Werther's radiant first aria is an impassioned young man's invocation to everything in nature: the sighs of the woods, a trimmed garden hedge, the sun, the shade. There was little emotion or urgency in his singing. Bocelli, which he handled comfortably.īut neither his disability nor his inexperience account for Mr. And Mario Corradi, the director of this attractive production, has devised simple blockings and placements for Mr. If we can accept Luciano Pavarotti as a starving Bohemian poet, we can certainly accept a tall, trim, darkly handsome blind man as Werther. Bocelli's inhibition onstage was obviously due to his blindness, though no one expects sighted tenors to be compelling actors either. A young melancholic romantic, Werther brings about his self-destruction by falling obsessively in love with a young woman he cannot have, Charlotte, who honors a pledge made to her dying mother and marries a prosperous young diplomat. Even within the modest dimensions of his voice, he lacks a feeling for the impassioned lyricism that is a hallmark of this role, Massenet's operatic rendering of Goethe's character. Inadequate breath control often forces him to clip off notes prematurely at the end of phrases. Bocelli's voice is warm and pleasant, but he lacks the technique to support and project his sound. You could see people gathered in little support groups during the intermissions, searching for explanations. Even many of his fans in the house seemed shaken.
But I was surely not the only critic surprised by the extent of Mr. Bocelli's recordings and concerts, most critics and opera buffs could have guessed what the answer to the latter question would be. Bocelli's appearance was strictly musical: Would a latecomer to singing who typically performed pop ballads, Italian songs, sacred songs and arias through heavy-duty amplification for tens of thousands in arenas and stadiums be able to project without a microphone in a 2,700-seat opera house?īased on Mr. Bocelli's debut: Could a plucky blind man with scant experience in opera navigate the stage and portray the tragic hero of a touchstone French opera?īut the more pertinent question raised by Mr. The advance publicity had created a lot of buzz over the drama of Mr.
Any parent can relate to the love that is on display in this video.There were crestfallen faces throughout the audience at the Detroit Opera House on Friday night as Andrea Bocelli made his North American opera debut in the title role of Massenet's ''Werther'' with the Michigan Opera Theater.Īrdent fans of the sensationally successful 41-year-old Italian tenor, a phenomenon of the crossover recording market, had packed the house fully expecting to be thrilled and moved. It is clear in this video that the bond between Bocelli and Virginia is very deep and that they can strengthen that connection through music. Viewers also get to see the young star in the making dance and twirl around as she belts out some music solo. The video also features the young girl singing with her mother, too. Indeed, she does lean into her father lovingly as they sing together, and the interaction between the two certainly melted the hearts of many folks around the world. Many commenters on the video loved the interaction between the father and daughter.
While the younger Bocelli can't yet match her father's vocal technique or power, she sings her heart out with the help of her golden-topped karaoke microphone. In the video, posted in December of 2019, the little girl and her father sing, Fall on Me, the same song recorded by Bocelli and Matteo. At the age of seven, her duet with her father has been seen over one million times. A post shared by Andrea Bocelli 2012, Bocelli, and his second wife, Veronica Berti, welcomed Virginia into the world.