Serious or semi-serious (if one listens to the snobs) music lovers went home happy last night after TD Coliseum staged its second blockbuster performance in two weeks with Andrea Bocelli’s only Canadian stop in his current tour of North America. The world-acclaimed tenor did not disappoint his adoring fans as he went through a repertoire that included selections from “Madame Butterfly” and “La Traviata,” “Di quella pira” from “Trovatore,” a duet with soprano Cristina Pasaroiu on “Time To Say Goodbye”, and Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” as well as his iconic version of “Ave Maria.”
Orchestral accompaniment was supplied by the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra who, in the words of Spectator music critic Scott Radley (Scott Radley? who knew?) “surely introduced itself to a whole lot of people and created a number of new fans who didn’t realize how good it was. Unless you’ve gone out of your way to hear the HPO, you may not have been exposed to its work. But on “O Fortuna” in particular, it got to show off for a few minutes — along with the University of Toronto’s MacMillan Singers — during which it was absolutely tremendous. As it was throughout the evening.” The HPO members performed with only two rehearsals—Monday and earlier yesterday. Individual members were sent scores earlier that allowed them to rehearse alone.
