E lucevan le stelle from Puccini's Tosca

   This is not an easy aria to start ! But it was fine, Bocelli showed his beautiful pianos (and diminuendos), but failed to let the voice out at the closing of the aria (where Placido Domingo usually shines). The first impression is that the voice is a fine one, a beautiful timbre, the voice has that quality that separates famous voices from normal ones, the timbre is distinctive, you can close your eyes and say: it's Bocelli ! But to sing opera, the voice sounds rather frail, Bocelli seems unable to "support" the voice in the middle constantly and sometimes it looses power and the voice "thins out". The high notes were fine but also not all homogenous, ones better than the others.

� il sol dell'anima (duet) from Verdi's Rigoletto

      We were introduced then to Bocelli's companion in the concert: the soprano Paola Sanguinetti. She started pouring the voice out and it is the classic soprano voice, not particularly distinctive with a dull timbre. The opposite of Bocelli's, a voice that if you listen with your eyes closed, you cannot differentiate. She also tends to "shout" rather than sing (but given the acoustics of the house, it is excusable). Bocelli entered well (a very good T'amo) but he had the same problems as in the first aria (the middle is not always supported) but had some good high notes. They sang up to the "Addio" duet, and Bocelli's ended in a glorious high note.

La donna � mobile from Verdi's Rigoletto

        Very good ! No complaints. He displayed he's really an Italian singer and relished the words, the fioritures and ended it with the high note well in place ! The audience warmed up a bit.

O mio babbino caro from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi

       Paola's singing was fine but that's all. She could not display any pianissimos this aria requires but the audience did not seem to mind, they liked ! Anyway, everybody loves this music.

Villia from Leh�r's The Merry Widow

    Paola's now killed it ! Although an operetta aria, this is an extremely difficult aria, and requires all that Paola's does not have, a beautiful voice, easy high notes and mostly, voice control, the ability to go from forte to piano and backwards. She ended it in a horrible loud high note.

Che gelida manina/O Soave fanciulla from Puccini's La Boheme

    A real killer now. Bocelli showed courage to tackle such a difficult aria. He sang it well enough but not particularly memorable. I think it was not in usual key Puccini wrote, that is, he used the alternate key and instead of a high C we heard a high B. He ended the aria well in a good piano. Paola's almost killed Mimi's aria but at least she tried some pianos, which unfortunately showed all the "holes" in her voice. They continued up to the duet ("O soave fanciulla") and really blew it ! Instead of singing the "Amor" in a piano, both went to the horrible loud high note. The audience loved though.