BocelliOnline

[Melodie]

After a TV stint, Andrea Bocelli is back onstage

By Richard Dyer, Boston Globe Staff
June 11, 2006

Andrea Bocelli was an American idol long before he appeared on "American Idol" in April.

The blind Italian singer's voice has been attracting listeners from all over the world for nearly a decade now. I still remember my first encounter with Bocelli: His plaintive tenor was coming in loud, clear, and full of amore over the sound system in a restaurant in which I was trying to interview some musicians in 1997. Bocelli's passions were interfering with their ability to concentrate, so they asked the waitress to turn him off. ``I can't do that," she said, aghast. ``He's why people come here." So much for the cook.

Bocelli has become a regular visitor to New England since then, and he's back Friday night for a concert at the Tweeter Center as part of an American tour. For the first time here, he will be accompanied by the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, which will be under the direction of the American composer/conductor Steven Mercurio , who has led most of Bocelli's concerts in recent years. The highly touted Puerto Rican soprano Ana Maria Martinez will appear with Bocelli in a program of operatic music and highlights from his pop albums.

During his two-night ``American Idol" stint, Bocelli participated in a brief phone interview -- or rather his interpreter did, because the phone system on the ``Idol" set did not permit the tenor, who was answering questions in Italian, to come on the line at the same time.

Bocelli and David Foster, the producer of his best-selling "Amore" album, had coached each of the show's six finalists. The sessions were taped, and excerpts were telecast on the air.

On the show, Bocelli had nothing but compliments for each of the contestants; it was clear that he thought Paris Bennett had the best voice, which he called "incredible," "spectacular," and "extraordinary." Foster presciently observed that Taylor Hicks , who later won, demonstrated the most charisma.

The on-air atmosphere was fulsome; Foster called Bocelli "one of the greatest singers who has ever walked the face of this planet," and in a taped segment Celine Dion remarked, "If God had a singing voice, He would sound like Andrea Bocelli."

On camera, Bocelli was more modest. People were throwing the word "great" around, and he said, "You can be great only if it is your destiny. When you sing and people want that you sing, then you can hope to be great."

Asked about the force of destiny in his own life, Bocelli said over the phone, "I've always known that I was born to sing, ever since I was a child. No, I didn't have an exceptional voice as a child; it was a white, colorless voice, but a very flexible, elastic voice. Destiny has a lot to do with it, but so do you. You have to persevere, you have to insist."

On the air, Bocelli showed the contestants how he vocalizes before he starts to sing, moving his voice through a series of arpeggios across an impressively wide range, "but never forcing the sound," he emphasized.

There was an amusing moment when Foster said that Bocelli had recorded one of the tracks of "Amore" lying down in order to secure better diaphragmatic support. To illustrate, Bocelli lay down on the floor before a startled Chris Daughtry to sing the final soaring phrase of "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot." Daughtry tried it himself, to less spectacular effect, in "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?"

Over the phone Bocelli acknowledged that he didn't make a habit of singing on the floor. "This actually happened at my house, and it was halfway towards a joke," he said. "I was a little tired."

Few of the finalists took Bocelli's advice, and most of them forced their voices, consequently singing off pitch. But Bocelli spoke kindly of them over the phone. "Yes, it's true, but it can happen to anybody, and in a stressful situation such as this one, it is to be expected. All the contestants arrived very well prepared. They do their homework and work hard. It really wasn't embarrassing for me to tell them how good they were."

Plans for Bocelli's tour were not advanced at the time of the interview, but according to the Boston Pops, Bocelli and Martinez will be joined on Friday night by baritone Louis Ledesma and pop singer Kelly Levesque. At some of Bocelli's California concerts, one of his guests is "Idol" runner-up Katharine McPhee .

Bocelli did speak briefly about some of his future classical music plans, which include performances of Rossini's "Petite Messe Solenelle" at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, a work he also wants to record. His next confirmed operatic recording will be the title role in Giordano's "Andrea Chenier." He will sing the rousing "Improvviso" from that opera at the Tweeter Center.

The tenor has been through a divorce heavily publicized in Italy but remains close to his two sons, 11 and 8. To a question about whether they sing, Bocelli laughed and said, "No, they don't sing; they yell. And of course I yell back at them!"

© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.

[Sarah]

Thanks Melodie, Mr. Dyer has usually always been favorable in his comments about OFT. I'll expect another great review after the 16th.
See ya' in NYC.!!
Sarah

[Don]

I've been a fan of Andrea since I first heard him with Sara Brightman. I'm also a fan of Katharine McPhee from American Idol. I'm just a little surprised that the author chose not to mention the contestant that Andrea decided to ask to tour with him. He and Foster were very impressed with her - Foster saying she has a great, great future.

[Melodie]

Hi Don - Richard Dyer is the classical music critic for the Boston Globe - and a fan of Andrea. I think for those two reasons - among others - he chose to focus on Andrea; an American Idol contestant singing a couple of songs wouldn't necessarily be a fact that he'd choose to highlight...anything that Katharine does in the future won't be appearing in Mr. Dyer's column. Also, remember that Katharine won't be appearing at the Boston concert.

[Don]

Thanks, Melodie. I appreciate your clarifying this for me, a newbee. I meant no offence.

[Melodie]

I know.