(for constant updates on the tributes for Pavarotti coming from all over the world, scroll down or click here)
It is with the deepest, most heartfelt thanks to Juan Diego Florez and maestro Ernesto Palacio that Opera Chic publishes JDF's thoughts on his friend and mentor's Luciano Pavarotti's passing.
Translation from Spanish by operachic.typepad.com
"Luciano Pavarotti's death fills me deeply with sadness. I received the news from his assistant, my compatriot Edwin Tinoco, a few minutes after the fact. I had met Pavarotti on July 31, in his Pesaro home, the last time he ever hosted a dinner party, because shortly thereafter he got hospitalised in Modena. I called him at the hospital and he told me to come visit him with my wife, who had impressed him much. I told him yes, we would come, but unfortunately it wasn't possible."
"Luciano Pavarotti has always been my idol and when il Maestro named me as his successor I received the news with much pride but also with great responsiibility. Responsibility that is now even greater, I hope to be up to the task. An immense personality has left us, he will always be remembered as a giant of opera, and those of us who have met him in person have appreciated his frankness, his wit, his love for music, his wise but simple mode of seeing things, his sweetness, his generosity; his abscence will be truly difficult to overcome."
And truly now that the King is gone, the young Prince must feel even more the weight of the responsibility.