Pavarotti back where it began

FOR what may be the last time, Luciano Pavarotti is in Melbourne, the birthplace of his international career.

The Italian tenor, 70, warmly recalled his first visit in 1965, touring at the invitation of Australia's great opera star Joan Sutherland.

"Melbourne is where I become an international singer," he said yesterday.

"We were here with five operas, and I was singing three. I made my debut here."

There was no time to complete and rehearse intricate stage moves, he said, so it was left to his imagination. Three hours later he became a "beautiful professional".

"It was a triumph that night," he said. "A big moment."

Pavarotti is in Melbourne as part of his Worldwide Farewell Tour. He plays at the Rod Laver Arena tomorrow, and a Victorian Racing Club dinner on Wednesday.

Pavarotti is credited with being the most popular classical artist in the history of the recording industry.

But while farewelling the world in an epic tour of song, he is not concerned about how the world of opera will survive without him.

"I'm not the opera," he said. "The opera has a past and a future.

"When I begin to sing, they say — RUN! — because in three or four years the opera disappear," he added, breaking into a broad smile.

The beauty of the tenor voice was in its difference to that of the normal voice of a man, he said. People would say, he can't do that — "and he does".

Pavarotti was a teacher before his singing career took off, and will tutor opera singers when he returns to Italy.

"I think it's time for me to go back to my daughter," he said. "I have something else to do. I have to teach."

After leaving Australia, Pavarotti's tour will continue to New Zealand, Hong Kong and China.

It is likely to conclude with three galas: at the Metropolitan in New York, the Royal Opera House, in London's Covent Garden, and Milan's La Scala.

Pavarotti smiled solidly through a press conference in his Melbourne hotel, taking and answering questions in both English and Italian.

A large chocolate cake in the shape of Australia was welcomed with a wide grin, but the singer needed help to enter and leave the room, using the shoulder of an assistant as a crutch.

He had neck surgery this year, the pain of which troubles him still.

"I think the power of the music is so much that it is making you stand this kind of suffering," he said.

He is now recovering "beautifully", and spending time with his 36-year-old wife, Nicoletta, and their two-year old daughter, Alice, whom he described as "beautiful" — pausing to add "delinquent".

"I know exactly what it is to feel good," he said.

So, the question was posed: why stop singing? "Because I have other things to do."