One of my most memorable experiences as a Classic FM presenter was being invited in 2005 to interview Luciano Pavarotti at his summer home in Italy during a break in his farewell world tour, but I was blissfully unaware fate would decree that this was to be his final interview. Two years ago I was contacted by Ron Howard, director of ‘Apollo 13’, to ask for permission to use some of the interview in the documentary he was making about Pavarotti, and this eventually led to my hosting the Q & A session after the film’s premiere. You can hear the complete interview, and watch the Q & A that I conducted after the premiere of the film, below.

Pavarotti sought sanctuary from the glare of publicity in a traditional farmhouse, located on a secluded hillside in Pesaro on the beautiful Adriatic coast. The composer Giachino Rossini was born there in 1792, and it’s known as Italy’s ‘City of Music’ as a result.

My producer & I drove up the the winding tree-lined driveway feeling a little nervous: we were, after all, about to meet the world’s most famous tenor, and I had been warned that one needed to catch him ‘on a good day’. But if that were true, we got lucky; he couldn’t have been more affable and welcoming. We were greeted at the gate by his wife, Nicoletta, and as we got out of the car, we got our first glimpse of the ‘global rockstar of opera’, seated buddha-like on the patio enjoying the warmth of the mid-afternoon sunshine.

While Nicoletta played games with their young daughter Alice in the swimming pool, we got down to the business of discussing the great man’s incredible career. And as you’ll discover as you listen to the interview, it quickly became apparent that he was happy to discuss not only his career as a singer, but many other aspects of his life, too.