Culture: Supertenor with Huge Appetite for Love, Life and Opera Music; Luciano Pavarotti Talks Exclusively to Christopher Morley about the Secrets of Preserving the Tenor Voice and His Favourite Operatic Roles

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Byline: Christopher Morley

Supertenor Luciano Pavarotti hits town on Sunday, drawing thousands of fans from all over the region to the National Exhibition Centre, avid to hear that honeyed voice and catch the appealing vulnerability beneath those long-admired tones.

The besotted media tell us he is a man of gargantuan appetite, whether it be gastronomical, emotional, or material. Yet there is much more to him than this, as I discovered in an exclusive interview with him.

We began by reminiscing about his early days, and his first appearances in England. Those included a season in Mozart's great opera seria Idomeneo at the Glyndebourne Opera House in 1964.

As a schoolboy, I saw Pavarotti in rehearsal there, singing the role of Idamante. He was a slim, serious and totally committed young man, and I was much taken with his performance.

'I'm happy you were able to share my own experience of Glyndebourne,' he smiles. 'It was a very special experience for me personally as a young singer setting out. An …