Luciano Pavarotti to receive posthumous Classic Brit Award

Tenor Luciano Pavarotti is to be given a posthumous honour at the Classic Brit Awards - six years after he agreed to accept it. (PA)

Opera star Luciano Pavarotti is to be given a posthumous honour at the Classic Brit Awards - six years after he agreed to accept it.

Organisers of the annual ceremony sounded out the Italian tenor in 2007 but he died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 71 in September that year before the accolade could be handed out.

Now his widow Nicoletta Mantovani-Pavarotti will collect the posthumous lifetime achievement award on his behalf at next month's event.

She said: "It is wonderful that the music industry is honouring Luciano in this way, particularly at a time when we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of his first recording. It is beautiful that the Classic Brit Awards are helping to keep his memory alive through honouring him in this way."

Brits bosses said the award is given to "artists that have truly made an impact on the world with their music and performances".

Also at the event will be a debut performance by Gareth Malone's Voices - the choirmaster's new ensemble, created after a nationwide talent hunt - who will sing an arrangement of the theme to TV hit Broadchurch.

Other artists who will play at the 2 October ceremony include Joseph Calleja and Nicola Benedetti.

Pavarotti's colleagues in the Three Tenors - Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras - picked up lifetime achievement awards in 2006 and 2009.

The event will be screened by ITV on a date to be confirmed.

PA