RIP Luciano Pavarotti

La Maestro, Luciano Pavarotti, has died at his home near Modena, Italy; the 71-year-old tenor had pancreatic cancer.

From his debut in 1961 at Reggio Emilia singing Rodolfo in La Boheme through to his recent high-profile performance of Nessun Dorma at the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Torino, Pavarotti was one of those responsible for bringing opera to a broader audience.

Though critics and purists alike may have sneered at the resulting "popera", Pavarotti was simply being true to his art; opera, like Shakespeare, was originally intended for a mass audience.
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