By SCOTT MacLEOD and LOUISA CLEAVE
The first time Shaun Dixon sang for Luciano Pavarotti his legs quivered with tension, but the maestro must have been impressed, because he later invited Dixon into his Italian home as a pupil.
This started a cycle that ends tonight when the 23-year-old Tokoroa man sings in the Sky City Starlight Symphony.
Dixon has been a fan of Pavarotti since he was a tot. In fact, it was Pavarotti who inspired him to sing.
In November 1999, Dixon and seven other New Zealanders got the chance to sing for Pavarotti at the Auckland Art Gallery.
"I held him in such high esteem that my legs were shaking and I couldn't look at him," Dixon says.
"The mere fact that I was in the same room with him was unbelievable - I had listened to him almost every day since I was a young boy."
When Dixon plucked up the courage to ask for advice, Pavarotti wrote down the name of a voice teacher. Six months later Dixon heard that Pavarotti wanted also to teach, so he travelled to Italy and was invited to the maestro's home.
"Pavarotti was sitting at the table with his father and friends. Unbelievable! I was so tired I didn't think I could sing a note. I was sweating like a pig."
But Pavarotti invited him back the next day, and the next, until a week had passed.
Dixon was asked to stay for dinner, then to move into the house, then to travel with Pavarotti on his tour of America.
After four months, Dixon has come home to forge his own career.
"I'll be his student until Maestro says it is enough. He's totally taken me under his wing, and is guiding my career."
Dixon will sing before the biggest audience of his career tonight.
The free concert in the Auckland Domain will be hosted by actors Lucy Lawless and Kevin Smith.
Lawless' biggest challenge has been walking in high heels. She says she rarely wears them and, although she starred in a Broadway production of Grease, she has no plans to sing tonight.
The concert starts at 7.30 pm and will raise money for the Starship and Kidz First children's hospitals. If postponed, it will be held tomorrow night.
Pavarotti's spirit set to soar
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