Report: Trump wants Andrea Bocelli

Report: Trump wants Andrea Bocelli

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norman lebrecht

December 13, 2016

The president-elect is struggling to find musicians who will agree to play at his inauguration.

Donald J Trump has shown no great interest in the arts, and many in the arts recoiled from the abrasive tone of his election campaign.

It is now reported, in the New York Daily News’s Page 6, that the president elect met on Friday with the Italian crooner Andrea Bocelli, offering him up to a million bucks to sing on inauguration day.

A source exclusively told Page Six, “Trump has a long-standing relationship with Bocelli, and wants to ask him in person to perform. The plan is to have acts at the inauguration that are meaningful for Trump, and he’s a huge fan of Bocelli.”

Any repertoire suggestions?

Picture from a 2010 event at Trump’s Florida estate

Comments

  • Judy says:

    What about hiring American talent? What a hypocrite.

    • David says:

      Actually it is very symbolic. Bocelli is blind, just like all the Trump voters.

      • Cubs Fan says:

        I was a Trump voter and am not blind. I also cannot stand the type of music-making Bocelli represents. Might as well have him backed up by Andre Rieu. But – there are a lot of people who love Bocelli and respond to his music and showman that he is, Trump knows it.
        Bocelli owns a home in North Miami Beach – not far from the Donald.
        For those of you who keep mentioning that he lost the popular vote: you’re right. But US presidential elections are not based on the popular vote. Trump and Clinton knew it and they ran their campaigns accordingly. He won, she didn’t. Get over it.
        Is Trump a supporter of the arts? Nope. Neither was Obama, either Bush, or for that matter saxophone playing Bill Clinton. The last president who was, was Richard Nixon who had the Philadelphia Orchestra play at his inauguration. Classy.

      • Stereo says:

        Good comment. They deserve each other.

    • V.Lind says:

      American talent has been turning him down left, right and centre.

      http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-38298215

    • Mike Reuter says:

      Too bad you can’t deal with the fact that Hillary was a flawed candidate, sick, lies and has a drinking problem.
      Remember she landed in Bosnia under “sniper fire”? Remember an awful video caused the Benghazi attack?
      Remember she released all her work related e-mails?

      • norman lebrecht says:

        What is your evidence of a drink problem?

        • Holly Golightly says:

          Absolutely hilarious question!! So, the other ‘sins’ aren’t worth mentioning aye???

          Typical of the Left when caught in the cross hairs: “ooooh, look over there”!!!

          • Ellon Carpenter says:

            “Drinking problem?” I’ve heard the other slams but not that one. It isn’t deflecting from the misinformation about HIllary being a “flawed candidate, sick, lies”; it’s a legitimate question regarding a statement made. It’s false, of course, as is the notion that she is sick (a slight case of pneumonia is now cleared up) or that she is a chronic liar. Evidence proves otherwise in both situations. As to being a “flawed candidate,” that is debatable. No one is perfect, not even Bernie.

          • Sarah says:

            He’s asking a followup question to the post above. Maybe he already knows the lies trotted out for the first two “facts”. As for “look over there”, has Kellyanne Conway given a straight answer even ONCE? And she’s no “lefty”.

          • Patrick says:

            Holly… don’t fool yourself.

          • Bruce says:

            Actually I read NL’s response as a winking acknowledgement of the other ‘sins,’ along the lines of:

            Politician #1: You’re a gin-guzzling, wife-beating, choirboy-buggering, bribe-taking murderer!
            Politician #2: You do me a grievous wrong, sir! I do not beat my wife!

      • Patrick says:

        Mike… you’re insane.

      • norman lebrecht says:

        Since you have not provided evidence, we shall assume this is a defamatory lie.

  • Gareth says:

    I suppose they’ll veto ‘Your tiny hand is frozen’…

  • Pedro says:

    Im fernen Land

  • erich says:

    That just about sums up the situation: a fake ‘tenor’ for a fake President. In the land of the….I won’t go on….Ugh!!!!

    • Petros Linardos says:

      In the land where the president elect lost the popular vote by 2,7 million votes, or 1.9%.

      • Holly Golightly says:

        …in the land where the entertainment industry has not made one satirical joke about the lame and ineffective President in 8 years but has found that 8 years’ worth in just a few months of the primaries. They choose their victims very carefully and it’s certainly not an ‘equal opportunity’ mindset.

        Hypocrisy on steroids.

    • Peter says:

      … the land of the ignorant.

  • mario lutz says:

    “Von der Schönheit” (“Beauty”)
    4th song from Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (“The Song of the Earth”)
    ♪♫Junge Mädchen pflücken Blumen,♪♫♪ (Young girls picking flowers,)… naked women, of course..

  • Pianofortissimo says:

    Great opera singers like Kaufmann or Netrebko would probably not accept the invitation to avoid boycotts later. Moreover, Andrea Bocelli has the “popular vote.”

    • Ungeheuer says:

      Well, Kaufmann has been indisposed for months and Netrebko, well, that would be a double conflict of interest, wouldn’t it? OTOH, he’d surely welcome her bc of her support of Putin and his gang. BUT she is no longer a 10 and has been gaining weight which would represent a problem. In other words, she is no longer “grabbable”.

  • Wai Kit Leung says:

    Perhaps those who have never seen Mr. Trump would have a different opinion on him?

  • Ungeheuer says:

    Bocelli would be ideal. Fraud to fraud.

  • Erich says:

    Presumably he would sing ‘Donald non vidi mai’….

  • Robert Manno says:

    Putin will give the Orange-Haired Toxic Bully his pick of the Russian “Artists” who have signed the Putin Manifesto (which supports the invasion of Ukraine, the jailing of Pussy Riot and, by extension, the murders of so many journalists who have simply reported the truth).

    • Holly Golightly says:

      Stop with the hate-fuelled comments about personal appearance. Just because the guy is what that makes him ripe for trashing his appearance.

      Let’s turn our attention to Michelle Obama [redacted: racist abuse].

      I’m not a Trump fan – or an Obama fan – but my hypocrisy meter is out of control.

  • Richard Wagner says:

    “Vor Klugheit bläht sich zum Platzen der Blöde”

  • Bocelli Fan says:

    Andrea Bocelli is one of the kindest people on the planet. Perhaps that is one of the qualities, in addition to his talent, that Trump found attractive so many years ago. Bocelli has probably experienced a different Trump in a private setting than we experienced in our horrible election. Being in Italy, Bocelli may not be aware of all of the things Trump said and did. I can see him singing as an act of friendship, reciprocating for the kindness Trump has extended to him in the past. I wish he wouldn’t however.

    • Anonymous Musician says:

      As someone who has recorded with and for Andrea Bocelli, I could verify first hand that while he is a kind person, he has no talent whatsoever. After 4 days of recording, he wasn’t able to do his part at all (and these were very easy, simple songs that weren’t even operatic in nature), to the point that we ended up recording the orchestral version ourselves so the engineer could later record Mr. Bocelli alone and auto-tune him onto our tracks.

      The philanthropic work that he does is great, his singing however…

    • Holly Golightly says:

      I like Bocelli’s voice, finding it pleasant and really quite beautiful. This genre of music appeals to a lot of people and it sure beats tacky, foul-mouthed rappers which have been so much a feature of the White House in recent year. It will be good having something finally with a bit more class.

      • Patrick says:

        More class than Martha Argerich?

      • George King says:

        Bocelli is not, frankly, a huge improvement over rappers. One gets the impression Trump is scraping the bottom of the barrel or simply has crappy musical taste. While that’s his problem it becomes ours — that of the world — on an occasion such as this since the inauguration is not one person’s private street party but a national event of some significance and one that gets beamed into our living rooms around the world. It’s a bit like him passing round some samples of his underwear in public.

        • Richard S says:

          Crappy musical taste is, I suspect, too generous. I don’t believe Trump has the slightest hint of music in his soul. There is nothing authentic about him. All is affectation, he emotes for effect, he is emotionally incontinent. He could not sustain even the modest emotional restraint required to experience the intense pleasures of tension, suspense, and relief that characterises much of the best that music has to offer. He wouldn’t have any idea of the danger of music, as his soul is atrophied. Lenin, not known for his soft side, did know. After listening to a performance of the Appassionata he is reported to have said “I can’t listen to music too often. It makes me want to say kind, stupid things, and pat the heads of people… But now you have to beat them on the head, beat them without mercy”.

  • Petros Linardos says:

    Maybe Trump should do the singing himself:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiZqFGLAeAc

    • Suzanne Purtee says:

      Afternoon all, He wouldn’t be the first bride to sing at her own wedding. Just perpetuates his preference for himself and only himself.

  • DESR says:

    I am sure that the Donald will select someone appropriate – his Cabinet is the most heavyweight since forever, after all.

  • George King says:

    Ich habe genug.

  • NoToTrump says:

    “Aria of the Falling Body” from Klinghoffer

  • Another anonymous musivian says:

    I can completely back up the anonymous musician’s experience as “another anonymous musician”. As for touring with the man…..aargh!

  • Mome Rath says:

    Whoever Mr.Trump engages would strike the appropriate chord by singing “Udite, udite, o rustici” from Donizetti’s “L’Elisire d’Amore”.

    Dulcamara, a boastful blowhard quack medicine man who sells the townspeople a snake oil elixir that promises to cure all their ills, while scored for a basso buffa, can be easily performed by an entertainer pretending to sing like a tenor for an entertainer pretending to act like a President.

  • Nick says:

    Perhaps it’s one in the eye for Trump’s “great friend” and fellow Las Vegas casino operator Steve Wynn who of course used Bocelli in the TV advertisements announcing the opening of his Bellagio Hotel!

  • S E Reed says:

    Chopin…..the one they use for funerals…..!

  • Alan says:

    Vivi tiranno from Rodelinda

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