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View all search resultsAndrea Bocelli marks 30 years of ‘Romanza’ with Indonesia shows
A law graduate who once sang in piano bars, Bocelli went on to become one of the world’s best-known voices in both classical and popular music.
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Crossover classic: Andrea Bocelli poses for the cover of ‘Romanza’ (1996), the compilation album that launched his global career, which the Italian tenor is marking with a 30th anniversary world tour that includes two Indonesian stops: on Oct. 31 at Borobudur Temple and on Nov. 1 in Jakarta. (Instagram/Andrea Bocelli/-)
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ilver strands may have replaced the dark locks of Andrea Bocelli’s youth, but three decades after Romanza made the Italian tenor a global star, his voice continues to bridge classical and popular music as well as their audiences.
Born in Tuscany on Sept. 22, 1958, Bocelli began studying piano when he was 6 and later learned to play the flute and saxophone. His musical path took a decisive turn in the early 1990s, when Italian rock star Zucchero auditioned him for the operatic parts in his song “Miserere”, originally meant for Luciano Pavarotti. The legendary tenor heard Bocelli’s demo and suggested he sing on the recording instead, which became a hit across Europe.
In 1994, Bocelli won the newcomers’ section of the Sanremo Music Festival with “Il mare calmo della sera”, which became the title track on his debut album that year. He returned to the festival the following year with “Con te partiro”, a song that would become one of the defining works of his career.
A year later, Bocelli released Romanza, a compilation drawing on his first two albums. It included several tracks that would become synonymous with his name, such as “Con te partiro”, “Vivere” and “Per amore”, and its 1997 international release propelled him to global stardom.
“My hair is now completely white, whereas it was black when Romanza first became popular,” Bocelli said with a laugh, speaking through an interpreter at a virtual press conference on Sept. 12.
“But I would like to think that the color reflects wisdom and maturity,” he added.
Romanza also helped take Bocelli beyond traditional opera audiences. “Time to Say Goodbye (Con te partiro)”, his bilingual duet with British soprano Sarah Brightman, became an international hit and is one of his best-known songs to date.
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