Roberto Alagna was very moved when his waxwork figure was unveiled on stage at the Grévin theatre on Tuesday December 9, 2008.
The audience was no less impressed; it included his parents, his daughter Ornella, his sister and manager Marinelle, his brother Frederico who is a painter and sculptor currently exhibiting at the Puteaux town hall, not forgetting many of his friends among which the sculptor Rachid Khimoune, composers Vladimir Cosma and Yvan Cassar, Annie Lemoine, Olivier Bellamy as well as Stephane Bern and Jacques Pessis, both members of the Grévin Academy.

Presented by the journalist Jean-Michel Dhuez, the evening came entirely under the combined spell of talent and friendship.
After a gracious speech by Béatrice de Reyniès, the Grévin's Managing Director, and thanks to a collection of pictures assembled by Anne Gubian for Universal and mounted by Pierre-Henri Gibert, to the accompaniment of Abballati's song from the latest album, "the Sicilian", the audience discovered Roberto Alagna as a child, with his family, growing up and with soaring talent performing in the fully booked opera houses all over the world.
Then Eve Ruggiéri, a member of the Grévin Academy, who had been asked to make the inauguration speech, gave a masterly and affectionate account of her first meeting with Roberto, of what Luciano Pavarotti said to her about the young tenor and picked out the highlights and triumphal moments of his career.

The event was all the more touching because Roberto's figure is displayed next to the figure of his mentor, Luciano Pavarotti, holding in his hand the lyrical score sheet of the family's production: "The Last Day of a Condemned Man", the libretto written by his brothers David and Frederico, based on Victor Hugo's novel. The scene is soundtracked with "Song of the Condemned Man", sung by Roberto. His figure is wearing a costume donated by the artist.

More information on Roberto Alagna at his official website: robertoalagna.artistes.universalmusic.fr