Pavarotti and the Eisteddfod

Luciano Pavarotti had sung in all the great opera houses of the world and to millions on television screens.

Yet it was an appearance in a tent-like structure in a small town in Wales in 1995 that had the great opera star struggling to cope with emotions and wiping away a tear.

For it was in that same town 40 years before and in a real tent that Pavarotti decided that he would pursue a career in music.

Pavarotti was just 19 and a trainee teacher, when he first attended the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in 1955 with his father, Fernando, as part of the choir, Chorus Rossini from Modena in Italy.

The choir won their competition, the young Pavarotti just a face in the line-up, billeted in a local home.

In July 1995 he returned to headline the week-long festival with a huge entourage including his own choir and orchestra and staying in a top hotel.

The security was, outwardly at least, even tighter than when the Queen had visited three years earlier.

He made two appearances on stage, one for the closing concert of the Eisteddfod but also in the days before as the Day President of the festival.

Chairman of the 1995 festival and involved in the negotiations to bring the tenor back to the Eisteddfod was Gethin Davies.

Mr Davies was a volunteer usher back in 1955 and admitted that he didn't recall the young Pavarotti.

“I kept a diary in those days and was looking through it recently and it just said, ‘Male Voice Choir today and a choir from Italy won’," he revealed in 1995.

Things were very different for his second visit.

"He accepted an invitation to be President of the Day, on condition that his father could share the duty," Mr Davies said.

Pavarotti told a packed audience: “Forty years ago, my God it seems to be just yesterday for me. I have done so many things. I always say to the journalists when they ask me what is a day more memorable in my life, and I always say that it is when I won this competition because it was with all my friends.”

He then called his father, tiny by the side of the great man, onto the stage and had to mop a tear away with his handkerchief in an emotional moment in front of the crowds.

The day of his concert saw the Eisteddfod field sealed off to the public and the layout of both field and stage altered to accommodate his choir and orchestra.

Thousands of beautiful flowers also had to be stripped from the front of the stage be floral committee volunteers before the performance as Pavarotti feared the pollen would affect this singing.

Those lucky enough to afford tickets for the auditorium filed into their seats but another 3,000 'promenaders' sat on picnic blankets outside watching the performance on a big screen.

Security stewards stepped in when some people tried crawling under the tent to get a glimpse of the big man.

A volunteer steward from her local school in 1995 was Sian Eagar how now works for the Eisteddfod.

"I feel very fortunate that, due to my family’s association with the Eisteddfod over many years I have had the opportunity to see numerous world class artistes and Pavarotti was one of those memorable events.

"There was a real buzz and excitement about his visit and I remember the field and pavilion being packed full of people. The evening concert is probably the highest profile event that I have ever been to and there was a very glitzy and prestigious feel to the whole evening.

"However the most memorable thing for me was when Pavarotti was on stage in the afternoon and introduced his father to the audience.

"The way that Pavarotti spoke you could feel that he was genuinely happy to be returning to the place that, 40 years earlier, had inspired him to pursue a career in music.

"It was amazing to feel that he had such a personal connection to the Eisteddfod and the experience of performing here had made such a difference to his life."