Pavarotti's widow speaks about her trip to Llangollen on Radio 4

* Hear the Nicoletta Mantovani interview for Today on BBC iPlayer.

Pavarotti’s widow, who visited Llangollen at the weekend, spoke about her experience on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning (Monday).

Nicoletta Mantovani had a fanfare arrival last Friday, travelling by train from Corwen to Llangollen on the area’s heritage railway line, attending the annual Eisteddfod service at St Collen’s and presenting two major prizes during Pavilion concerts on Saturday and Sunday.

She was here to celebrate the 70^th anniversary of his prize-winning appearance at the Eisteddfod with his hometown choir from Modena in Italy, the 30^th anniversary of his triumphant return for a solo concert in 1995 and the year of his 90^th birthday.

This morning she was interviewed by Today’s Nick Robinson and spoke about how much she enjoyed her first ever visit which coincided with the release of a new film featuring re-mastered footage of the 1995 concert and two rare tracks from 1955.

His recording company Decca describes the new release – The Lost Concert: Live From Llangollen (1995) – as “75 minutes of remastered musical glory – a programme overflowing with operatic arias from Cavalleria Rusticana, Il trovatore, Macbeth, Manon Lescaut and La traviata, and popular Neapolitan song”.

Asked about it by Nick Robinson, Nicoletta said he wanted to return to Llangollen in 1995 “because he wanted to go back and re-live all the emotions (from 1955) and meet the people who were there”.

She added that his appearance with the choir, in which he sang alongside his father, had convinced him that if a small choir from Italy could win the choral prize at the Eisteddfod there was a chance for him to make it on his own in the world of opera.

Nicoletta said her own visit to the Eisteddfod, had been “magical” because the annual festival was “unique in its diversity”.

The new release, recorded with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Leone Magiera with the Corale Rossini and soprano Atzuko Kawahara, features a 100-page LP-sized book, detailing the history of the concert, interviews with those who were there,rare historic photos from the Eisteddfod archive, a newly commissioned biography of Pavarotti, a reproduction of the original concert programme and a specially commissioned history of Llangollen Eisteddfod.

Decca says it is "comparable in significance to Pavarotti in Hyde Park and ‘Pavarotti in Central Park".

* You can hear the Today radio interview at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002fv7q  around 1:41:45 minutes into the BBC iPlayer recording.