BocelliOnline

[Melodie]

Bocelli delights Fresno again
Renowned tenor returns for the holiday-themed 'A Royal Christmas.'
By Donald Munro / The Fresno Bee

(Updated Monday, December 12, 2005, 5:12 AM)

It's official: Fresno and Andrea Bocelli are best friends. Well, if not best, he certainly does keep in touch.

Just two years after Bocelli helped inaugurate the Save Mart Center with a glittering, black-tie concert, the world-renowned tenor returned Sunday night for the holiday-themed "A Royal Christmas." In his only West Coast performance, Bocelli picked Fresno as one of just eight stops on his North American tour.

Take that, San Francisco and L.A.

Featuring an enormous cast of 175 musicians and dancers, including the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Westminster Choir, London's Royal Ballet and the Kiev Ballet of the National Opera of Ukraine, the evening essentially was the world's most elaborate and well-traveled Christmas pageant. In the time-honored pageant tradition of a little bit of this, a little bit of that — minus a second-grade class mumbling through "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" — the show offered a smorgasbord of holiday-themed songs and ballet excerpts that ranged from the traditionally secular ("I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas") to the sacred (no less than three soaring versions of the crowd-pleasing "Ave Maria").

Bocelli, dressed in a classic tuxedo with white bow-tie, graciously shared the program with the other musicians, including Fresno Grand Opera star Robin Follman, who in a plum career break got the chance in Phoenix and Fresno to sing the role performed by the Metropolitan Opera's Denyce Graves on the tour's East Coast play dates. (Follman, resplendent in a red and white dress that resembled a mountain of petticoats, even got the plum assignment of singing "O Holy Night," a selection that most opera stars reserve for themselves.)

But when it came time for Bocelli to sing, it was clear that the audience had come for his voice. Bocelli isn't an effusive presence on stage; he avoids the bright audience banter that you might expect, preferring to launch immediately into his songs.

Led onstage by an elegantly dressed woman wearing tall white boots, he bowed his head slightly in acknowledgment of the thunderous applause, then unleashed his honey-smooth tones on the crowd. With such selections as "Adeste Fideles" and songs from his "Sacred Arias" album, his voice filled the Save Mart Center — with the help of a sound system, of course — in a way that made you think that people just might hear it on Ashlan Avenue.

The rest of the program was traditionally festive, including some nice selections from "The Nutcracker" that were a little sexier than your average school production, some generally upbeat arrangements of traditional carols by the well-balanced (if a little bored-looking) choir and several sterling solos by Follman.

But it was Bocelli, backed by a glittering wreath and six lighted Christmas trees, who summoned much of the evening's holiday spirit. When he launched into "Nessun dorma" as an encore, it made you think that there are some things you'll remember the rest of your life, and listening to Bocelli singing this aria live from "Turandot" is one of them.

Yet one of Bocelli's great gifts is that he isn't ponderous even as he belts it out with a steamrollerlike sound that makes most other voices sound like wispy reeds. He sang with reverence and yet a carefree, lighthearted demeanor that suggested a caroler who had just rung your doorbell and decided to offer a tune or two.
And isn't that what friends are for?

The reporter can be reached at [email protected]

http://www.fresnobee.com/lifestyle/music/story/11582605p-12315387c.html

[Kenzu]

It must have been an experience wow....next friday we will have our excitement having Andrea here in Helsinki. It will be a regular concert, hopefully he sings songs from his Sacred Aria album anyway????




ps. Regards to M
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"Ex nihilo nihil fit"

[Melodie]

[admgroov]

Thanks, Melodie.....Guess mine didn't come through as you have to "join" the Fresno Bee. However, there was a small picture of Andrea singing with a huge wreath in back of him. We loved the show and it was perfect for the Christmas Season. Many children were also in the audience. On our way out we saw this lady in a wheelchair, and were surprised to see Em. Remember her? She had come all the way from Monterey/Carmel in a taxi!!!! The "gentleman" taxi driver was there waiting to take her home - only a three hour drive. What courage Em has - and what an incredible love she has for Andrea Bocelli. I know other fans were in the audience as we could hear them. Missed seeing Mary-Ann Myers as our schedules didn't coincide and we stayed at the same hotel. What a lovely beginning to Christmas. Dorris

[Em]

[Kenzu]

So M your elevation has settled a little bit. Does your feet touch the ground yet Andreas Helsinki concert was faboulos my wife who has been with me in both of the concerts I´ve attended even shed a tear when he sang torna surriento, she adores neapolitan songs.
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"Ex nihilo nihil fit"