They were two of the most celebrated singers of the century, they studied with the same teacher, they were frequent partners on stage, and they were life long friends - literally - having met in 1935 as infants at the day care center of the cigar factory in Modena, Italy, where both of their mothers worked.
Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti each had long careers, and this week on the Lyric Stage we focus on the early part of those careers, both alone and together, some of the finest recorded singing of the 20th century.
The music includes arias and duets by Puccini and Mascagni, including exerpts from Pavarotti's first professional appearance in 1961 in La Boheme at the Teatro Municipale in Reggio Emilia, and from an early performance by Freni as Mimi in La Boheme at the Vienna State Opera in 1963.