old star.

And Andreotti, hoping to learn from Pavarotti the teacher, said of the singer who changed the face of opera: "Only when he is gone will people realize how good he was."
December 1st, 2004 12:50 PM
glencar People don't realize how good Pavarotti is? Balderdash!
December 1st, 2004 06:21 PM
Soldatti Pa-va-ro-tti!
LOL, Great name on a Stones board.
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