The Three Tenors, Opera Arias and Italian Songs
It is not often that football is upstaged by music. But that is exactly what happened at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome on 7 July 1990, the eve of sport’s most prestigious tournament, the World Cup Final. The event was the inaugural performance of The Three Tenors - José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti - and one aria, Nessun Dorma from Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot, became the soundtrack for our collective memory of Italia '90.
Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti went on to tour and record together for thirteen years. Performing as The Three Tenors, they introduced opera to audiences who would have had very little previous experience of the genre. The Three Tenors: Opera Arias and Italian Songs is a celebration of the astonishing impact the trio had on the musical world that recaptures the humour and camaraderie they always brought to their performances.
The venue for this wonderful tribute to the mastery of The Three Tenors is the beautiful Correale Museum of Terranova, bequeathed to the people of Sorrento along with their art collections by two brothers, Alfredo and Pompeo Correale. Both were Counts of Terranova, but neither produced an heir to their fortune.
The concert includes some of the greatest melodies ever written for opera alongside well-known Italian songs. Many are audience favourites from the enduringly popular Neapolitan Song tradition, Italy’s rival to the Great American Songbook. Gaetano Donizetti’s Una furtiva lagrima from L’elisir d’amore, La donna è mobile from Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto, Antonio de Curtis’ Malafemmena and Dicitencello vuje by Rodolfo Falvo are just a few of the treats to look forward to.
With Luciano Pavarotti sadly no longer with us, this wonderful concert, in one of the most tranquil settings Sorrento has to offer, is a special opportunity to relive the joy of the original Three Tenors all over again.