Luciano Pavarotti
Birthday: 1935-10-12 Place of Birth:
Synopsis
Acting
Pavarotti
Featuring never-before-seen footage, concert performances and intimate interviews, filmmaker Ron Howard examines the life and career of famed opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender
Archive footage of interviews, concerts and personal material bring to light the solo performance work of Mercury, the lead singer of Queen.
Great Tenor Performances
Great Tenor Performances outbids the famous Three Tenors by putting a dozen tenors (including the big three--Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti) in one compilation. One or two numbers fall short of greatness, but within the limits of what was available to them, the producers live up to the ambitious title. Domingo is particularly well represented with three arias, and Carreras has two. Only one Pavarotti performance is shown, but it's a good one: a youthful Celeste Aida from San Francisco. But the real meat is in the work of the other nine tenors. The muscular Samson of Jon Vickers contrasts with the bel canto delicacy of Mark Ainsley and Max-Rene Cosotti. Vladimir Atlantov as Otello, Giacomo Aragall as Cavaradossi, and Neil Shicoff as Rodolfo in La Bohème show that Domingo is not the sole proprietor of these roles. A pleasing rarity is Roberto Alagna in two excerpts from Verdi's original version of Don Carlos, with a French text.
The Three Tenors Christmas
The Three Tenors capture the joy and spirit of the season with their first ever Christmas concert, live from Vienna, featuring performances of international seasonal favorites by the best-selling and world-renowned trio. Enjoy the gifts of The Three Tenors and be part of the holiday event of the year.
Pavarotti & Friends 99 for Guatemala and Kosovo
Pavarotti & Friends for Guatemala and Kosovo
The 3 Tenors in Concert 1994
It's not opera; it's not a pop concert; it's not Broadway. It's all of these and none of them. Once you accept the fact that this sequel to the original blockbuster concert recording is less about music and more about entertainment and the power of musical personalities, you can appreciate what you're hearing as an event--phenomenal and bizarre, momentous and frivolous. This is an occasion to celebrate the voices and egos of three huge superstars, and to have fun listening as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Jose Carreras interact, bouncing lines off each other and playing to the overwhelmingly enthusiastic audience.
Un Ballo in Maschera
Verdi's opera performed by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by James Levine.
L'Elisir d'Amore
John Copley’s colorful production, with designs by Beni Montresor, was created around the beloved superstar Luciano Pavarotti. As the simple, good-hearted Nemorino, he enchanted audiences with his larger-than-life personality as well as his golden voice. Enzo Dara as the quack Dr. Dulcamara provides the elixir of the title that helps Nemorino win the heart of Adina, the girl of his dreams, sung with youthful energy by Kathleen Battle.
Central Park
CENTRAL PARK is a film about the famous New York City landmark and the variety of ways in which people make use of it: running, boating, walking, skating, music, theatre, sports, picnics, parades and concerts. The film also illustrates the complex problems the New York City Parks Department deals with in order to maintain and preserve the park and keep it open and accessible to the public.
Verdi Il trovatore
Set in the mountains of Medieval Northern Spain, "Il Trovatore" (the Troubadour) is a chanting warrior named Manrico. Manrico's enemy in the region is led by the Count di Luna. From the outset, these two opposing forces are in conflict. Count di Luna loves Leonora, one of the queen's ladies in waiting. Ferrando, the captain of the guard narrates to his troops a terrible happening of 15 years ago: an old woman, accused of casting the evil eye over the count's brother, was burnt at the stake. The subsequent disappearance of the boy, followed by the discovery of a child's skeleton in the ashes, led to the conclusion that the woman's daughter, who was present at the burning, had thrown him into the flames to avenge her mother.
La Boheme
Giacomo Puccini's bittersweet opera of high-spirited bohemians and the doomed love between Rodolfo, the idealistic poet and Mimi, the consumptive flower-maker, is a beautifully balanced series of tableaux depicting the infectious joie de vivre of youth and the tragic waste of disease and separation. The legendary and incomparable partnership of Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti as the two lovers has been captured in this special live recording from stage of the San Francisco Opera. Brian Large has adapted Francesca Zambello's production for video, further illuminating the fascinating interaction of Puccini's characters. Gino Quilico sings Marcello, the colorful and moody painter, whose tempestuous relationship with the flirtatious Musetta (sung by Sandra Pacetti), comically mirrors the more profound love of Rodolfo and Mimi. Nicolai Ghiaurov sings Colline.
Aida
La Scala went all out for its 1986 production of this grandest of grand operas, with a strong cast and, most important for a video recording, a larger-than-life staging. The Triumph Scene in Act II is by no means Aida's only attraction, but it is the part that makes the strongest and most lasting impression and it is the visual and musical climax of this production. Stage director Luca Ronconi brings on a procession to dwarf all processions: looted treasures, heroic statuary, miserable captives struggling under the lash of whip-bearing slave drivers. On par with these visuals is Lorin Maazel's first-class performance of the popular Grand March with the outstanding La Scala chorus and orchestra. In Act III, the contrasting tranquility of the Nile Scene also gets a visual treatment to match the music's qualities.
Yes, Giorgio
A famous opera singer, Giorgio Fini, loses his voice during an American tour. He goes to a female throat specialist, Pamela Taylor, whom he falls in love with.
Verdi – Messa da Requiem
Herbert von Karajan conducts La Scala Orchestra and Chorus with soloists Leontyne Price, Fiorenza Cossotto, Luciano Pavarotti, and Nicolai Ghiaurov.
