Pavarotti, the World Cup and Brands

A meditation on opera, courage and craft

On the eve of the Italia ’90 World Cup Final in Rome, Luciano Pavarotti stepped onto the stage in a black tuxedo and white bow tie. Out of him poured “Nessun Dorma.” His voice reached 800 million TVs around the world. He did something unprecedented. He brought opera to the mainstream.

My father watched from our sitting room. Through tinny speakers, Luciano’s voice beamed into our small council house in rural Ireland. Something struck a chord with ordinary people. A global star was reborn. His light still blazes today.

What made Luciano unforgettable was not just his voice. It was his courage. He had mastered the craft completely but refused to be bound by it. He broke the usual opera format, dropped the theatrics, made the music human, made himself human. You could see it in his face and feel it in every note.

It never feels like you are being sold “opera.” He didn’t underestimate the audience and people loved him for it.

In Italia ’90, it was very much about the song. He sang most of it with his eyes turned down. His 1994 performance was different. By then, he had more confidence in his own face as the storyteller. Just before his first line begins he raises his thick eyebrows towards the middle distance and you are drawn to him deeply.

At the end of the first chorus he sings the last line and his face darkens in an incredible way, slightly twisting in anguish. It is such a powerful moment. You cannot look away. In 1994 it is like he lost his fear. Everything is there to see, but he never overdoes it.

He makes you curious. He makes you ask questions. He makes you examine. That is his power. That is his gift. That is his genius.

My father bought all his tapes and played them constantly. A man of limited means, living on the edge of town and poverty, felt transcended for a moment.

And that’s the part brands need to hear in 2026. People are exhausted by work that talks down to them or over‑explains itself to the point of resentment. The brands that will matter are the ones that trust the audience’s intelligence, and touch them deeply. The way Luciano did.

Luciano stripped opera to its core and revealed his humanity. He brought us right up to the ceiling and showed the average person just how high they could soar. That is the brilliance that lasts.