The power of Pavarotti unleashed
ANeW show has been created to celebrate the voice of opera legend Luciano Pavarotti. his widow Nicoletta Mantovani, and daughter Alice — who was just four when her father died 14 years ago — have joined forces with Michael Gracey, who directed The Greatest Showman, and wunderkind composer Jacob Collier to pay tribute to ‘one of the greatest voices of all time’.
The production, as yet untitled, has cost millions to develop, and is set to open in the West end in the autumn of 2023.
‘Luciano was a precursor in embracing new modes and genres... he wanted to bring his music to everyone,’ Nicoletta commented, while also indirectly referring to how Collier, a 27-year-old, four-time Grammy winner from North London, will approach the show: using technical wizardry to make it sound like Pavarotti is singing right there on stage.
Working with sound tech genius Ben Bloomberg at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Collier came up with a new software programme designed to isolate Pavarotti’s voice from recordings of his performances, leaving just the world’s most famous tenor singing a variety of arias, with no instrumental backing.
‘By bringing his singing to life in a new way, this show will capture that spirit of emotion that defined everything Luciano did,’ Nicoletta said.
She and her daughter introduced a private workshop in Shoreditch at which the revolutionary artistry was unveiled. On Wednesday, Alice — who said her father’s voice ‘was touched by God’ — explained that the show will feature a character called Sofia, ‘a kind of fictionalised version of me’, who will bring her father to life through correspondence he received from ordinary people who were passionate fans. each letter will inspire an aria or a song associated with him.
Collier, who has nearly five million Twitter and YouTube followers, won his awards for arrangements of his own compositions, as well as other pieces such as the theme music from the Flintstones. ‘how do you honour the greatest voice arguably ever to grace the face of the planet?’ he asked. ‘And do it in a way that you’ve never heard before?’
his answer was to ‘axe the orchestra’. ‘Let’s replace that familiar sound with the sound of many voices accompanying the big man’s voice, live on stage,’ Collier told me. he explained that singers would use their voices to create a new kind of backing: representing brass, woodwind and strings. Just a handful of actual instruments, including the harp, will be included.
OK, I confess I was a little dumbfounded, too; until I saw how the process was put together at the workshop. Pavarotti’s singing was conjured up using a super-duper digital keyboard, with live singers adding harmonies, where once a full orchestra had been.
‘We’re making music in the room, in real time, with the great man!’ enthused Collier.
he described Pavarotti’s voice as ‘the perfect instrument’, with the emotional power to pull audiences to the edge of their seats.
Producers John Berry and Anthony Lilley, of the Scenario Two production company, were granted stage rights from the Pavarotti estate, plus permission to use fan mail sent to the tenor.
They teamed up with Universal Music, who will release a recording of the music from the show ahead of its opening.
Many of Pavarotti’s most famous arias will be included. Would Nessun Dorma figure, I wondered? ‘It would be odd if it didn’t,’ Berry joked.