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In Bay Area, He Hit Both High And Low Notes

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By KURT LOFT, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 7, 2007

TAMPA - No lover of opera could deny the talents of Luciano Pavarotti, who brought an indelible blend of power, softness and emotional energy to his singing.

'His voice had an absolutely distinctive quality,' said Judith Lisi, president of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. 'I do think he was the superstar tenor, and he did a lot to make opera well-known' among the masses.

The baritone Sherill Milnes, currently an artist-in-residence at the Tampa center, knew Pavarotti and extolled the virtues of his musical expression. Milnes called Pavarotti the Enrico Caruso of his time.

'He had an animal excitement in his voice, combined with the intensity of his eyes,' Milnes said. 'And he wasn't the traditional musician. The second or third time through a score, he sang like he wrote it himself.'

Pavarotti was a large man with lung power to spare, and his voice displayed an amazing depth, subtlety and spectrum of colors. Some said his vocal cords were 'kissed by God,' and Pavarotti referred to them as a woman who possessed him. But his talents went beyond the opera house; Pavarotti charmed people who had never heard a note of Verdi or Puccini.

'Pavarotti's incredible voice, which had a very unique timbre and brilliance, combined with his welcoming personality, connected millions to the world we call classical music,' said Richard Zielinski, artistic director of the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay. 'All artists are indebted to Pavarotti for his work and accomplishments.'

But Pavarotti may have gone too far in his desire to please all people, all the time. He eventually traded the opera house for the sports arena, cheapening his art with amplified pickup orchestras in acoustically shrill environments.

Still, people were willing to pay up to $500 a seat to hear the maestro bellow at Tampa's Sun Dome in 1986. Pavarotti defended the mass-appeal concert in an interview with The Tampa Tribune at the time.

'Everybody now can see a performance, not just a very select few thousand people, the rich people, the black tie,' he said in broken English. 'So now they know more opera, and they like more opera.'

Pavarotti's Tampa appearance wasn't without detractors. He received plenty of criticism for the way he handled what was to be a fundraiser for the now-defunct Florida Opera Co. Pavarotti's management promised a New Year's Eve date, and the company began selling blocks of tickets.

Then Pavarotti pulled a trademark move: He canceled.

The concert was rescheduled to three weeks earlier, forcing Florida Opera officials to scramble to appease ticket buyers. The company lost its potential ticket revenue and had to withdraw as beneficiary.

In the end, Pavarotti walked away with $200,000 originally intended to support the struggling local group.

The Tribune followed a paper trail of similar tactics Pavarotti employed with opera company benefits in Utah and South Carolina. Rather than help raise money for these groups, Pavarotti did worse by draining community resources, said Glade Peterson, general director of the Utah Opera.

'Having Pavarotti is a historic event, but it's a horrendous price to pay,' Peterson told the Tribune at the time. 'They're not doing this to benefit you; they're doing it to benefit them, and anyone who ignores the long-range effects is blind.'

Reporter Kurt Loft can be reached at (813) 259-7570 or kloft@tampatrib.com.

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