There will be a new Star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame: that of the great Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who died in 2007 at the age of 71. As usual, the Star will be assigned by Hollywood’s Chamber of Commerce. The laying ceremony is scheduled for 24 August 2022 at 11:30 am (Los Angeles time) at 7065 Hollywood Boulevard, with live broadcasting on walkoffame.com. The tenor’s daughter, Cristina Pavarotti, will attend the ceremony and receive the prestigious award, also on behalf of the other heirs Lorenza, Giuliana and Alice Pavarotti, and Nicoletta Mantovani. She will hold a speech together with orchestra conductor James Conlon, Musical Director of the Los Angeles Opera, who enjoyed a long professional and personal relationship with the artist.

In addition to the ceremony there will be a series of celebrations going under the title “Luciano Pavarotti, the Star” offered to the Californian metropolis on 24 and 25 August, produced and organized by Cinzia Salvioli’s Italian film production house Albedo Production together with Paolo Rossi Pisu’s Genoma Films and Silvia Bizio, Anna Manunza and Cecilia Miniucchi, thanks to support by the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Emilia-Romagna Region, the cities of Modena and Pesaro, the Rossini Opera Festival, and by Isatex, Marposs, Deisa Ebano, Calzanetto, Alternative Group. The Italian delegation will be welcomed to Los Angeles on 23 August with a reception held at the Italian Culture Institute (IIC) and under the auspices of the Consulate General of Italy in Los Angeles.

The heart of the celebrations will be the screening of two historical audiovisual Italian testimonies, never before shown in the United States, representing two important moments in Luciano Pavarotti’s long and intense artistic path. The first one is the 1970 performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Rai Symphony Orchestra of Rome and the Rai Chorus of Milan and Rome conducted by Claudio Abbado at the Basilica di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome, preserved in the archives of Rai Teche and for the first time presented in a newly-restaured version by Bologna’s Cineteca Foundation through the laboratory “L’immagine ritrovata”. Protagonists, together with the Italian tenor, are the voices of Renata Scotto, Marilyn Horne, and Nicolai Ghiaurov. The second screening is a selection of five musical pieces from the last of the three recital concerts held by Pavarotti at Teatro alla Scala in 1983: Alessandro Scarlatti’s Già il Sole dal Gange, Franz Schubert’s Ave Maria, Francesco Paolo Tosti’s La Serenata and Non t’amo più, and Giuseppe Verdi’s Quando le sere al placido from Luisa Miller. Pavarotti is accompanied by Leone Magiera at the piano.

The “theme” accompanying the celebrations will be a new short-film commissioned to Italian painter, illustrator, director, and artist Gianluigi Toccafondo – titled “Luciano Pavarotti, the Star” –  a poetic homage to Pavarotti’s expressive power and to the dedication the tenor had for young artists.

The Los Angeles screenings are scheduled for 24 August at 8pm at the Aero Theater, in collaboration with the American Cinematheque, presented and curated by James Conlon – Richard Seaver Music Director of Los Angeles Opera, on 25 August at 5pm at the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro (in collaboration with the Little Italy Association of Los Angeles and Councilmember Joe Buscaino representing LA 15th Council District). On this occasion, the City of Los Angeles will present an official Proclamation honoring the tenor. On the same day there will be a screening held at the Grammy Museum Auditorium in the Clive Davis Theater.

To complete the California celebrations, on 25 August in the morning, an exhibition space dedicated to Luciano Pavarotti will open at the Grammy Museum. Among the exhibited items is the score of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem used by the tenor for his debut in this sacred work at Teatro alla Scala in 1967 under Herbert von Karajan, which bears the dedications and autographs of many of the great conductors with whom he interpreted the piece through the years.

On 24 August, in Italy, on the day of the laying of the Star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, Rai Cultura will dedicate Rai5 Prime time show to Luciano Pavarotti by broadcasting the restored version of his 1970 interpretation of Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem.

Throughout his incredible artistic career, which saw him walk the world’s stages for 43 years, Luciano Pavarotti, through his voice and his art, helped people discover and love opera by connecting it to a large and transversal audience. He received innumerable recognitions as well as national and international awards, most notably Knight of the Grand Cross of the Italian Republic. For his great dedication to humanitarian causes, the tenor has been granted – to name just a few – the International Red Cross Award for Service to Humanity, the Nansen Refugee Award and he was named “United Nations Messenger of Peace”.

This Star once again underlines the international value of Italian opera, which has been nominated to enter, in 2023, in the list of the UNESCO – protected Intangible Cultural Heritage.

A further celebratory moment, with events in course of programming, will take place between 12 and 16 November 2022.

The “Luciano Pavarotti, the Star” celebrations are produced in collaboration with: Hollywood Walk of Fame – Variety – Chamber of Commerce of Hollywood – Consulate General of Italy in Los Angeles – Italian Culture Institute (IIC) of Los Angeles – Aero Theater – American Cinematheque – The Grammy Museum – Warner Grand Theater – Little Italy of Los Angeles Foundation – Councilmember Joe Buscaino 15th Council District – Italy-America Chamber of Commerce West (IACCW) – Teatro alla Scala – Claudio Abbado Foundation – Cineteca di Bologna Foundation/L’immagine ritrovata – Rai Teche – Rai Cultura- Decca Music Group – R.T.I. Spa-Mediaset Group – Luciano Pavarotti Foundation – Veroni-Pavarotti Archive – Teatro Comunale Pavarotti-Freni di Modena – Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Bologna.