ANDREA BOCELLI to release new album 'Opera' on 5th November

Andrea Bocelli

Opera

Released November 5

Andrea Bocelli, releases Opera, an album of performances from throughout his career.

Often credited with bringing classical to the masses, Bocelli has always performed and released pop and core classical material, often combining both in two halves of his concerts.

This collection features his favourite arias, returning to his first love with some of the works that have inspired his career.

Bocelli has performed live in operas - Puccini’s La Bohème, Verdi’s Macbeth and Massenet’s Werther - as well as recording 8 pop albums and 14 classical to date.

Resolutely traditional, his 1999 Sacred Arias album has sold over 5 million copies, making it the best selling classical recording of all time.

Andrea is the world's biggest selling classical artist - 80 million records sold and counting. His pop career may have drawn millions in, but Bocelli has always enthusiastically shared his classical calling.

"The main objective of this type of album is to draw people closer to the opera," he explains, "in particular, to the whole opera. So, I chose the tracks that are the most engaging the first time you listen to them. I hope I have made the right choice and it encourages people to discover more.

"I simply enjoy sharing something so beautiful with as many people as possible."

A scholar of opera, Bocelli's personal favourites abound, including composers Puccini and Verdi, both well represented here, as is his appreciation of French opera, with Massenet and Bizet.

Operas featured include La Boheme, Tosca, La traviata, Cavelleria Rusticana. The album ends with the celebrated Nessun Dorma! from Turandot, which has become as much a signature for Bocelli as it was for his mentor Luciano Pavarotti before him.

And the album starts where it all began for Bocelli.

"My first memory of opera is hearing the voice of Mario Lanza," he reminisces, "He used to sing La donna è mobile, from Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi. What can I say? It was love at first sight, or should I say, at first listen."

From beginning to end, this is Bocelli's Opera.

Track list:

1. La donna e mobile (Rigoletto) [Giuseppe Verdi]

2. Vesti la giubba (I Pagliacci) [Ruggero Leoncavallo]

3. Amor ti vieta (Fedora) [Umberto Giordano]

4. Ingemisco (Requiem) [Giuseppe Verdi]

5. Addio fiorita asil (Madama Butterfly) [Giacomo Puccini]

6. Celeste Aida (Aida) [Giuseppe Verdi]

7. Brindisi (Viva il vino)(Cavallerria Rusticana) [Pietro Mascagni]

8. Mama, quell vino e generoso (Cavalleria Rusticana) [Pietro Mascagni]

9. Au fond du temple saint (The Pearl Fishers) [Georges Bizet]

10. Una Furtiva Lagrima (L’Elisir D’Amore) [Gaetano Donizetti]