Pavarotti lip-synched his last concert

ROME (AP) - Luciano Pavarotti, in severe pain months before his cancer diagnosis, lip-synched his last performance, according to the maestro who conducted the aria at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

The late tenor’s manager said yesterday that the bitter cold made a live performance impossible at the Winter Games.

The conductor, Leone Magiera, reveals in a book that the rousing rendition of “Nessun Dorma” (“Let No One Sleep”) was prerecorded because “it would have been too dangerous for him to give a live performance in that physical condition.”

Mr. Magiera, who worked with Mr. Pavarotti for years, said the tenor was suffering from sharp pains months before being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was using a wheelchair. Mr. Pavarotti died in September 2007. He was 71.

“The orchestra pretended to play for the public there, I pretended to conduct and Luciano pretended to sing,” Mr. Magiera writes in “Pavarotti Visto Da Vicino” (“Pavarotti Seen From Close Up”), which was published last month. “It came off beautifully, no one was aware of the technical tricks.”

Mr. Pavarotti recorded the performance in a studio in his hometown of Modena a few days before his February appearance in Turin, Mr. Magiera said. The orchestra pre-recorded its part separately.

“His voice was nearly intact,” Mr. Magiera recalls in the book, published by Ricordi. “He found the strength to repeat it until he was completely satisfied. Then, he fell back on his wheelchair and closed his eyes, exhausted.”

Mr. Magiera did not elaborate on why Mr. Pavarotti was using a wheelchair. He stood during the Turin performance.

However, in an e-mail to the Associated Press, Mr. Pavarotti’s former manager, Terri Robson, said that the decision to lip-synch was made because of the cold during the outdoor evening event.

The singer was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the summer of 2006 as he was preparing to leave New York to resume a farewell tour. Mr. Pavarotti underwent surgery in New York in early July, and his remaining 2006 concerts were canceled.

Mr. Pavarotti lip-synched a performance in 1992 in Modena, drawing heavy criticism.