A lost recording of a Pavarotti concert in a Welsh village is released

"Pavarotti traveled to the village in July 1955 to participate in the Eisteddfod Men's Choir Competition. He was 19 at the time and a member of the Societa Corale Gioachino Rossini of Modena, an amateur choir made up of workers from a car factory, office workers, students and his father, Fernando, a baker and also an amateur tenor. Dad, it's impossible to sing better than we have, he told Fernando after performing Jacobus Handl's In Nomine Jesu that earned them a gold medal."

"Back in Italy, Pavarotti abandoned his teacher training course and began the musical career that would turn him into one of the most famous tenors of the 20th century. He signed up for singing lessons with Arrigo Pola and, in the 1960s, his Rodolfo de La boheme thrilled the public in London's Covent Garden, Milan's La Scala (conducted by Herbert von Karajan) and the Met in New York."

"His long-awaited return to Llangollen finally took place in 1995, four decades later, accompanied by the Rossini Choir with his 83-year-old father in the front row and the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Leone Magiera. TV cameras and 4,500 spectators were gathered to see him in the Eisteddfod Pavilion. Pavarotti would have turned 90 on October 12, and to celebrate the anniversary, the Decca label has recovered the original recording of that memorable comeback performance in 1995."

Luciano Pavarotti was born in Modena in 1935 and achieved his first major success in Llangollen, Wales, at age 19. He competed with the Societa Corale Gioachino Rossini, an amateur choir including his father, Fernando, and won a gold medal for Jacobus Handl's In Nomine Jesu. Returning to Italy, he left teacher training for singing lessons with Arrigo Pola and rose to international fame in the 1960s with Rodolfo in La Bohème at Covent Garden, La Scala under Karajan, and the Met. He returned to Llangollen in 1995 with the Rossini Choir and BBC Philharmonic; Decca later released the recording to mark his 90th anniversary.

Read at english.elpais.com