Russia's opera company for the blind – video report
mainAndrea Bocelli, eat your heart out. A report in English from Russian Television, with reporter participation.
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This is an excellent project and hopefully will be established permanently and lead to such companies in other countries. However, you seem to be unaware that Andrea Bocelli appears regularly on the opera stage in full-length operas. These performances took place in the USA, Italy, and Germany. He has performed the lead tenor role in “Macbeth,” “La Boheme,” “Werther,’ “L’Amico Fritz,” “Madama Butterfly,” “Tosca,” “Carmen,” and “Cavalleria Rusticana” (concert version), and will be performing the lead in “Romeo et Juliette” (Gounod) in February 2012. This is your loss, not his.
I’ve actually been lucky to see a few of these full-length operas with Bocelli. I remember hearing the couple in back of me talking about the performance of Madama Butterfly that we had just enjoyed; the husband said “WHAT? That guy is blind? No, dear, you must be mistaken”. Bocelli moved all over the set, interacting normally during the scenes, but had me on the edge of my seat during one part where he entered the stage at the top of the small hill, ran down the hill, turned sharply to his left to avoid a small pond on the set, walked over to the platform where the soprano was waiting, stepped up on it, and embraced her. I’ve seldom managed to avoid stubbing a toe when I get up in the middle of the night; Bocelli’s performance in this opera and the others I have attended was flawless in the context of his condition. I hope that he helps to break this barrier for others in opera; a great voice shouldn’t be silenced or limited because of a physical condition that can be dealt with.
We have a friend who is a superb actor. We have done Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice and other plays with him. In each and every one of these he stood out because of his immense talent, not because of the fact that he’s blind. We wish more theatre and music producers would hire disabled actors and find out just how able the disabled can be when spurred by their special drive to succeed in an uncaring society. Bravo to the Russians for this superb idea!
I have been a fan of Bocelli for many years and when you see him preform you forget that he is blind as that never enters into his his stage presence or vocabulary. He sings from the heart and this is felt by those who listen to him whether in person on stage or on a cd, in opera or popular song…you can never leave a preformance without becoming a fan. His talent is huge and the love he gives in each song or aria is always there and is felt and heard by those in the audiance.