When I was a reporter at a CBS affiliate in Mississippi, I was sent to profile the late, great tenor Luciano Pavarotti in conjunction with the his concert in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Through a combination of credentials and pluck, my cameraperson and I gained entrée to the singer's rehearsal, the ad-hoc orchestra led by maestro Zubin Mehta. I will never forget the moment the sound check began with Pavarotti, in jeans and a sweater, opened his mouth and poured forth the recitative "Oh! fede negar possi...", leading into the aria "Quando le sere al placido" from Verdi's Luisa Miller.
Several times during the sound check, Pavarotti solicited the advice of his then-manager, Herbert Breslin. At one point, Breslin ordered my videographer and me to leave and sent over a security guard to escort us out. Later we returned and shot footage during the concert itself and met the singer backstage afterwards. I wish I could say that Pavarotti was as gracious a presence as his rival, Placido Domingo, whom I had met two years earlier in Orlando. Alas, Pavarotti was not in the best mood. Still, his grouchy demeanor did not dampen my respect for his artistry. When Pavarotti died in September 2007, I wrote this commentary on Salon.com.BACK TO RICHARD'S WELCOME PAGE