Česky
Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli introduces guests to his concert at the O2 arena. Among others, the Czech soprano Zuzana Marková will also perform.
Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli celebrates 30 years on world stages this year. After a series of sold-out concerts, he returns to Prague’s O2 arena on Saturday, January 13, 2024, where he will perform as always with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Steven Mercurio. Romanian violinist Rusanda Panfili, Dutch pop star Emma Heesters will appear as guests, and the participation of excellent Czech soprano Zuzana Marková will certainly be a big surprise. The audience can also look forward to the talented Italian dancers Angelica Gismondo and Francesco Costa.
The repertoire will traditionally consist of classical opera arias, supplemented in the second part of the concert with beautiful romantic compositions from films, musicals and the Maestro’s latest albums. The concert has been hopelessly sold out for several months.
The famous artist has a very warm relationship with Prague. In a recent interview, he spoke about not only our capital, but the entire Czech Republic as follows: “I am very fond of not only Prague, but the entire Czech Republic. Anyone who loves serious music cannot help but love Prague. Prague is one of the European capitals in which I like to sing the most, because here I experience that warm feeling and satisfaction when I manage to establish direct contact with the kind-hearted and receptive audience here. It’s no coincidence that my latest album Believe is full of the talent of Prague artists…” In another interview conducted by Libor Bouček with him in Prague during the recording with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the artist talked about the importance of classical music and culture in general for mental and spiritual development. He sent this important message to his audience, especially young people: “Without culture, humanity would fall into ignorance, this leads to people becoming slaves to something or someone, this is very dangerous. … Study, learn, try to understand things, understand the world, look at it with an unbiased view, try to absorb as much as possible.”
Andrea Bocelli perfected his singing skills under the tutelage of his mentor Franco Corelli, and it brought him widespread popularity by winning the Sanremo Music Festival in 1994. At the same time, his dazzling career in the field of classical music took off under the baton of outstanding conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa or Zubin Mehta. The Tuscan tenor’s numerous recordings include Manon Lescaut under Plácid Domingo, Turandot and Aida with Zubin Mehta.
This record-breaking artist has, among other things, been proud of his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame since 2010, has been nominated six times for the Grammy Award and six times for the Latin Grammy Award. He performed not only for millions of enthusiastic listeners around the world, but also for four American presidents, three popes, the British royal family, a number of prime ministers, and also at the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games, at the World Expo in Shanghai in 2010, five years later at Expo in Milan accompanied by the orchestra of Teatro alla Scala and on September 30, 2021 at the opening ceremony of the Expo in Dubai, broadcast live worldwide.
He is the only artist to attend the prestigious National Prayer Breakfast twice (2013 and 2016) in the presence of the President of the United States Barack Obama and many heads of state from around the world, both as an artist and as the founder of the Andrea Bocelli Foundation.
In 2015, TIME magazine asked Bocelli for an editorial, and on December 11, 2017, the famous singer had the honor of opening the New York NASDAQ stock exchange and global stock market trading by “ringing the bell.” In the fall of 2017, the film “The Music of Silence” shot by director Michael Radford based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by Andrea Bocelli was premiered, which was warmly received by the public and critics and starred Antonio Banderas.
For the album Sì (2018), an intimate collection of songs that celebrates love, faith and family, Andrea Bocelli was nominated for a Grammy Award. Two years later, the artist released the breathtaking album Believe on the Sugar/Decca label, celebrating the power of music and its soothing, calming effect on the human soul. “The concept behind the title of the album Believe consists of three words,” explains Bocelli, “they are faith, hope and charity. To believe means to listen, to turn to the heavens within each of us, to strive for the most wonderful, even the only possible state of being, which is life in harmony with other human beings and with the world as such, a life experienced poetically (i.e. for the greater good) and spiritually. Music can then be our guide on this journey.”
On Easter, April 12, 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the Maestro performed in Milan’s abandoned Duomo. Entitled Music for Hope, the concert was conceived as a time of hope and prayer, and is considered one of the greatest live-streamed musical events of all time. At one point, 2.8 million viewers watched the event simultaneously, which is the current YouTube record for a live stream of a classical concert. In 24 hours, the video collected an incredible 28 million views.
On November 13, 2020, the album “Believe” was released, a spiritual autobiography that combines sacred and soulful songs. The new album contains famous songs (from “You’ll Never Walk Alone” to “Amazing Grace”) as well as original songs – composed by, among others, Bocelli himself and Ennio Morricone – which unite faith and transcendent transcendence.Cecilia Bartoli and Alison Krauss also lend their voices to the duets.
On December 12, 2020, the world applauded the “Believe in Christmas” concert, which was broadcast live from Parma’s Teatro Regio. At this spectacular event, the eight-year-old Virginia Bocelli made her debut under the direction of Franck Dragone, who sang Leonard Cohen’s moving song Hallelujah with her father.
May 2021 presented a new challenge for the artist, when Bocelli completed part of the 350 km long pilgrimage from the Roman Basilica of St. Peter (where he was blessed by Pope Francis) to his home town of Lajatico in Tuscany on horseback. This journey is the basis of the TV documentary “The Journey – Andrea Bocelli”, which focuses on the artist’s cultural and spiritual development.
On 11 June 2021, he was one of the stars of the UEFA Euro 2020 opening ceremony at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. His performance of the song Nessun Dorma was televised all over the world. On August 21, the Maestro, together with other musical icons such as Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon or Patti Smith and accompanied by the New York Philharmonic, opened the “NYC’s Homecoming Concert” event in Central Park in front of 60,000 spectators. On September 10, a new, remastered edition of the famous album “One Night in Central Park” was released for the 10th anniversary, complete with new songs.
In 2022, UMG released three new opera recordings (Lucia di Lammermoor, La Forza del Destino and Otello) in which the famous Tuscan tenor played the leading roles.
Andrea Bocelli was awarded the Italian Order of Merit (Grande Ufficiale Italian Order of Merit) and was conferred the title of Ambassador of the Italian Republic of San Marino. He received a bachelor’s degree in opera singing from the G. Puccini Conservatory of Music in La Spezia and a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Pisa. At the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 2015, Bocelli – artist, man and philanthropist – received the prestigious Crystal Award. In 2016, the University of Macerata awarded him an honorary degree in modern philology.
Despite all his successes, Bocelli remains a modest and kind person who, apart from his dazzling singing career, is very intensively involved in charity work. In 2011, he founded the Andrea Bocelli Foundation (ABF) with the aim of strengthening the wealth of relationships and the bond of trust that he was able to establish and continues to establish everywhere in the world, where he has become not only a musical but also a moral authority.