Rockers 'the new opera divas'

Rock stars are the opera divas of the 21st Century, Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti said in Berlin today.

“Rock stars like Ricky Martin, Eric Clapton and Elton John are worthy successors to the divas and the great operatic composers of the 19th Century,” the 67-year-old singer said.

“How is an aria by Donizetti anything other than a very successful pop song. Contemporary composers of serious music have lost the ability to write for the human voice,” he said. “It sounds all wrong.”

Pavarotti is in Berlin for Saturday’s sell-out performance of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

The tenor, who turns 70 in October 2005, is to retire that year to spend more time with his baby daughter and marry his partner Nicoletta Mantovani.