He said they’d sing it again someday… but fate closed the curtain too soon. That day, Céline Dion stood beside Luciano Pavarotti — the Maestro whose voice had carried nations, now offering her the rarest gift: a duet that could break and mend a heart in the same breath. “You make the song live,” he told her quietly before the lights came up, his eyes holding a depth that felt like goodbye. And when they began — his thunderous tenor entwining with her soaring crystal — the air itself seemed to stand still. By the time the final note trembled into silence, no one could have known… it would be the last time these two voices would ever touch

Modena, Italy — On June 9, 1998, Luciano Pavarotti and Céline Dion delivered a rare cross-genre duet during the Pavarotti & Friends for the Children of Liberia benefit concert. The performance, staged in Pavarotti’s hometown of Modena, was part of a series of annual charity events raising funds for humanitarian causes.

The song, “I Hate You Then I Love You,” appeared on Dion’s 1997 album Let’s Talk About Love and is the English-language version of the Italian classic “Grande, grande, grande.” The live rendition paired Dion’s pop vocals with Pavarotti’s operatic tenor, creating a blend of styles rarely seen on the same stage.

The concert, broadcast internationally, was later released on the album Pavarotti & Friends for the Children of Liberia and on DVD. The performance received significant attention from both fans and critics. Admirers praised the chemistry between the two artists, describing the duet as a display of technical skill and emotional intensity. However, some critics were less favorable, with The New York Observer’s Jonathan Bernstein labeling it “a clattering camp travesty.”

The 1998 benefit event featured multiple high-profile collaborations and contributed proceeds to UNICEF programs aiding children affected by the Liberian civil war. The Pavarotti–Dion duet remains one of the concert’s most widely circulated clips, garnering millions of views in later years through television replays and online platforms.

Watch: Luciano Pavarotti & Céline Dion – “I Hate You Then I Love You” (1998)