Beloved singer Andrea Bocelli will perform and once-in-a-lifetime Easter performance on Sunday. He will sing a medley of songs at the Duomo Cathedral in Milan, Italy, while most of the world is under quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic. He will perform alone, albeit with a piano player and small film crew in the building, as well. The event will be livestreamed on YouTube via the below video.
“On the day in which we celebrate the trust in a life that triumphs, I’m honored and happy to answer ‘Sì’to the invitation of the City and the Duomo of Milan,” he said of the performance in a statement. “I believe in the strength of praying together; I believe in the Christian Easter, a universal symbol of rebirth that everyone – whether they are believers or not – truly needs right now. Thanks to music, streamed live, bringing together millions of clasped hands everywhere in the world, we will hug this wounded Earth’s pulsing heart, this wonderful international forge that is reason for Italian pride. The generous, courageous, proactive Milan and the whole of Italy will be again, and very soon, a winning model, engine of a renaissance that we all hope for. It will be a joy to witness it, in the Duomo, during the Easter celebration which evokes the mystery of birth and rebirth.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
His setlist will be: Panis Angelicus (from “Messe Solennelle” Op. 12, FWV 61) by César Franck, Ave Maria, CG 89a (arr. from Johann Sebastian Bach, “Prelude” no. 1, BWV 846) by Charles-François Gounod, Sancta Maria (arr. from “Cavalleria Rusticana”, Intermezzo) byPietro Mascagni, and Domine Deus (from “Petite Messe Solennelle”) by Gioachino Antonio Rossini.
Bocelli himself also used the performance to raise awareness of his COVID-19 relief campaign. The Andrea Bocelli Foundation (ABF) is raising funds “to help hospitals purchase all the instrumentation and equipment necessary to protect their medical staff.” Donations can be made at this link.
As of this writing, 2.7 million people have tuned in for Bocelli’s performance. Some praise on Twitter included comments like, “Andrea Bocelli making us cry. Beautiful this Easter,” “If you are not watching Andrea Bocelli live, you are missing out,” “Easter Sunday with a small family gathering this year and now an amazing performance by Andrea Bocelli completes the day,” and “Watching @AndreaBocelli sing Amazing Grace and it’s heartbreakingly beautiful. What a gift he is giving the world today when we need it so much.”
