Andrea Bocelli to perform holiday-tinged concert Sunday
Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli has a special connection to Detroit. It was here, in 1999, where he made his North American opera debut on the stage of the Detroit Opera House in Massenet's "Werther."
Still, it's been a dozen years since the busy crossover artist's clarion voice has been heard in these parts.
Bocelli is making up for lost time on Sunday in a concert at Joe Louis Arena. He'll be accompanied by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Kohn. Soprano Maria Aleida, violinist Caroline Campbell and Broadway singer-actress Heather Headley will join him.
Bocelli took a break during his tour to chat with us.
Can you give a sneak preview of your Detroit concert? I'd imagine being so close to Christmas there will be some selections from your CD "My Christmas."
Yes, certainly there will be selections from "My Christmas," as well as songs from the albums "Passione," "Sogno," "Concerto" and "Incanto." We have tried to create a joyful program, including some operatic masterpieces as well as classics of pop music, without forgetting that we will be close to the Christmas season.
Will you be back at your home in Italy for Christmas? What are some of your holiday traditions?
I will spend Christmas with my family in my house in Miami. I have always lived this time as a period of joy and recollection. It is a feast I do not want to forget the true meaning of, and that is spiritual. In fact, for me the heart of Christmas is the Holy Mass, in which the whole Bocelli family takes part. As for Christmas traditions, on our table the Christmas panettone [an Italian sweet bread] is never missing.
You've sung duets with so many partners, from Celine Dion and Natalie Cole to Sarah Brightman and Cecilia Bartoli. Are there any singers with whom you'd like to sing but haven't yet?
I would not want to appear evasive, but really there are many colleagues with whom I would like to work, and not only the famous ones I have always admired, but also new emerging talents I sometimes find around the world. There are too many names to mention, with the risk of forgetting some.
In October your recording of Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" was released with soprano Ana Maria Martinez and Placido Domingo conducting. Did the fact that Domingo, who is also a singer, make that experience smoother?
Maestro Domingo was able to bring out the best from the cast because he himself is a mighty singer, who knows perfectly every need of ours. He conducted the score with a sensual power, with such a wealth of nuances, that he charmed everyone. I finished the recording sessions with my heart full of emotions and memories to cherish, with the sensation of having deepened this masterpiece, as I had never done before.
Of course, there's also Massenet's "Manon" on the same subject. Is that an opera you hope to record one day?
Why not? Massenet is a composer I love very much. I love the elegance of his writing, his wealth of inventiveness, his orchestra colors, and the climate of soft romanticism that he is able to spread. I recorded his "Werther" years ago. I have a great interest, in general, for the French operatic repertoire.
Charities and benefit concerts have always been important in your career, and you founded the Andrea Bocelli Foundation in 2011. What are you most proud of in what the Foundation has achieved so far?
I am proud and moved by the way the Foundation that bears my name has been able to catalyze the forces of so many volunteers: people young and not young, professionals coming not only from Italy but also from many other counties, who support the Board of Directors and the Advisory Board. The strength of the Foundation — and my greatest pride — is in the structure that I like to describe as a bustling hive, where the contribution of the individual strengthens and gives value to all the team leading it to achieve results that, otherwise, could have not been achieved.
Last spring, you received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards and sang your 2009 duet, "Vive Ya" with Laura Pausini. Is Latin music something you've always loved, or did that develop later?
I have always enjoyed it, since I was at university and I earned my living in the venues of the provinces playing the piano. I had to rise through the ranks, and that led me to deepen, sing and play many pages of this repertoire. I think that Latin music can reach people's heart in every corner of the world because of its warmth and its intrinsic beauty. Latin is a culture that has music in its blood and that lives the art of sounds as a need, like a fundamental ingredient of daily life.
You recorded "Turandot" with Zubin Mehta in Valencia last summer. When will that be released?
No doubt in the course of next year. Zubin Mehta probably is the greatest conductor still in business nowadays. ... "Turandot" is, I think, the last title in 20th-century opera capable of arousing popular enthusiasm. The music, admirably, conveys under the wing of a seductive and mysteriously fairy-like China, the languages of two centuries: the 19th century and its romantic pathos, and the new turmoil of the 20th century. Having been able to perform this brilliant score with Mehta on the podium is a great joy for me.
Andrea Bocelli
7:30 p.m. Sunday
Joe Louis Arena, Detroit
Tickets $55-$355
800-745-3000
olympiaentertainment.com