‘Music For Hope’: Andrea Bocelli with a ‘mesmerizing’ performance live from the deserted Duomo di Milano on Easter Sunday
The famous opera singer Andrea Bocelli streamed live a brilliant Easter Sunday concert to send ‘love, healing and hope’ to Italy while the country’s struggling with the coronavirus outbreak.
‘Music for Hope’, the 61-year-old music icon’s spectacle, was streamed live from the deserted Duomo di Milano, as reported by Mail Online. So far, the video has nearly 26 million views and almost 700,000 likes.
On April 12, Bocelli was granted exclusive access to the Milan cathedral to perform his ‘moving, mesmerizing and magnificent’ solo concert. The cathedral has been temporarily closed due to coronavirus pandemic, but Archpriest Monsignor Gianantonio Borgonovo and Mayor Giuseppe Sala opened its doors for the opera singer and the organist Emanuele Vianelli.
The outstanding event was hosted by Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo, the 600-year-old organization which supervises the temple. There, accompanied by Duomo di Milano’s organist, Andrea Bocelli beautifully performed ‘Ave Maria’ and ‘Sancta Maria’.
Viewers all around the globe were stunned by this hope-lifting performance in such difficult times and were quick to fill social media with their reactions.
I can't help crying at the heartbreaking beauty of Andrea Bocelli alone in the great duomo, only empty seats in front of him. This moment in history is magnificent and utterly sad. Siamo con te, Italia.
— Rick Reilly (@ReillyRick) April 12, 2020
This moment, these images will live with us forever.
Thank you, Andrea Bocelli and everyone who made this happen. #AndreaBocelli
— Chris Ihidero (@Chrisihidero) April 12, 2020
Andrea Bocelli singing alone inside Milan's empty Duomo is heartbreaking but so powerful and uplifting. Grazie #MUSICFORHOPE pic.twitter.com/C57BcfwX5F
— Sono_Victoria (@sono_victoria) April 12, 2020
The solemn-looking tenor was performing without an audience due to Italy’s nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. However, the footage of his powerful performance was streamed live on Bocelli’s YouTube channel and should be released digitally on audio streaming services within hours.
Talking ahead of his performance, Bocelli shared:
“On the day on which we celebrate the trust in a life that triumphs, I’m honoured and happy to answer “Sì” to the invitation of the City and the Duomo of Milan. 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.”
The Italian opera icon believes Milan and the whole country will soon thrive again. He continues:
“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.”
Milan’s mayor, Giuseppe Sala, shares he was happy that Andrea Bocelli accepted their invitation.
He notes that this year’s Easter will be very different for all of us.
Sala continues:
“The joyous serenity that usually comes with this day, has been greatly troubled by the pandemic we are experiencing. I am sure that the extraordinary voice of Bocelli will be the embrace we are missing these days, a strong, special hug, capable of warming the heart of Milan, Italy and the world.”
Monsignor Gianantonio Borgonovo, the archpriest of Duomo di Milano added:
“‘Hallelujah’ is an invitation that we placed in the ark forty days ago and that the flood, which has overwhelmed us all, almost made us forget the joy of expressing it on the day of Easter. The voice and word of Andrea Bocelli reminds us that the reason for our hope does not come from us but it is a gift that comes from God.This is what it means to promote, from our Duomo – the home of the people of Milan – and through the voice of Bocelli, the confidence that the Spirit of the Risen Crucifix will help us shape the days granted to us in the Kingdom of the One who wanted a new humanity, united and fraternal.”
Along with the magnificent concert, Andrea Bocelli’s foundation is also currently fundraising on GoFundMe to raise money for hospitals to protect their medical staff with equipment during the COVID-19 emergency.
Since the beginning of the outbreak, Italy has more than 150,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 20,000 deaths. Despite these horrifying numbers, Italians hope they have passed the peak as only 431 new deaths were reported by the civil protection service on Sunday – the lowest since March 19.
