On 10 February 2006 , Pavarotti sang " Nessun dorma " at the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Turin , Italy , at his final performance . In the last act of the opening ceremony , his performance received the longest and loudest ovation of the night from the international crowd . Leone Magiera , who directed the performance , revealed in his 2008 memoirs , '' Pavarotti Visto da Vicino '' , that the performance had been recorded weeks earlier . " The orchestra pretended to play for the audience , I pretended to conduct and Luciano pretended to sing . The effect was wonderful , " he wrote . Pavarotti 's manager , Terri Robson , said that the tenor had turned the Winter Olympic Committee 's invitation down several times because it would have been impossible to sing late at night in the subzero conditions of Turin in February . The committee eventually persuaded him to take part by prerecording the song
2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony
2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony
Luciano Pavarotti