High Cs star meets high seas hopefuls

By JOSIE CLARKE

Luciano Pavarotti did his best to ease the nerves of Italy's America's Cup sailors when he visited them before their second round-robin race against the French yesterday.

The Italian opera star spent about 15 minutes yesterday at the Prada syndicate's headquarters at the Viaduct Harbour, downtown Auckland, meeting the crew members, sharing some laughs and wishing them good luck.

Bad weather kept Pavarotti off the boat and inside the headquarters, where he spoke briefly to skipper Francesco de Angelis and his crew.

Prada general manager Aldo Tomasina said the visit was a great honour.

"It's a nice opportunity to meet him on the other side of the world."

Most of the syndicate members are paying a return visit to Pavarotti's concert tomorrow night at Ericsson Stadium.

The singer's next call was to the Auckland Art Gallery, where he took eight of New Zealand's budding opera stars through their paces.

The chosen singers learned on Wednesday that they would perform for Pavarotti, and three were flown from Christchurch and Wellington for the occasion.

James Harrison, Jared Holt, Wendy Dawn Thompson, Joanna Heslop, Shaun Dixon, William Winitana, Andrea Munro and Paul Chappory each sang two arias.

Opera New Zealand director Jonathan Alver said Pavarotti offered general tips and gave advice on how the pieces should be sung, demonstrating by singing back to them.

"We thought he might spend an hour with them," Mr Alver said, "but he spent 21/2 hours."