Dear Sir,
Whoever wrote last week’s piece on Bocelli certainly isn’t an opera lover or expert.
Bocelli is certainly popular, but to call him “arguably the greatest living tenor” and one of the “Three Great Tenors” really is laughable.
The Three Tenors that were famous were Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. And even Carreras was not totally in the same category as Pavarotti and Domingo. Anyone familiar with the opera and the opera world knows that Bocelli simply is not in the same caliber as the tenors we see now on the opera stage all over the world.
That is because, while he has a nice tone, he doesn’t have the volume needed to be on the operatic stage. Don’t forget his voice is nicely amplified on records or on the stage where he is singing into a microphone. Opera singers don’t sing into a microphone onstage.
Furthermore, given his popularity, a few years back they tried putting him on one of the opera stages in the world. Given that he is blind, they put him in “La Boheme” where there is minimal movement on stage in that production. He failed miserably. He just doesn’t have a great operatic voice.
I suggest looking at the New York Metropolitan Opera line up to see who they have as tenors. And, by the way, all the great opera stages share the same great singers and productions.
Not Bocelli anywhere, any time, any place.
Jill Flyer