Also typical of him is the modesty with which he greets my final question, regarding what he would like to be remembered for. ‘Oh goodness! For my work and my singing, I suppose. What can I say? I’d like to be remembered as somebody who brought opera to the people, because that’s my passion. We are not composers; we’re not geniuses. Toscanini used to say, ‘I am not a handsome man. I am not a genius. I am not a composer. But I am a conductor!’.

My life is not like that of Pavarotti who, with all the respect in the world to him, managed his career in a very different way to me. He took care of his image as well as taking care of his voice. I’m not interested in my image in that way and would never do that. It’s not part of my personality. But those were the last words of Pavarotti: that he wanted to be remembered as a singer, nothing else. I’m not a celebrity in that sense.

Pavarotti played to the media, but I wouldn’t be able to deal with that because of the way I am. Look at Mirella Freni: she’s remembered as a phenomenal singer but didn’t take care of her image in the same way as Domingo or Pavarotti.