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Andrea Bocelli @ Frank Erwin Center Review
(Conductor Eugene Kohn, left, and Andrea Bocelli take a bow during Bocelli’s concert at the Frank Erwin Center on Friday, February 10, 2012. Kelly West AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
From: The Statesman
By Pam LeBlanc | Monday, February 13, 2012, 02:20 PM
Andrea Bocelli romanced a love-struck crowd Friday at the Frank Erwin Center, giving couples everything but the long-stem roses in his pre-Valentine’s Day concert.
Talk about timing. How did Austin get so lucky to land the famous Italian tenor, who lost his sight at age 12, on one of the biggest date nights of the year?
Bocelli, making his Austin debut, wasted no time with chitchat. He jumped into his “Love Italian Style” show with a string of soaring arias, as clips from opera performances played on a big screen behind him.
It was exactly what the audience, some of whom had pulled out the furs for the special occasion, had paid to hear.
They swayed and gazed happily at the stage, especially when Bocelli dove into “La donna e’ mobile” from Verdi’s Rigoletto and “Brindisi” from his La Traviata.
Couples cuddled; fans swooned. More than a few wiped tears from their eyes. Music really can make you cry.
Just watching Bocelli, who had congenital glaucoma as a child then went completely blind after an accident playing soccer, is fascinating. He stood perfectly still as he sang, smiling serenely as if he knew he had a hand in winning over a heart or two that night.
Eugene Kohn conducted the 71-piece orchestra and a choir of about 60. Soprano Eglise Gutiérrez and special guest Heather Headley sang also, taking over for a solo or two and sharing the stage with Bocelli for duets.
Bocelli has said that music is love, and that came across in his song choice, which included numbers from Romeo and Juliet, Handel’s “Halleluja Chorus” from The Messiah, “Ave Maria,” and a few pop songs, too.
If the audience wanted songs they knew by heart, they got them with Bocelli’s rich rendition of “Amazing Grace,” (which added a whole new meaning to the line “was blind and now can see”) and a version of “New York, New York” sung as photos of Bocelli in the City That Never Sleeps scrolled in the background. He even played the flute for one song.
He was best, though, when singing solo, in his native Italian. It wasn’t until the end of the concert that Bocelli finally said a few words, thanking Kohn and his fellow performers before dedicating one final song — “I Can’t Help Falling in Love” — to all the people in love.
Based on the audience’s response, that was most of the crowd.
There’s just one problem for anybody who surprised their date with tickets to the show. How are they going to top that next Valentine’s Day?
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New Tortilla Factory Album "Cookin" on CdBaby
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