Luciano Pavarotti with Cambodia/Tibet company

Arguably no other opera singer in music history achieved the same level of international celebrity as tenor Luciano Pavarotti; his voice -- robust, resonant, and immediately recognizable -- launched him into the stratosphere of household recognition usually reserved for pop stars and Hollywood icons, and in the process spurred opera itself on to new peaks of mainstream popularity. Born in Modena, Italy, on October 12, 1935, as a boy he enjoyed local fame as a member of the town's soccer team, and first sang in the chorus with his father, himself a fine amateur tenor and devote...