There wasn't a dry eye in our house last night as Andrea Bocelli performed his Music For Hope concert in Milan's Duomo.
Accompanied only by the cathedral's organist, Emanuele Vianelli, the tenor was in the form of his life as he ran through the likes of 'Ava Maria' and 'Amazing Grace'. Even if you're not of the religious persuasion, the emotional intensity was at times breathtaking. The star's appearance was at the behest of the Mayor and City of Milan, which lies at the heart of one of Italy's worst Corona-19 affected areas, Lombardy.
Besides Emanuele Vianelli, the only other people inside the famous cathedral were technical staff involved in the filming and live YouTube-ing of the performance.
Through his own Andrea Bocelli Foundation, he has started a fundraiser to help hospitals purchase all the instruments and equipment necessary to protect their medical staff.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/abfxcovid19
“I will cherish the emotion of this unprecedented and profound experience, of this Holy Easter which this emergency has made painful, but at the same time even more fruitful, one that will stay among my dearest memories of all time," Bocelli says. "That feeling of being at the same time alone – as we all are in the presence of the Most High – yet of expressing the voice of the prayer of millions of voices, has deeply impressed and moved me. Love is a gift. Making it flow is the primary purpose of life itself. And I find myself once again indebted to life. My gratitude goes to all those who made this possible, the City of Milan and the Duomo, and to all those who accepted the invitation and joined in a planetary embrace, gathering that blessing from Heaven that gives us courage, trust, optimism, in the certainty of our faith.”
If you missed or just want to relieve the experience, here's his performance in full: