On a freezing February night in 2006, an ailing Luciano Pavarotti rose from his wheelchair at the opening of the Turin Winter Olympics to give a resounding rendition of the aria Nessun Dorma, his final public performance before he died of cancer last September.
Details have emerged of how the opera singer was unsure of his weakening voice and faked the live appearance in front of a TV audience of millions, using video trickery, careful lipsynching and a compliant orchestra that pre-recorded its backing days earlier.
"Pavarotti's great career therefore ended with a virtual performance, something sad but inevitable," said Leone Magiera, the star's longtime pianist and conductor, who has revealed the ploy in a book. "It would have been too dangerous for him, because of his physical condition, to risk a live performance before a global audience." (notícia no Guardian esta semana)
