I was listening to the great tenor Luciano Pavarotti's voice on the radio the other day and I couldn't help thinking of the time I was fortunate enough to work with this marvellous artist and fascinating human being.
I had first worked with Pavarotti (and the Three Tenors) in Los Angeles at the Dodger Stadium - how could any of us forget that momentous concert enshrined on CD and DVD. Even now I thrill to remember that show and the electric atmosphere as 80,000 people were serenaded and enraptured by Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras with Zubin Mehta lovingly and imperiously conducting the magnificent symphony orchestra on that large imposing stage. But I was also remembering the time we presented the Maestro in Qatar days before the Iraqi war erupted.
I had been approached via our contacts in Qatar to ask if Pavarotti would perform in Qatar as part of the annual Cultural and Arts Festival in Doha. This was a great idea in principle, but I knew from previous experience how difficult it was to book Pavarotti via his irascible and difficult manager at that time Tibor Rudas. Add to that the growing fears of a war with Saddam Hussein (Iraq is only around the corner from Qatar) and you can see the problems I was facing.
I contacted Tibor Rudas and met him in London and we hammered out an in principle agreement, but Tibor was pretty doubtful about this event happening and indeed bet me £100 that it wouldn't happen. We shook hands on the bet - I was damned well determined to win that bet!
After a number of intense trips to Qatar to meet the Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage, I was able to get an agreement to the terms and conditions, which as you can imagine were pretty tough. After more wrangling and tough negotiations, I was thrilled to get the contract signed for March 2003.
The next problem of course was where to present the concert. Doha the capital city of Qatar had no venues at that time (they have many now) but back then we had to convert the large ballroom of the Sheraton Hotel into a theatre. I took a highly experienced team headed by my dear friend and former Director of the Royal Festival Hall (South Bank Centre) Anthony Phillips to Doha from London and against major odds we built a theatre within the large ballroom after some difficult logistical experiences, such as the seating and staging getting stuck for days in the customs in trucks in Saudi Arabia as they tried to travel to Qatar. We eventually built the theatre and seating for this incredibly important cultural event - His Highness The Emir and Her Highness Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser were to attend and everything had to go smoothly and according to plan.
However, the war clouds were looming - the American, British, French and other media were screaming for war - weapons of mass destruction - war against terror - Saddam Hussein's dictatorship - protests on the streets - the world's media were whipping up a storm of invective and propaganda preparing all of us for the storm of destruction that was due to rain on Iraq. However, here we were in Qatar, a peaceful and prosperous country trying to present a Cultural Festival, which was only around 450 miles from Iraq! Would Luciano Pavarotti come?
I won't go into all the machinations and issues we had to deal with to make this happen - but the day came when I met Pavarotti at Doha Airport as he got off his private jet flown from Modena in Italy. I was so thrilled that he had arrived and equally thrilled I had won my £100 bet with Tibor Rudas! I remember so clearly the drive from the airport to the Sheraton Hotel - it was late evening and Doha was ablaze with light - the Qatar authorities had created wonderful lighting along the Corniche (the sea front), which was very impressive - however, there was a major problem - Pavarotti was very superstitious especially regarding the colour purple. We had removed all signs of purple within the theatre and hotel but as we started to drive from the airport in the big new Audi Series 8 I realised to my horror that the whole of Doha was lit up in PURPLE!
In addition to getting Luciano into Qatar we had also contracted Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet, who were performing with a superb corps de ballet from the Kremlin Ballet Company to perform SWAN LAKE as part of the festival and on the same stage as Luciano was to perform. We had contracted a Russian Symphony orchestra to perform with Pavarotti and to play for the ballet. When the Russian Orchestra arrived in Doha there was a posse of customs officials to check their baggage and I am told that more than 120 bottles of Vodka were confiscated. Later that evening I went to their hotel to check that everything was OK and I found a party in full swing. Everyone was very happy and appeared to be imbibing large quantities of vodka! I was puzzled because all the vodka had been confiscated at the airport, but they told me that they had emptied all the Evian Mineral Water into the Vodka bottles and the Vodka into the Evian bottles!
Actually we were presenting the first major ballet performance in the Middle East - Dancers in Tutus had not been seen in the region for obvious cultural reasons. I was deeply impressed by Her Highness Sheikha Moza when she spoke to the audience about accepting other cultures and learning to appreciate art forms such as classical ballet. After the performance HH Sheikha Moza met the ballet company and we were all incredibly impressed by her knowledge of the art form and her immense dignity.
Luciano Pavarotti was the next artist to perform at the festival and he was happily ensconced in his presidential suite at the Sheraton Hotel. We had to covert one of the bathrooms into a kitchen for Luciano to cook - he cooked the most wonderful pastas and risottos usually in the middle of the night! We would go to his room at around 03.00am and have a late dinner - no wonder my waist line expanded significantly.
The world's press reported on the performance:
As War Looms, Pavarotti Wows Them in a Laid-Back Qatar
OHA, Qatar — The Middle East may be on the precipice of another war. And this placid Persian Gulf emirate may be HQ for the mightiest army on the planet. But Thursday was a night for the opera.
To the collective excitement of expatriates, a white-robed Qatari elite and restless war reporters, superstar tenor Luciano Pavarotti took the stage in a heavily chandeliered, sold-out concert hall and made his way steadily through Verdi, Puccini and Mascagni.
Spending the night with Pavarotti
Spending the night with Pavarotti
In Qatar, where the U.S. would direct a war against Iraq, citizens see Western culture as key to a better life, the Tribune's Hugh Dellios finds.
March 08, 2003| The International Herald Tribune foreign correspondent Hugh Dellios is on assignment in Qatar.
DOHA, Qatar — Luciano Pavarotti kept his date to sing in the Persian Gulf on Thursday, and there were no war drums in the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra that accompanied his renditions of "La Boheme" and "I Pagliacci."
Literally beneath a constant airlift of tanks and other war materiel for an invasion of Iraq, the famed Italian tenor appeared as scheduled before a swanky crowd in tuxedos and Arab robes. They gave him three standing ovations.
Pavarotti gives an unforgettable musical experience in Qatar
DOHA Famed Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti received a standing ovation for his splendid performance at the annual Culture and Arts Festival in Doha-Qatar. Spectators from around the Middle East came to be part of the rare opportunity of watching Pavarotti. The orchestra was brought in from abroad especially for the Cultural Festival making the concert an unforgettable musical experience.
It was an unforgettable experience and one I shall never forget - we were presenting one of the greatest artists on stage in peaceful Qatar and days later the war in Iraq erupted with an explosion of bombings, death and destruction. Surely the human race can do better than this - the world changed then and it certainly hasn't got better - however, we have to believe in the compassion, caring and love that the human race is capable of - and in its ability to be highly creative - Luciano Pavarotti thrilled the audiences in Qatar (as did the ballet) and it was an oasis of peace, enjoyment and great singing in amongst the war clouds that were looming.
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