Italian operatic legend Luciano Pavarotti's life was as passionate and dramatic as any opera. "He was very romantic, and we had many fights, like all couples," his widow, Nicoletta Mantovani, 49, recently gushed to Closer Weekly in an exclusive interview, on newsstands now. "There was fire in us." When she told him she was flying back to Italy from New York after a big argument, he called the head of Alitalia to stop her from getting on the plane, claiming he'd broken his arm. "I went to him and he said, ‘You see! When you leave me, that's the end of everything!' Then in the middle of dinner, I saw him take away the bandage! We both started laughing and had a fantastic night." There are many more "mamma mia!" moments in Ron Howard's new documentary, Pavarotti. The film captures his larger-than-life personality through rare footage, family interviews and words from the man known as the People's Tenor, who grew large from his beloved pasta yet never seemed to grow old. "One of the greatest advantages of being an artist [is] to be able to always be a child," the star once revealed. But he also never outgrew a fear of not being able to hit the miraculous high notes that led him to be dubbed King of the High C's. "It created a lot of anxiety," Ron told Closer at the film's New York City screening on May 28. "Before performances, he'd say, ‘I go to die.'" p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Closer ARTICLE

Decca Records are releasing six live performances by the late great Italian operatic tenor - whose full name was Luciano Pavarotti - with some of world's biggest rock and soul stars. The special release is to accompany Ron Howard's film about the star - who died in 2007 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 71 - which features never-before-seen footage, concert performances and intimate interviews. The songs are from the 'Pavarotti And Friends' charity concerts, which took place in Modena, Italy - the 'Nessun Dorma' hitmaker's hometown - between 1992 and 2003 to benefit War Child and more. It was there Pavarotti teamed up with U2 frontman Bono for a performance of Schubert's 'Ave Maria'. The Bono and Bocelli tracks will feature on the documentary's soundtrack 'Music From The Motion Picture: Pavarotti'. The rest off the duets will be available on 'Pavarotti: The Greatest Hits', comprised of three discs. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Tucson.com ARTICLE

To mark the release of the documentary film Pavarotti in cinemas on July 15, RTE is giving you the chance to win tickets to an exclusive preview screening at Odeon Point Square in Dublin on July 2. The makers of the film say: "From the team behind the worldwide success The Beatles: Eight Days a Week comes two-time Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard's documentary celebrating the life of the beloved opera star Luciano Pavarotti, who sold over 100 million records in his lifetime. Ron Howard takes an intimate approach in telling Pavarotti's story, going beyond the iconic public figure to reveal the man himself.  "Thanks to a partnership with Decca Records and unique access to the Pavarotti family archives, home videos, behind the scenes and extensive live music footage, we see Pavarotti's personal story emerge: from his humble beginnings in Northern Italy through to global superstardom.  Pavarotti opens in cinemas on Monday, July 15

In PAVAROTTI, director Ron Howard spotlights opera superstar Luciano Pavarotti, the most famous tenor of the past 50 years, so famous that even people who had never heard an opera knew his name. Even if you don't know anything about opera, you have probably heard of the Three Tenors – Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo. If you are an opera fan, you know Pavarotti as one the great voices, the best tenor of the second half the last century and beginning of this one. Ron Howard's affectionate but honest documentary has something for both of those audiences. Director Ron Howard's PAVAROTTI is about as well-crafted and entertaining a biographical documentary as one could ask for, hitting the highlights of the singer's career, his strengths and failings, and telling his personal story. It is a warts-and-all documentary, that looks beneath the famous exterior but which still leaves the audience feeling like they have gained an understanding of the man and a sense of why he has was both a great artist and a beloved star. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} READ THE FULL we are MOVIE GEEKS REVIEW

Acclaimed director Ron Howard has released a new documentary on the life of opera star Luciano Pavarotti, who grew up in Modena, Italy, and rose to fame with the global phenomenon The Three Tenors. The film is filled with archival footage, interviews with family, and of course, music. Jeffrey Brown caught up with Howard to discuss it and what surprised him most about Pavarotti, who died in 2007. WATCH THE PBS NEWS HOUR PIECE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d}

Hao Jiang Tian saw his first opera in 1983. It was the day he arrived from China with four words of English (hello, OK, bye, yes) and $35 in his pocket. An aspiring singer, he spent $8 of it on a standing-room ticket at the Met, where Luciano Pavarotti was performing. "It knocked me out!" Tian says. Now, 36 years and 20 Met seasons of his own later, the Beijing-born bass is headlining a Chinese production, "Voyage to the East." Sung in Mandarin, with English subtitles, by a cast of 200, it's a contemporary opera about a Buddhist monk who lived 1,200 years ago. "I only knew his name," Tian, 64, says of Jianzhen, the Tang Dynasty holy man who brought Buddhism to Japan. Fraught with shipwrecks and other tragedies, the voyage took 12 years. By the time the monk arrived in Japan, he was over 60 and blind. "Voyage to the East," Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater
photo: Everett Collection; Wang Xiaojing READ THE FULL NEW YORK POST ARTICLE

Even the Hollywood pros get overwhelmed sometimes! Now we know what one leading director repeats to himself to get in the right frame of mind. Ron Howard was talking with Black Hollywood Live's Carla Renata on The Curvy Critic about his new film, Pavarotti, when he revealed the mantra he repeats when filming. "When I'm feeling overwhelmed, I just focus and I say, ‘ok, what's my job today?'" shared Howard. "Cause I like to distill it down to work." Howard said after so many years in the entertainment industry, he tries not to overthink it. "What are we supposed to be doing right now? Let's put everything else aside for just a minute and get focused on that," Howard said. "That gives me a kinda peace of mind, and a little equilibrium and we do that." Pavarotti shares the life of famed opera singer Luciano Pavarotti through the lens of never-before-seen footage, as well as personal interviews and concert performances. In making this film in particular, Howard was grateful for the team around him. "Of course I'm not an opera singer. I don't have to do it alone. I get to do it with a fantastic group of unbelievably talented, committed artists, and, and, and technicians," said Howard. "I love being on the team and sometimes leading the team." WATCH THE INTERVIEW via AFTERBUZZ TV

Some opera stars are simply too bright to fade. One such: Luciano Pavarotti. Just when the late tenor was beginning to fade from contemporary culture, out comes director Ron Howard with a warm-hearted documentary that not only brings Pavarotti roaring back to life but also humanizes a figure who in his prime was larger than life itself. The film, written by Mark Monroe and opening Thursday, June 20, at the Cedar Lee Theatre, covers Pavarotti's entire life, everything from his early childhood and debut in "La Boheme" in 1961 all the way through his rise to international megastardom and his death in 2007. We learn about his father, a baker and accomplished singer; meet his wives and children; and hear from colleagues, friends and critics who knew and worked with him at every stage. READ THE FULL Cleveland Plain Dealer REVIEW

As one of the greatest Tenors of all time, the deliverer of Opera to the masses, Luciano Pavarotti was, by all rights, a complicated man. He was a titan that was as flawed as he was gifted, but Ron Howard's latest music documentary Pavarotti, which tracks Pavarotti's life from birth to global stardom, is a tender, affectionate look at a man who was, almost impossibly so, larger than life. Pavarotti changed the world while changing the world of music, but, as the archival footage and interviews from the film reveal, he was also simply a man, one who loved life, food, family, music, his fame, and had a deep understanding of the impermanence of it all. Below, five things we learned from watching Pavarotti.  p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} SEE THE Five things you never knew about Luciano Pavarotti 

Whether he is making a movie like The Da Vinci Code or Pavarotti, the work starts with doing research. It is important for Ron Howard to understand whatever world he is filming to make sure he creates the clearest story possible. Howard uses interviews and never-before-seen footage to tell the story of Pavarotti as the world-famous voice, family man and musical legend in a format that is like a three-act opera. It is a different approach than he used when making The Beatles documentary as that offering mixed the musical history of the Fab Four with personal recollections of those who saw them perform. READ THE FULL stuff ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}

Win double passes to Pavarotti and Mozart's Don Giovanni presented by the APO. CLICK HERE TO Enter to be in to win one of three prize packs: a double pass to the film Pavarotti, in cinemas June 13, and a double pass to Mozart's Don Giovanni, presented by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in association with NZ Opera, on July 19, 2019 at the Auckland Town Hall. Funny, dark, earthy, witty, shocking, this all-embracing score has some of Mozart's most sublime music, some of his most catchy tunes, and – when the legions of Hell catch Don Giovanni in the end – music which, after 200 years is still terrifying. Giordano Bellincampi will lead the orchestra and a stellar cast of singers, infusing his innate sense of theatre for what promises to be a sensational opera in concert performance. From the filmmaking team behind the highly-acclaimed documentary The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years, Pavarotti is a riveting film that lifts the curtain on the icon who brought opera to the people. Academy Award winner Ron Howard puts audiences front row center for an exploration of The Voice...The Man...The Legend. Luciano Pavarotti gave his life to the music and a voice to the world. This cinematic event features history-making performances and intimate interviews, including never-before-seen footage and cutting-edge Dolby Atmos technology.

Famed tenor Luciano Pavarotti teamed up with Bono, Sting, and Mariah Carey to bring opera to the masses. He was also part of the Three Tenors, along with along with Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo. They sold out stadiums and became the hottest band of the 1990s. Pavarotti died from pancreatic cancer in 2007. He's the subject of director Ron Howard's new documentary "Pavarotti."    Photo credit: Michele Nazzaro LISTEN TO THE KCRW: Los Angeles - PRESS PLAY  p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d}

Pavarotti: Music From The Motion Picture and Pavarotti: The Greatest Hits, a new 3CD best of collection, have been released today, coinciding with the theatrical release of Ron Howard's documentary Pavarotti. The collections both feature previously unreleased music and superstar duets with artists including Bono, Andrea Bocelli, Elton John, James Brown and Lou Reed. Pavarotti: Music From The Motion Picture, the official soundtrack to Ron Howard's Pavarotti documentary, draws from Pavarotti's rich recorded catalogue and follows the arc of the film. It features selections from operas including Turandot, La Bohème, Aida, and Tosca as well as Italian songs and collaborations with friends including Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, U2, Brain Eno and Passengers. The soundtrack also includes the complete recording of Puccini's ‘Donna Non Vidi Mai', which Pavarotti dedicated to Princess Diana. Also featured are a previously unreleased song with Andrea Bocelli and Pavarotti's ‘Ave Maria' duet with Bono, available for the first time commercially, which was recorded live during the 2003 Pavarotti & Friends For SOS Iraq benefit concert in Modena, Italy. As Bono comments in the documentary, "The reason why he is so great is because he lived those songs." Pavarotti's repertoire can be explored in further depth with the new 3CD/digital best of collection, Pavarotti: The Greatest Hits, a companion to the soundtrack and film. The anthology features 67 of the world-renowned tenor's most well-known recordings and collaborations and includes the best of his Opera Arias, Italian Songs & Sacred Arias and Great Duets with musical superstars including Andrea Bocelli, Céline Dion, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder. Exclusive to the album are five previously unreleased duets with Barry White, James Brown, Lou Reed, Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor, and Sting. These tracks, recorded live at the Pavarotti & Friends concerts, the series of star-studded benefit performances hosted by Pavarotti in his home town of Modena, Italy, have recently been unearthed and remastered. Luciano Pavarotti, the world's best loved operatic tenor, is the biggest-selling classical artist of all time and has sold over 100 million albums worldwide. In Decca's 90th anniversary year the historic label releases Pavarotti: Music From The Motion Picture and Pavarotti: The Greatest Hits continuing his musical legacy and celebrating his extraordinary life. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} SEE THE udiscovermusic. PAGE

Three major releases are set for this week. Two will be world premiere recordings while the other will be the soundtrack to a highly anticipated movie. In celebration of the release of Ron Howard's new movie, Decca is releasing two CD sets. Decca Records will release the original soundtrack, "Pavarotti: Music From The Motion Picture," as well as a new 3-CD best of collection titled "Pavarotti: The Greatest Hits from Decca/UMe." The soundtrack to the film will feature aria "Nessun Dorma," selections from operas such as "Turandot," "La bohème," "Aida," "Tosca" and Italian songs and collaborations with friends such as Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, U2, Brian Eno, Passengers ("Miss Sarajevo"), and others. The complete recording of Puccini's "Donna non vidi mai," which Pavarotti dedicated to Princess Diana, is included and a special unreleased song with Andrea Bocelli and "Ave Maria" with Bono. The Greatest hits box set features 67 of the world-renowned tenor's most well-known recordings and collaborations and includes the best of his "Opera Arias," "Italian Songs & Sacred Arias" and "Great Duets." p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL OPERAWIRE ARTICLE

At first glance, archetypal American director Ron Howard does not seem the ideal candidate to make a documentary on Italy's international operatic sensation, the man with the voice from God, Luciano Pavarotti. Initial impressions, however, can be deceptive, and Howard turns out to be a natural choice to direct the excellent "Pavarotti," a warm, emotional and completely involving film about the celebrated tenor. If nothing else, after a career that started as a child star on a hit TV show and came to include a raft of crowd-pleasing movies, if Howard does not understand the nature of mass popularity, no one does. And Pavarotti, who died in 2007 at age 71, was celebrated like no tenor since Enrico Caruso, accounting for more than 100 million albums sold, including sales of "The Three Tenors," the top-selling classical disc ever. More than that, Howard has directed music documentaries before ("The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years") and as a celebrity in his own right has the kind of clout that likely helped in getting access to the wide variety of on-screen voices - 53 new interviews in total - that is one of "Pavarotti's" strengths. When Pavarotti dies at this film's end, we take it as though we've lost a friend. In the final analysis, it was the man's supreme gift to make us feel as if we had. READ THE FULL Los Angeles Times REVIEW

Ron Howard's documentary "Pavarotti" serves as a vivid reminder of just how huge a role the great tenor Luciano Pavarotti played for a generation – magically breaking out of the classical music realm to become a music superstar. But the passionate way the infectiously beaming, Hawaiian shirt-loving opera star lived his life is the most enchanting element of "Pavarotti" (opens Friday in select cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago; expands throughout summer). The documentary about the singer, who died at 71 in 2007, does address his many shortcomings, including his extramarital affairs, which turned into tabloid fodder. But the portrait Howard paints – based on more than 50 interviews and enhanced with intimate home videos – is of an ebullient force who brought joy to the world and those closest to him. "For better, sometimes worse, Pavarotti just lived so fully," says Howard. "He gave that kind of energy to his art, his work, and he gave that energy to his life. And that's to be respected." Here are the life lessons we took from "Pavarotti":

Ron Howard has tackled documentaries on Jay-Z (Made in America) and the Beatles (Eight Days a Week). For his latest project, the Oscar-winning director turns to opera and Luciano Pavarotti, one of the greatest tenors of all time. As the movie reveals, Pavarotti's own life was often as dramatic as the stories he sung about.  Pavarotti opens in limited release on Friday (June 7) via CBS Films.  Financed by UMG's Polygram Entertainment and Decca Records, the film will be accompanied by Decca's  Pavarotti: Music From The Motion Picture, as well as a new 3-CD best of collection titled Pavarotti: The Greatest Hits. Howard talked with Billboard about the film and the tenor, who died in 2007, following an intimate screening at Creative Artists Agency. READ THE Q&A         Santi Visalli/Getty Images p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}

He is one of opera's true legends. Now Luciano Pavarotti (and double Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard) are returning to SiriusXM, with the launch of Pavarotti Radio, an exclusive limited-run music channel celebrating the music and influence of the famed Italian tenor. The channel kicks off June 6, 12:00 p.m. ET and runs through June 16 on channel 77 and the SiriusXM app on smartphones and other connected devices. The channel complements the arrival of the documentary Pavarotti in select theaters June 7. Pavarotti Radio will showcase music and recorded performances from the world's most loved tenor of all time, as well as artists he influenced, and interviews and stories from those who knew him, including Nicoletta Mantovani, Luciano Pavarotti's widow, and Howard. "It is wonderful to be able to partner with SiriusXM on a dedicated channel allowing fans and new listeners alike the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the music of the genius that is Luciano Pavarotti," noted Howard. "Whether getting tuned up to see the film or wanting to continue the experience after leaving the theater, this channel will allow us all to experience Pavarotti wherever and whenever we want." SEE THE Radio Ink PAGE

Director Ron Howard is behind a new documentary on a singer who had one of the world's most powerful voices. We lost Luciano Pavarotti in 2007, but the filmmaker found a story he wanted to tell about a musical genius who loved life. Howard is no stranger to the documentary world, having made prior films focusing on The Beatles and Jay-Z. So, why Pavarotti? "Curiosity. Fascination," said Howard. "I didn't know that much about 'Apollo 13' before I got involved, or anything about John Nash's life before 'A Beautiful Mind.' So I think I've learned I really like delving into true stories. So there's the music and him as an artist and his career. And that's great. But what's really relatable and powerful is sort of the direction his life took." Howard looks at the singer's life from his impoverished childhood in post-war Italy, to his young adult years: he was once an elementary school teacher. And then the music icon he would become. Bumps and regrets and a surprise or two are also part of his story. "He lived life in this joie de vivre, right?" said Howard. "I mean, he just lived-- he lived these passions. Whether it was the relationship, the work, food, horses and then ultimately, the philanthropy." Pavarotti would get major names involved with his famous PBS fundraising concerts. "I think he really wanted to support children in war-torn circumstances because he just completely related to it," said Howard. Howard says they went to great pains to make the music rich, and the viewing experience exciting. "I don't have to be listening to opera anymore. I've finished this project," said Howard. "There was a period where it was research to me. And now I've got it on in the car and in the morning all the time. It's beautiful." WATCH THE VIDEO

In opera, people spend a lot of time saying relatively little. It takes a four-minute aria for the young hero of Puccini's "La Bohème" just to introduce himself to the pretty neighbor who's knocked at his door. Why do we wait? Because this stretching of time, the refusal to just say it, opens up a space in which we're forced to live - sometimes to the point of excruciation - with emotions that would normally pass in seconds. In that "Bohème" aria, "Che gelida manina," it's as if our heads are being held underwater in a pool of boyish longing, the endearing boastfulness of a guy with a crush. It's sublime even as it - because it - skirts too-muchness, even tackiness. Possibly no one in operatic history has been as sublime and as tacky as the subject of "Pavarotti," a new documentary by Ron Howard that opens on Friday. The film, like an opera aria, forces us to linger on Luciano Pavarotti, a tenor who, 12 years after his death, remains beloved - and yet may be taken a little for granted. Opera fans hold on to his 1960s and '70s glory days, when his sunny voice was in its prime - I mean, listen to this, right now - and he challenged himself in corners of the bel canto repertory. The broader public is likelier to remember the cheesy charity concerts and duets with Bono, the guilty "Three Tenors" pleasure with a white handkerchief clutched in his hand and endless high C's. The importance of the new documentary, the opportunity it provides, is to make us reckon with these two Pavarottis as one, and in doing so to recognize a side of opera that many of us who love it as high art like to ignore. The vulgar side, the trashy, the elemental, the baldly populist - the side never better embodied than by this hulking, sweaty man with stringy hair, a patchy beard and an unforgettable sound. Born in 1935, Pavarotti arrived on the scene just in time to ride the high-culture-mass-market wave that crested in the half-century after World War II. A smiling charmer, he was also, the film makes clear, more or less a child his whole life: sweet and generous, arrogant and capricious. Part of the first generation to grow up surrounded by recordings - tenors like Caruso, Gigli and Martinelli he could emulate - he never learned to read music. His great luck was to fall in with Joan Sutherland, the Australian soprano who took him under her wing with her husband and conductor, Richard Bonynge. It was opposite Sutherland that his career ignited, at the Metropolitan Opera in 1972, with a ringing series of nine high C's in the big tenor aria of Donizetti's "La Fille du Régiment." Opera, like gymnastics and ballet, intertwines measurable bodily achievement - sticking the landing, hitting the high note - and harder-to-define "artistry." Sometimes music critics feel guilty about the "athletic" stuff, as if we're simply Olympics judges holding up numbers after a vault. But the artistry emerges from the athletics, however uneasily, and the athletics from the artistry. From "Fille" to his performance at the World Cup, Pavarotti's career - the high and the low, and the highs and the lows - demonstrated that they're ultimately inseparable. Even at his greatest, in passages I hear in my head all the time, he carried within him the stadium shows of his later years. Other tenors sang "Che gelida manina," that aria from "La Bohème," with more conversational intimacy. Listen to Jussi Björling on the treasured 1956 recording conducted by Thomas Beecham, letting his Mimì in on his love like he's sharing a secret. Björling sang it like it was a tender black-and-white romance, a scene from "Casablanca." Pavarotti's rendition, on a 1972 set led by Herbert von Karajan, is in wide-screen Technicolor. Stay on top of the latest in pop and jazz with reviews, interviews, podcasts and more from The New York Times music critics. He begins the aria with a slight veil over the voice, almost conjuring a dream, so that he can overpower us in the next phrase with the contrast of a clearer tone, as if we've woken up in a reality infinitely happier than sleep. His extremes are more intense than Björling's refined intimacy - cheaper, even. But the life force - the potent, perspiring sincerity that would be even clearer once he got on TV - is thrilling. When he sings that he'll tell Mimì in a couple of words who he is, Pavarotti's high note is so arrestingly golden that it finally makes sense that, when he asks if he should keep talking, she's speechless. You'd be, too. Go to 3:28 in the recording above. Just before the spectacular climax of the aria, he digs into a single word - "stanza" - with such conviction that you don't quite know what to do; you will remember the tangy way he pronounces the first vowel to the end of your days. It's brash, that "stanza"; it's almost obscene. And yet it's right. Opera is certainly delicate, intelligent, tasteful - but at the same time it's the opposite of those things. Pavarotti is our most compelling modern reminder of that. His "Three Tenors" colleague, Plácido Domingo, appears as a warmhearted talking head in the film. While Pavarotti's career seemed, to many, to descend irrevocably toward the stadium as if to damnation, for Mr. Domingo the 1990s ended up being a blip. They didn't distract too much at the time from his "real" operatic work, and once that heady era was over, he smoothly returned to the opera house. In other words, he did everything correctly. Still, if I were fleeing to the proverbial desert island, I'd sacrifice the whole of Mr. Domingo's output to preserve that single "stanza" of Pavarotti's. Anyone who has been an intelligent, responsible, diligently overachieving older sibling will sympathize with what I see as Mr. Domingo's predicament here. He's achieved a longevity probably unmatched in operatic history; he reads music well enough to teach himself more than 150 roles; he ambitiously added conducting and opera-house administration to his resume. He is the very model of an opera star, everything a critic could ask for. Yet by conjuring the full range of why we love the art form - the sometimes guilty mixture of high and low, elevated and crass, purity and sweat - it is Pavarotti who brings us to the secret, beating heart of opera.   
PHOTO: Vittoriano Rastelli/Corbis/CBS Films

Beloved opera star Luciano Pavarotti, sold over 100 million records in his lifetime.  The 1990 World Cup in Italy was the moment opera left the elite and hit the masses. Thanks to a partnership with Decca Records and unique access to the Pavarotti family archives, home videos, behind the scenes and extensive live music footage, we see Pavarotti's personal story emerge: from his humble beginnings in Northern Italy through to global superstardom.  Pavarotti – the voice… the man… the drama… the legend – takes an in-depth look at the legacy of a musical icon. From Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard, and featuring never-before seen footage, Pavarotti is in cinemas June 13th.  To be in to win a double ticket to an advance screening of Pavarotti, register HERE

Watching a documentary about a famous and beloved artist, I'll sometimes be suffused with a childlike desire to see his or her life flow forward in one long uninterrupted river of happiness and achievement, with no slumps or setbacks, no peccadilloes, no dark side. It never works out that way, of course. If it did, the subject wouldn't be human. Yet for a great long stretch of "Pavarotti", Ron Howard's ebullient and elegantly straightforward documentary about the most celebrated operatic singer of the second half of the 20th century, it's easy to get swept up into the fantasy that Luciano Pavarotti, in his robust and rotund smiling-tenor-of-the-masses way, was at once a supreme performer and an exemplary person, relatively simple in his success. READ THE FULL ARAB TIMES ARTICLE

Director Ron Howard says he learned a lot in making the documentary "Pavarotti," about the international opera superstar who died in 2007. You don't have to be an opera aficionado to oversee an insightful documentary about the life and career of one of the greatest tenors of the 20th century. In fact, it might not even help. What matters more is the ability to approach this terrain with the lively and curious eye of a born explorer. Those are the gifts that director Ron Howard brings to "Pavarotti," his cinematic portrait of Luciano Pavarotti, the superstar tenor who died in 2007. The documentary, which opens in theaters Friday, June 7, reunites Howard with writer Mark Monroe and a production team headed by Nigel Sinclair - the same partnership behind the 2016 film "The Beatles: Eight Days a Week." With a wealth of performance clips and interviews with family members, friends and such musical colleagues as Plácido Domingo and Bono, the film explores Pavarotti's life story and his rise to international fame. In a recent telephone interview with The Chronicle, Howard talked about opera, Pavarotti's earthy simplicity and the differences between documentaries and scripted cinematic fiction.
Photo: Molly Matalon, New York Times p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE San Francisco Chronicle Q&A

Ron Howard became famous playing Opie Taylor on "The Andy Griffith Show," then Richie Cunningham on "Happy Days" before he moved behind the camera. The Oscar-winning director's new project is a documentary about the untold story of legendary tenor Luciano Pavarotti.  A CBS Films Polygram Entertainment Brian Grazer presentation, PAVAROTTI is an Imagine Entertainment and White Horse Pictures production, DIRECTED BY: Ron Howard, WRITTEN BY: Mark Monroe and PRODUCED BY: Nigel Sinclair, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Michael Rosenberg, Jeanne Elfant Festa.  From the filmmaking team behind the highly-acclaimed documentary The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years, PAVAROTTI is a riveting film that lifts the curtain on the icon who brought opera to the people. Academy Award winner Ron Howard puts audiences front row center for an exploration of The Voice...The Man...The Legend. Luciano Pavarotti gave his life to the music and a voice to the world. This cinematic event features history-making performances and intimate interviews, including never-before-seen footage and cutting-edge Dolby Atmos technology.  p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} Howard joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss making the film and why he was drawn to Pavarotti's life. Watch the attached video

Ron Howard's latest project documents the life of famed opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti, with testimonials from Bono and Pavarotti's Three Tenors compatriots, while newly available archival clips feature everyone from Nelson Mandela to Princess Diana. Howard on opera's storytelling power: "I thought you'd respect Pavarotti so much more if you understood what it takes to actually achieve what he could achieve. [I wanted] to use the drama of those arias to help tell his story. We could almost create an opera about Pavarotti by using those arias. That was an organizing principle for me."  SEE THE  billboard: 'upcoming music-driven movies' list

In anticipation of the new Luciano Pavarotti film, CLASSIC fM delved deep into the archives and found the most beautiful photos of Luciano Pavarotti, showing his larger-than-life personality on and off stage. You might think you've seen all there is to see about Pavarotti, but the opera star led a very private life behind the stage curtain. CLASSIC fM found a collection of photos that give an insight into Luciano the family man, friend, actor and horse whisperer – as well as Pavarotti, global superstar. SEE THE CLASSIC fM PAGE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}

Veteran director Ron Howard, who also made the documentary The Beatles: Eight Days A Week, takes an intimate approach in telling Pavarotti's story, going beyond the public figure to reveal the man himself. With unique access to the Pavarotti family archives, home videos, behind the scenes and extensive live music footage, audiences will be able to see Pavarotti's personal story emerge, right through from his early days growing up in Italy to the moment he became a global star. Watch the trailer  p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}

From the filmmaking team behind the highly-acclaimed documentary The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years, PAVAROTTI is a riveting film that lifts the curtain on the icon who brought opera to the people. Academy Award winner Ron Howard puts audiences front row center for an exploration of The Voice...The Man...The Legend. Luciano Pavarotti gave his life to the music and a voice to the world. This cinematic event features history-making performances and intimate interviews, including never-before-seen footage and cutting-edge Dolby Atmos technology. A CBS Films Polygram Entertainment Brian Grazer presentation, PAVAROTTI is an Imagine Entertainment and White Horse Pictures production.  WATCH THE SocialNews.XYZ VIDEO p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}

If one is an anomaly, two are a coincidence and three are a trend, then Ron Howard might strictly become a music documentarian after "Pavarotti" hits theaters. The documentary about the world-famous Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti comes on the heels of Howard's "The Beatles: Eight Days a Week" and "Made in America," a look at Jay-Z's music festival of the same name. "Look at the way music has become so important in the medium in general, whether it's scripted or documentary. I think it's something to rally an audience around. Technology is such that we can offer a kind of concert experience," Howard told Variety at a screening of the film on Wednesday at CAA in Los Angeles. "Our intention was to make this as much of an opera as it a human-interest story about Pavarotti." The screening last night was hosted by Richard Lovett, Rob Light and Sir Lucian Grainge. A CBS Films Polygram Entertainment Brian Grazer presentation, "Pavarotti" is an Imagine Entertainment and White Horse Pictures production and will be in theaters on June 7. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} span.Apple-tab-span {white-space:pre} READ THE FULL Variety STORY

From the filmmaking team behind the highly-acclaimed documentary The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years, PAVAROTTI is a riveting film that lifts the curtain on the icon who brought opera to the people. Academy Award winner Ron Howard puts audiences front row center for an exploration of The Voice...The Man...The Legend. Luciano Pavarotti gave his life to the music and a voice to the world. This cinematic event features history-making performances and intimate interviews, including never-before-seen footage and cutting-edge Dolby Atmos technology. A CBS Films Polygram Entertainment Brian Grazer presentation, PAVAROTTI is an Imagine Entertainment and White Horse Pictures production. Watch the attached trailer p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}

CBS Films is in final talks to acquire North American rights to Pavarotti, the Ron Howard-directed feature documentary on the iconic tenor Luciano Pavarotti. The plan is for a theatrical release later this year, sources said. The film was scripted by Mark Monroe, who recently worked with Howard in the Grammy-winning docu The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years. It is produced by White Horse Pictures' Nigel Sinclair, Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer, Howard and Michael Rosenberg, and Jeanne Elfant Festa. David Blackman and Dickon Stainer are executive producers. Pavarotti remains one of the best-selling recording artists in history with more than 100 million records sold. As a live performer, more than 1.3 billion people tuned in to watch a single performance of The Three Tenors in 1994 and over his career, Pavarotti entertained over 10 million people in 60 countries. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD ARTICLE

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} This week I'd like to share two new opera releases-one by stunning newcomer Pretty Yende and a second by the renowned veteran Luciano Pavarotti. Both CDs are highly recommended for devotees as well as opera neophytes. This new set features the operatic side of the famous tenor as well as his embrace of Italian popular song. On the album's first CD we hear 25 famous arias tracks by Puccini, Bizet, Donizetti, and others. On the other hand, the second CD features 25 Italian popular song favorites. It's a wonderful selection that shows both sides of his musical personality. Pavarotti, along with singing great operas on the world stage, also worked and recorded with pop icons James Brown, Sting, Bono, and Elton John. Pavarotti was quintessentially Italian-a lover of music, food and wine, and all forms of pleasure. He once said, "One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever we are doing and devote ourselves to eating." It reminds me of something I once heard when the 1996 film Big Night came out: "Whereas other people eat to live, Italians live to eat." This might as well have applied to the great Pavarotti. Luciano Pavarotti - The People's Tenor is KCRW: Los Angeles 'Featured new Release.' READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Like Enrico Caruso before him Luciano Pavarotti, extended his presence far beyond the limits of Italian opera, Blessed with a tenor voice of a rare range, beauty and clarity, his singing dominance during the 1960s, 70s and 80s led to the nickname: 'King of the High C's.' A great humanitarian, Pavarotti in his prime was the best-selling classical singer in the world and arguably the most popular living tenor of his day. The 1993 performance in New York's Central Park was attended by 500,000 fans while millions watched on television. He continued to sing during the 1990s and 2000's and always displayed the ability to deliver his clear ringing tone, and brillance in the higher register. Although LP's career was a mile long, he is probably be best known for the wildly popular performances with the 'Three Tenors' and 'Pavarotti & Friends'. Even today, Pavarotti's powerful sound, natural grace and brilliant color still leads many to consider him the world's greatest voice. Great Performances: Pavarotti: A Voice For The Ages airs this Friday, December 6 @9p PT on KPBS San Diego.
The program celebrates the 50th anniversary since the launch of Pavarotti's phenomenonal recording career. 
 

Pavarotti 50 Greatest Tracks commemorates Luciano Pavarotti's 50th anniversary with Decca Records, and an unforgettable legacy of recorded music from one of the greatest voices of our time.  This definitive collection encompasses iconic Pavarotti selections,  including ‘Nessun Dorma,'‘Caruso,' ‘La Donna E Mobile,'and ‘Granada,' to incredible duets with fellow superstars Frank Sinatra, Bono, Eric Clapton and Sting.  Numerous milestones in the late-opera star's unprecedented career are captured here, including the first ever recording of Pavarotti's voice. The historic recording of the aria from La Bohème, ‘Che gelida manina' (‘Your tiny hand is frozen'), has been lying dormant in the archives for 50 years, only now to be unearthed by Pavarotti's widow, Nicoletta Mantovani Pavarotti, re-mastered and made commercially available for the first time. The 50 Greatest Tracks will be available October 22nd in the U.S. on Decca. On the heels of the commemorative album, PBS will be airing a new television special, featuring highlights of the tenor's career.  "Pavarotti: A Voice For the Ages" is scheduled to air on "Great Performances" in December on PBS stations across the country (check local listings).  Towards the end of his life, Pavarotti said, "I have made so many wonderful recordings with Decca. The company has been a major part of my career – really, it has been part of my family."  Pavarotti truly bridged the gap between opera and pop culture. He said himself, "Some of the great opera arias themselves are really the best pop songs ever written." Already released in the UK, The 50 Greatest Tracks has catapulted the world's most beloved tenor back to the top of the charts in England six years after his passing.  The album made headline news in The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent I, The Daily Express and The Evening Standard. The Classic Brit Awards, held at London's prestigious Royal Albert Hall on October 2nd posthumously honored Pavarotti with a Lifetime Achievement award, met with a roaring standing ovation which ended the ceremony. Pavarotti had previously agreed to collect the award in person six years ago, but sadly died before the event. The two remaining singers of the Three Tenors joined forces to honor their friend and colleague. José Carreras presented the award to Pavarotti's widow, Nicoletta Mantovani Pavarotti.  Placido Domingo was unable to attend, but recorded a special video tribute and spoke of Pavarotti's "God-given, beautiful voice". Nicoletta Mantovani Pavarotti recently appeared on UK TV including BBC Breakfast and ITV1 News to discuss the impact of Pavarotti's legacy. In 2007, Montovani Pavarotti founded THE LUCIANO PAVAROTTI FOUNDATION (Fondazione Luciano Pavarotti); the philanthropic organization's goals are to continue Pavarotti's legacy through international events, and to support talented young opera singers eager to develop their craft on international platforms.  The work of the Foundation will be expanding from Europe into the United States.Throughout Pavarotti's life, the great tenor constantly heard young singers and gave master classes and lessons to deserving students. He never charged for these services, saying, "Sharing my experience and passion with the young is my way of showing gratitude for the great gift I received." Belcanto, the Luciano Pavarotti Heritagewill be presented on October 19th at New York City's City Center at 8pm. The operatic concert will be presenting young, talented singers who have been selected by the Luciano Pavarotti Foundation, withoriginal performances of popular opera arias, classic Neapolitan songs and contemporary compositions.  The event features sixteen singers, dancers, and a 25-piece orchestra and rhythm section.