wbur.org
support wbur today!
Listen to this show
Remembering Luciano Pavarotti
photo

By host Tom Ashbrook:

Luciano Pavarotti, the most widely popular singer in opera history, is dead at 71.

The son of a baker and a cigarette maker, he was a joyful, exuberant tenor heard by millions — many of whom may never have paid attention to opera before.

He was the glorious “King of the High C,” and also a rascal, a media star who was known to lip-sync and cancel performances by the dozen. But he was great.

This hour On Point: Luciano Pavarotti’s operatic legacy.

Guests:

Tim Page, Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic for The Washington Post and former artistic advisor and creative chair for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

Anne Midgette, classical music critic for The New York Times and co-author, with Pavarotti’s longtime manager Herbert Breslin, of “The King and I,” a tell-all book about Pavarotti’s career

Martin Bernheimer, music critic at the Los Angeles Times for 31 years, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1982, now a critic for The Financial Times and Opera magazine.

 
 

Comments are closed.

On Point Today
Hour 2
Chemicals in Our Bodies
Monday, July 6, 2009 image

Scientists report that widely used chemicals — endocrine disruptors — are causing serious health problems in humans. We ask what the government is, and is not, doing about it.

Comments [33]
 
Hour 1
Sarah Palin’s Surprise
Monday, July 6, 2009 image

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s out-of-the-blue resignation. We ask what it means for her future — and for the GOP.

Comments [58]

Recent Shows
Crooked Still
Friday, July 3, 2009 image

Tunes from old Appalachia with a new bluegrass twist. The hit folk band “Crooked Still” plays for us in our studio.

Comments [6]
 
Week in the News
Friday, July 3, 2009 image

A U.S. offensive in Afghanistan. Al Franken heads to the Senate. Mark Sanford keeps talking. And unemployment keeps rising. Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

Comments [25]
On Point Blog
India, China and the Climate

The passage of the House climate bill – discussed in our first hour today – has been greeted with enthusiasm in many quarters. But in some ways, the real question is whether a global framework can be established in Copenhagen in December, when countries will negotiate a new international treaty to curb greenhouse gases. After all, America emits only [...]

More » | Comments [1]
 
Michael, Ed, and Farrah

The week-in-the-news roundtable always involves tough choices on sound clips – what to include, what to leave out. Amid all the pressing hard news, we often give a nod to a notable person who’s passed away. But this week brought, well, a ridiculous range of choices. So we gave a nod to them all in the roundtable today. And [...]

More » | Comments [2]
 
Planet Money, On Point — Your Questions!

On Wednesday night, June 24, On Point will tape a show before an audience in Boston with two stars of NPR’s “Planet Money,” Adam Davidson and David Kestenbaum. We need your online questions to put to them — about anything from the roots of the economic crisis to NPR’s coverage.
What’s your question about the [...]

More » | Comments [18]