NEWS:
September 2007

The Cork International Choral Festival wishes to acknowledge the sad passing of Luciano Pavarotti, the world famous tenor who died in his home in Modena in Italy on the morning of Thursday September 6th.

Luciano Pavarotti participated in the Cork International Choral Festival on two occasions, in 1957 and in 1965. 1957 marked his first appearance in Ireland, singing as a member of the Societa Corale Gioacchino Rossini from Modena, of which his father was conductor.

Denise O'Donovan writes in the Evening Echo of Friday September 7th 2007 'Blackpool-native Pat (nee Falvey) Camino, met him by chance outside the Savoy the morning before his concert in City Hall. "I used to work on the Saturday mornings for an accountant in Cork. I was waiting outside the Savoy when suddenly I realised I was surrounded by a group which included Pavarotti. He was able to speak a little English so we started talking while I waited." Pat and her friend brought Pavarotti to Fitzgerald Park. He invited both of them to attend the concert in City Hall where they watched him sing lead vocalist with the choir from Modena. "After the night out in the city, at about 4am in the morning, my friend and I were walked home by Pavarotti and one of his friends. The next day we went to the harbour to see him off at the boat. He took a lock of my hair then and there", she laughed.'

In 1965 he returned to Cork, this time having visited Dublin as part of the Dublin Grand Opera Society's spring season in 1963. At this stage he was beginning to make a name for himself as an opera singer. He sang once again with the Societa Corale Gioacchino Rossini, this time no doubt as a favour to swell the ranks of tenors in his father’s choir! The choir performed non-competitively, but made quite an impression on those in attendance, as can be seen from the stories below.

The following extracts are taken from Cork International Choral Festival 1954 - 2004: A Celebration by Ruth Flesichmann, and provide some recollections of Pavarotti’s time in Cork.

Bob Barry, Former Member of St Mary’s Cathedral Choir and Friend of the Festival says:
"Around the mid-sixties we heard another male voice choir form Modena in Italy. Again in a non-competitive recital they chose a piece for tenor solo and chorus. A young tenor stood forward to sing the verse, and nobody in the audience realised that he was to become one of the most famous singers of the century. He was none other that Luciano Pavarotti. The second verse was sung by Pavarotti’s father."

G.Y. Goldberg, Lord Mayor of Cork and Festival President in 1978 remembers:
",,,We even heard Pavarotti sing in an Italian choir in the early years. It was said that we made him, but I don’t know about that"

Rita Healy, Cork, Lady Mayoress and Festival First Lady in 1965 recalled:
"Another little story concerns an Italian choir which attended in the mid1960s. By that time, my husband was Lord Mayor and he hosted a reception for the members in the Mayoral Parlour. Chairman of the choir was a Mr. Pavarotti who presented to the Lord Mayor a 15 inch glazed ceramic statuette of the ‘Lady of Modena’ – a replica of a well-known landmark statue in Modena (a Florence Nightingale-type heroine I understand). Then he called forward a young singer from the choir and in broken English introduced us to ‘my son Luciano who is making quite a name for himself in opera’. He had by now left the choir, but temporarily joined it for the trip to Cork and no doubt to swell the choir’s volume! Years later, when he was becoming quite famous, a letter-writer to The Cork Examiner newspaper boasted about hearing Luciano Pavarotti sing in Cork. ‘No, not possible' wrote somebody from Dublin ‘he couldn’t have sung in Cork before doing so in the Irish capital’. A correspondent in London took up the challenge at this point, and opined that Pavarotti would not have sung anywhere in Ireland before making his debut appearance in London. All their dates were a bit vague and inaccurate. I couldn’t resist joining in with my story to The Cork Examiner (now The Irish Examiner). I had the exact date, because on my mantelpiece stood the statuette which stated on its brass plate:

La Corale G. Rossini Di Modena (Italia)
Al Lord Mayor Di Cork (Eire)
Cork 20-23 Maggio 1965

That put an end to the correspondence!"

Ruth Fleischmann’s Cork International Choral Festival 1954 - 2004: A Celebration documents the Festival throughout its history. In the book over 200 people, including directors, administrators, adjudicators, composers, choristers (national and international), critics and voluntary organisers write about their involvement in the Festival.
For more information on the book see http://www.corkfestival.com/pages/books.php.