As Manila’s music lovers know, the 45-year old Bocelli sings at the Araneta Coliseum on April 30 in a presentation by Formart in cooperation with the Father Pio Lend a Hand Foundation and the ABS-CBN. Rose Marie "Baby" Arenas is of course behind the Father Pio Foundation which is her pet project, and it is with unassailable logic that she is the moving spirit behind Bocelli’s Manila engagement.
Why? Ms. Arenas is the daughter of Remedios Bosch-Jimenez, the greatest dramatic soprano our country has produced – to my mind, no other singer approaches the power, brilliance and luminosity of her voice – and Ms. Arenas is herself a singer who loves music with a passion. Indeed, as a young girl, she used to attend concerts at La Scala in Milan and the Met in New York. It was in fact Ms. Arenas who presented Pavarotti in Manila.
The Araneta Coliseum is the chosen venue to give a wider audience of Filipino music lovers a chance to buy less expensive tickets. The coming concert is for several beneficiaries, and in this, Ms. Arenas and Bocelli have a meeting of minds, both being charity-oriented.
Several years ago, Bocelli was nursing his seriously ill father and was approached by Prof. Mosca, director at the U. of Pisa where Bocelli had finished his law degree and where his father was being treated, to help form a non-profit organization to aid people. As a result, ARPA was formed to help with the development and advancement of medicine. In fact, Bocelli, as ARPA’s honorary president, keeps various responsibilities, including the holding of benefit concerts to help the needy. Bocelli is sympathetically inclined, having lost his sight at 12 owing to a tragic accident.
Despite this, he used his oustanding talent and optimism to achieve success. Many international musicians have crossed musical genres and cultures to collaborate with him, from Pavarotti to U2’s lead singer Bono, to conductor Myung-whun Chung to singer Sarah Brightman.
Already, Bocellli’s forthcoming, concert is generating considerable excitement. I have heard him time and again on records and television, and the following comments are fully credible.
Celine Dion: "If God would have a voice, this would be that of Andrea Bocelli."
Barbara Sinatra: "Your voice is a gift of God."
NY Times: "He embraces the melodies, earnest and imploring, with persuasive sweetness."
NY Daily News: "Tender tenor, Italy’s young Pavarotti."
Chicago Sun Times: "Tenor of the times, Andrea Bocelli’s voice, warmth woo opera fans."
At the Coliseum, Bocelli will perform with Maria Luigia Borsi and a 90-member Philippine orchestra under Italian conductor Marcello Rota.
Other beneficiaries are the Red Cross, Mt. Pinatubo Foundation, the Opthalmological Foundation, the Ateneo Class ’79 Projects for the Poor. By the way, Ms. Arenas is absorbing all concert costs to enable these organizations to take full advantage of the Bocelli concert.