In the meantime, her brother Matteo is all about relaxation. “I attempt to calm down as a lot as doable,” the 25-year-old explains. “The most effective medication in your voice is sleep.”
And as for 64-year-old Andrea, legendary tenor and their famous person father? No pre-show routine in any respect.
“No good-luck ritual, no fortunate attraction,” Andrea explains. “We hold stress down by having a transparent conscience, residing as wholesome a life as doable and going through the general public with the correct amount of seriousness and positivity.”
It’s a trio of views that coalesced for the primary time this 12 months as Virginia and Matteo joined Andrea for a nationwide tour in assist of his newest album, aptly titled “A Household Christmas.” A follow-up to his blockbuster 2009 vacation effort “My Christmas,” one of many best-selling Christmas albums of all time, Andrea and his two kids take listeners on a seasonal journey by means of a collection of covers and unique tracks that show a knack for goosebumps-yielding vocals runs of their genes.
The overarching theme of the album, in accordance with Andrea, is an easy but highly effective one: “that household is a blessing, a supply of energy, a cornerstone of society.” Songs similar to “The Best Present,” a heartfelt unique ballad, mix the pop vocals of Virginia and Matteo with Andrea’s iconic voice, complemented by each an orchestra and choir.
“It’s a challenge that was actually conceived by a household for all households,” Andrea says, although he admits he “can also’t deny {that a} sturdy motivator was additionally the potential of spending extra time with my kids.”
The Italian tenor’s offspring occurred upon music in a purely natural means. (Although he doesn’t sing onstage together with his household, even Andrea’s eldest son, Amos, who works as an aerospace engineer, is expert on the piano. “As for the music trade, he has saved his distance from it,” the patriarch says.)
Rising up, singing was an everyday incidence for the Bocelli household round their sprawling Tuscan villa. “I by no means imagined I’d go on tour with my dad, however let’s simply say I used to be ready,” says Virginia, who first carried out onstage together with her father throughout the pandemic. Andrea was set to sing the Leonard Cohen traditional “Hallelujah,” however the plan was for him to sing it in English.
“He didn’t wish to be taught the English lyrics, and I used to be listening to this dialog between my mother and pa,” she remembers. “So I simply stated, ‘Oh, I can sing just a little a part of it.’”
With that, an 8-year-old Virginia and her father took the stage in December 2020 on the Teatro Regio — Parma, Italy’s jewel field of a theater — and surrounded by flickering candles, delivered a young duet. It turned out to be the proper introduction: Whereas the efficiency was filmed, ultimately incomes 24 million views on YouTube, the theater was empty as a consequence of covid restrictions. “It’s a lot scarier with an viewers,” Andrea’s youngest says.
Matteo’s official singing begin at 18 was barely extra intimidating; he took his first bow together with his father on the Coliseum in Rome.
“Individuals suppose that performing subsequent to Andrea Bocelli is sort of robust,” says Matteo, who first recorded the 2018 duet “Fall on Me” together with his father for the album “Si.” “However Andrea Bocelli can also be simply my father, and the presence of your father may be very useful to have onstage with you.”
Along with the household Christmas challenge, Matteo can also be hanging out on a pop profession of his personal. He’s signed with Capitol Data, the place he’s readying his debut album. He additionally not too long ago contributed the tune “Cautionary Story” to the 2022 fantasy movie “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” through which he additionally seems, and not too long ago duetted with Colombian singing star Sebastián Yatra on the observe “Till She’s Gone.” Earlier this 12 months, Matteo notably carried out alongside Andrea at Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker’s high-profile marriage ceremony in Portofino, Italy.
Nevertheless, Matteo is continuing into the household enterprise with a way of warning imparted on him by his father. “I believe my youngsters know nicely that fame, per se, shouldn’t be a worth,” Andrea says. When he was Matteo’s age, Andrea had already accomplished regulation faculty on the College of Pisa and spent a 12 months as a court-appointed lawyer.
“It’s simple that being appreciated is a supply of satisfaction, however being well-known shouldn’t be an inherent high quality,” Andrea explains. “If truth be told, if one goals to amass true human depth, it’s an impediment, as a result of with fame, it’s simpler to lose contact with actuality. And in the event you don’t hold your toes firmly on the bottom, you danger getting misplaced. Each type of vainness is an mental problem from which we attempt to hold our distance.”
However it doesn’t imply the Bocellis don’t benefit from the perks of an viewers, as seen at their cease earlier this month at New York’s Madison Sq. Backyard. Their present there, which has turn out to be an annual vacation custom, consisted of opera classics within the first half and a second act stuffed with Christmas cheer, in addition to Andrea’s pop hits similar to “Time to Say Goodbye” and “Good.”
Because the present wrapped up and the household took their bows, Andrea’s kids walked him to the sting of the stage and down a collection of steps. (The tenor misplaced his sight when he was 12.) With the group nonetheless on their toes, Andrea may very well be seen conferring together with his youngsters earlier than deciding whether or not to return again for an encore. It was a state of affairs that repeated itself a number of instances because the viewers continued to cheer with every successive determination to sing one other tune.
“Dad simply saved eager to exit yet one more time, yet one more time, and we went out 5 instances,” Virginia says. “He beloved listening to the love, the entire cheers and claps. Then on the finish we walked off earlier than taking one bow — left, proper and heart — all as a household.”