Curtain Call

Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti, perhaps the greatest opera singer of our time – if not all time – has passed away at the age of 71.

Pavarotti died from complications of pancreatic cancer, from which he had been battling for quite some time. The owner of one of the most extraordinary voices ever heard, Pavarotti rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s, giving mainstream attention and admiration to a form of theater that previously was reserved for an elitist niche.

Pavarotti’s final public performances took place during a farewell tour in 2006...a tour he had to cancel to get surgery for his declining health. Pavarotti expected to resume his tour at some point this year...sadly, we’ll never get to see that happen.