ITALY: Guests and film industry professionals at Venice Film Festival react to news of Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti's death

Visitors and entertainment industry workers at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday (September 6) woke up to the news of opera singer Luciano Pavarotti's death. While morning newspapers were still running articles about Pavarotti's deteriorating health, the news of the tenor's death at 5 a.m. (0300gmt) quickly spread amongst journalists and visitors arriving for the early morning movie screenings. "It makes me very sad as he was a great, great singer, a great talent." said one festival-goer. Italian festival attendee Matteo Logreco said Pavarotti had not been given enough acknowledgement in his home country following his success abroad. "He represented the voice of Italy but I have to say, that Pavarotti, like many Italian artists travelled outside of Italy to acquire fame and when he returned he was boycotted for this. The authorities should care more for the Italian artists," he said. "It's sad but it's not the kind of news I know that much about, so I don't really know what to say but of course it's always sad when a big voice leaves the world and a great singer dies, a sad song," Danish festival attendee Kim Scott said. "I am sad, for me it's something touching because I live and work in Modena and he was sort of a local myth," another festival-goer, Marco Cipolloni said. Pavarotti, hailed by many as the greatest tenor of his generation, died aged 71 at his home in Modena on Thursday after a long battle with cancer, his manager Terri Robson said. The rotund, black-bearded tenor known as "Big Luciano" helped bring opera to the masses and performed to vast stadium audiences round the world. He shot to fame with a stand-in appearance at London's Covent Garden in 1963 and soon had critics gushing about his voluminous voice. His last public singing performance was at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin in February 2006, singing Puccini's aria "Nessun Dorma". In July last year, Pavarotti underwent surgery in New York for pancreatic cancer and retreated to his villa in Modena. He had to cancel his first planned public reappearance a few months later. Pavarotti was taken to a hospital in Modena last month and treated for more than two weeks. He was released on August 25, and spent his final hours at home with family and friends nearby, the statement said. He is survived by his wife, Nicoletta, their four-year-old daughter, Alice, as well as three daughters from Pavarotti's first marriage.

ITN Source | September 6, 2007

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