Tenor Bocelli hits the right note in Kilkenny

KILKENNY’S Nowlan Park has traditionally been a hotbed for pulsating, breathtaking and captivating performances but Andrea Bocelli’s awesome live show against the backdrop of a clear blue sky last night was an experience to remember.

Scores flickered in the winds and the orchestra were illuminated by the dipping summer sun as the live performance began.

The towering tenor smiled as he acknowledged the rousing reception from the near capacity audience before launching into moving numbers from Ponchielli and Bizet as well as Verdi, one of his favourite composers.

Clonmel-based hospital worker Anne-Marie O’Dwyer was bitterly disappointed when Bocelli’s concert three weeks ago was rescheduled.

“I play a lot of Bocelli when I am presenting on the hospital radio show. This concert is remarkable,” she said.

Corkman Gerard Goggin, who now lives in Waterford was full of hope.

“We were at the original Collins’s Barracks concert and it was spectacular.” Tonight is as good,” he said.

Bocelli’s incredibly communicative voice has made him a phenomenon on the modern musical landscape. And how his captive, Kilkenny audience lapped up every note.

Backing him were a bounty of prestigious and talented musicians which joined him on stage at varying points and numbered 150 in all. Among them were members of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra and band conducted by Maestro Marcella Rota.

Members of the highly-acclaimed Prague Chamber choir performed some classical opera arias. Soprano Doriana Milazzo and Baritone Gianfranco Montresor collaborated with Bocelli to perform mostly famous tenor arias.

A definite highlight was Italy’s favourite pop singer, Mezzo Soprano Rosalia Miserri, who teamed up with Bocelli to perform some tracks from his latest album “Amore.”