Art & Creativity Quote by Luciano Pavarotti

Pavarotti is politely puncturing the most comforting myth in the arts: that excellence naturally rises to the top and gets paid. He grants the premise everyone wants to hear - yes, you have to be good - then slides in the dagger: goodness is only the entry ticket. The real multiplier is fame, a separate currency with its own market logic. Coming from a singer who became a global brand (stadiums, TV specials, the Three Tenors), the line isn’t bitterness; it’s a clear-eyed admission of how the machine works, even when the machine is selling “high culture.”

The intent is practical, almost instructional: don’t confuse artistic merit with career leverage. “In great demand” and “command high fees” are commercial phrases, and that’s the point. Opera likes to imagine itself above the economy, but Pavarotti is reminding you that it runs on scarcity, buzz, and narrative like everything else. Fame de-risks a production: a famous name sells tickets in advance, attracts donors, justifies marketing spend, and reassures audiences they’re buying an event, not merely a performance.

The subtext is also a defense of the famous artist. If fees can look obscene, Pavarotti reframes them as the price of certainty in an expensive business, not a pure reward for vocal virtue. “The two are different things” is doing a lot of work: it’s permission to admire technique without pretending it guarantees stardom, and a warning that visibility can outrun merit. In opera - where training is brutal and talent is widespread - fame becomes the loudest instrument onstage.