Andrea
Bocelli
Clear, precise intontion, the almost fanatical search
for perfecton and exquiste taste together give Bocelli
the extremely rare ability to adopt an instrumentalist's
rather than a singer's approach to a score. All this is
combined with highly personal and persuasive vocal
colour, and perfect diction, tinged with subtle,
barely-concealed melancholy that goes straight to the
hearts of the listeners and is the reason for his
spectacular success. It is the famous «something» that
makes an artist unique. After studying, Bocelli attended
a masterclass in Torino. The Pisa-born tenor made his
stage debut in Verdi's Machbet in 1994, with performnces
in Pisa, Mantova, Lucca and Livorno. This decisive debut
under the bunner of Verdi was followed by the CD Viaggio
italiano, released through Sugar in 1995. The first
wholly operatic concerts of international concerts of
international importance werw at Calgary and at the
Puccini Festival at Torre del Lago in summer 1997.
In 1998, he made a second stage debut, this time in
Calgary, in the leading role of Rodolfo in Puccini's La
Boheme. The opera, which he tackled with extraordinary
commitment, was an even more important stage on
Bocelli's gifts that he publicly praised the Tuscan
tenor's musicality, preparation and taste. The same year
saw the release of the album Aria, one of the biggest
classical successes of all time, leaping immeadiately to
the top of the charts. His debut at the Arena di Verona
came in 1999, when he made a guest appearance in Lahar's
Merry Widow. Bocelli's top D-flat in Tu che m'hai preso
il cuor and the Brindisi from La Traviata, won him a
standing ovation from 18.000 spectators. In October of
the same year, he made his US debut in Massenet's
Werther in Detroit. Also in 1999 came the CD Sacred
Arias, conducted by Myung-Whun Chung, in which Bocelli
ranges from Bach/Gound to Mozart and from Schubert to
Rossini. Alternating on the podium for his concerts are
superstars like Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa, Valery
Gergiev and again Zubin Mehta.
Bocelli's
close colaboration with Myung-Whun Chung culminated with
release of the Sacred Arias CD and major events
broadcast worldwide. There were more challenges to faced
with recordings of the Verdi album, conducted by Zubin
Mehta, made to mark the Verdi centenary, and the
complete version of La Boheme, January 2001 saw
Bocelli's first appearance on stage at Verpona's Teatro
Filarmonico. In summer 2002, he made his debut at
Lieutenant Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly at Torre del
Lago. In the autumn of 2003, his classical recording
career continued when he joined forces with maestro
Lorin Maazel to release Sentimento, an album of songs
exploring the early twentieth century musical tradition
of songs for voice and violin, once again released
through Sugar.
A huge success, Andrea was warded two highly coveted UK
Brit Awards for the Album of the Year and the Biggest
Selling Classical Album of the Year at the 2003 Awards
Ceremony. Andrea has since released his second complete
opera recording, Tosca with Zubin Mehta, in May 2003 and
Il Trovatore, which has been released at the end of May
2004 internationally. At the beginning of this year he
performed Werther at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna and
a studio recording of this opera hs just been completed.
The career of the tenor from Pisa can certainly be
described as exstraordinary. Obviously, the great
novelty Andrea Bocelli represents has given rise to
opposing factions. Beyond the virtues and defects that
can be found in his, and every other artist's vocal
style, one thing is certain. For the first time, at a
moment of deep crises, we are seeing theatres packed
like rock stadiums, television companies eager to
broadcast events and young people turning up at the
opera. Andrea Bocelli is myth and so at the same time a
natural advertisement for a genre that the majorityof
youngsters think is antiquated and obsolete and belonges
in a museum. Andrea Bocelli, with his unmistakable
timbre and enchanting diction, is prolonging the life
and restoring the dignity of a genre that seemed to
belong only to the past.
Bocelli introduce himself even to Croatian audience as
well as to many tourists which had an opportunity to
listen to him in Pula's amphitheatre last year. |
