The mourners gathered in Little Italy outside St. Leo?s Roman Catholic Church told Mary Ann Cricchio the news.
Luciano Pavarotti, the iconic tenor, was dead at the age of 71, succumbing to pancreatic cancer.
“People have been coming in and out all day to talk and look at photos of Luciano that I keep at Da? Mimmo?s,” said Cricchio, owner of Da? Mimmo in Little Italy. “I feel I lost a good friend, the operatic world has lost a great tenor, and the world at large has lost a great person, so kind and wonderfully generous.”
Cricchio and her late husband, Chef Mimmo Cricchio, cooked for Pavarotti whenever the star performed in Baltimore.
“His secretary, who [became] his wife, would cut his food for him, so he could eat with his left hand while signing autographs with his right,” Cricchio said. “He made everyone feel so special.
He would always remember the conversation he had with you last, even if it had been years.”
At Pavarotti?s request, Chef Mimmo prepared a healthy dish for the legend in 1989, Cricchio said. “He loved it so much, Mimmo asked if he could name it after him. [Pavarotti] said that would be an honor for me, and Mimmo said no, that would be an honor for me.”
“I bet you they?re having one incredible concert in heaven this evening,” Cricchio added. “I?m happy my husband is there with him. I?m sure Pavarotti?s singing, and Mimmo?s cooking so they can eat together.”
Pavarotti?s greatness was giving opera to the people, said touring Baltimore-area tenor Paul McIlvaine.
One of McIlvaine?s greatest disappointments in life was becoming ill the night he was to perform for Pavarotti.
“Rather than sing poorly for the glorious tenor, I chose not to sing at all,” he said. “It was a real sad thing, but I wouldn?t have done it differently.”
Michael Harrison, executive director of Baltimore Opera Company, saw Pavarotti bring down the house in his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. “He tossed off nine high Cs as if they were nothing,” he said.
Pavarotti?s purely tenor sound with long, beautiful lines, enormous charm and infectious personality attracted the public to the star, Harrison said. “He had a sweet sound but could also pour on the steam in heroic passages. That?s what excited the crowds.
