Andrea Bocelli Marks Romanza at Thirty, From Verdi to Nessun Dorma

Two Hollywood Bowl shows on the Romanza 30th Anniversary World Tour, with Bocelli at the piano for the title song and Puccini to close.

Andrea Bocelli opened his September 16 show at the Hollywood Bowl with Verdi's "Di quella pira," the tenor's cabaletta from Il trovatore, and closed it with Puccini's "Nessun dorma." Between the two sat most of a career: opera, Italian pop, and the songs that made Romanza, his 1997 breakthrough album.

The two shows, on Tuesday, September 15 and Wednesday, September 16, were stops on the Romanza 30th Anniversary World Tour, whose fall North American leg ran from September 8 in Seattle to September 21 in Denver. Live Nation and Hewitt Silva presented both dates.

On September 16 the first half leaned on opera. "La donna è mobile" followed the opening Verdi, and soprano Larisa Martínez and baritone Edward Parks carried much of the repertoire beside him. Martínez sang Delibes's "Les filles de Cadix" and joined Bocelli for the Puccini duet "Bimba dagli occhi pieni di malia" and the Brindisi from La traviata. Parks took Rossini's "Largo al factotum," then sang the pearl fishers' duet from Bizet with Bocelli. Orff's "O Fortuna" and "Non m'inganno, ella scende," sung by all three, rounded out the set.

The second half turned toward the songs. Bocelli sang Lucio Dalla's "Caruso," then sat at the piano for "Romanza" itself, the title song of the album the tour celebrates, before "Il mare calmo della sera." An instrumental "Tango Jalousie" and a West Side Story medley with dancers gave the stage to the orchestra.

Pia Toscano sang Eric Carmen's "All by Myself" on her own, then joined Bocelli for "Vivo per lei" and "Canto della terra." "Vivere" and "Con te partirò" led into the closing "Nessun dorma," the aria most associated with him.