9 VII

1 hr 33 min.
Historical footage from 1991.

The weather forecast augured badly. It was going to be rainy all day, and a downpour was predicted for the evening. When Pavarotti looked out the window in the morning – he was reassured that the concert would be canceled. Perhaps that would have happened elsewhere, but not in London, where such weather is secondary to a major event. Pavarotti’s admirers from the British Isles began gathering in Hyde Park long before the concert, which took place in pouring rain. According to estimates, 125,000 people listened to it. Among them was Princess Diana. In Ron Howard’s excellent documentary Pavarotti, there is a sequence in which a rain-soaked but joyful Diana and Pavarotti talk right after his performance. The friendship they made at the time led to a charity concert and their friendship.

In the program for this extraordinary concert, the then 55-year-old Luciano Pavarotti sang his favorite arias from operas by Verdi, Puccini, Meyerbeer, Leoncavallo and Massenet. He chose them to illustrate 30 years of his career to date.
The all-time tenor was accompanied by the 82-musician Philharmonia Orchestra and the 120-voice Philharmonic Choir. Leone Magiera conducted.