So it was reported by Reuters news agency a day after the historic event which saw the tenor following in the distinguished footsteps of opera superstars Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo, both of whom have given memorable Central Park performances.

Andrea Bocelli Live in Central Park airs on THIRTEEN’s Great Performances, Friday December 2 at 9 p.m. ET (check local listings). Accompanied by the New York Philharmonic, under the direction of music director Alan Gilbert, the spectacular event was Bocelli’s special gift to New York City. The program is the New York-based offering of the multi-city PBS Arts Fall Festival, which includes four Great Performances productions. Award-winning journalist Paula Zahn is the evening’s host.

Watch a preview:

Widely regarded as the most popular Italian tenor in the world with more than 70 million albums sold, Bocelli was joined that rainy, windswept evening by pop stars Céline Dion, Tony Bennett, Chris Botti and David Foster, and from the classical world, bass baritone Bryn Terfel, sopranos Ana María Martínez and Pretty Yende, and violinist Nicola Benedetti, along with the Westminster Symphonic Choir, under the direction of Joe Miller. Bocelli presented a varied repertoire that includes well known arias, fan favorites, and some new surprises.

Since Great Performances introduced American television audiences to Bocelli with 1997’s Romanza concert, Bocelli has been featured in a notable series of Great Performances specials, including Sacred Arias, Amore, Vivere, My Christmas and American Dream, his spectacular “Statue of Liberty” concert from New Jersey’s Liberty State Park.

The night began promisingly as the setting sun cast a golden glow on the New York skyline, but as Maestro Gilbert struck up the portentous strains of Verdi’s La Forza del Destino overture, a light but steady rain fell over the crowd of some tens of thousands of New Yorkers, and those who had come much farther, to see him. Though umbrellas were raised, and a chilly wind began to blow, fans were swept up in the beauty of the music and the presence of their idol. “In spite of the rain and cold, you are heroes,” Bocelli assured the adoring crowd.

The first act of stirring operatic selections including Verdi and Puccini favorites gave way to more popular fare in the second including duets with Celine Dion and Tony Bennett.

The program:

La Forza del Destino Ouverture
Alan Gilbert, New York Philharmonic

“La donna ė mobile” (Rigoletto)
Andrea Bocelli

“Di quella pira” (Il Trovatore)
Andrea Bocelli

“Va Tosca! (Te Deum)” (Tosca)
Bryn Terfel, Choir

“Ave Maria ‘Ellens dritter Gesang’”
Andrea Bocelli

“Vicino a te s’acqueta” (Andrea Chenier)
Andrea Bocelli, Ana Maria Martinez

“Au fond du temple saint” (Les Pêcheurs de Perles)
Andrea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel

“O Soave Fanciulla” (La Bohème)
Andrea Bocelli, Pretty Yende

“Libiano ne’lieti calici” (La Traviata)
Andrea Bocelli, Pretty Yende, Choir

“Home on the Range”
Bryn Terfel, Choir

“En Aranjuez con tu amor”
Andrea Bocelli, Nicola Benedetti (violin)

“’O Sole Mio”
Andrea Bocelli, Choir

“Once Upon a Time in the West”
Andrea Bocelli

Andrea Bocelli, David Foster, Chris Botti (trumpet)

“Volare”
Andrea Bocelli, David Foster

“The Prayer”
Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, David Foster

“New York, New York”
Andrea Bocelli, Tony Bennett

“Amazing Grace”
Andrea Bocelli, Choir

“Time to Say Goodbye”
Andrea Bocelli, Ana Maria Martinez, Choir

“Nessun Dorma” (Turandot) (encore)
Andrea Bocelli, Choir

Bocelli’s performance was the latest in a rich tradition of memorable free concerts in Central Park which, over the years, has included such notable performers as Barbra Streisand, Simon and Garfunkel, Diana Ross, Garth Brooks, Bob Marley and the Wailers, and Bon Jovi.

Before the concert, Bocelli nostalgically reflected, “I cannot help but smile when thinking about the upcoming concert in Central Park. It was my father’s dream, and my father was right, because my artistic path would have been entirely different without the strong and sincere embrace of this extraordinary city where everything is possible, even when it seems impossible. My father will not be there, but I can count on his blessing and his kind and gentle smile to give me courage. My mother, sitting in the front row, will feel my father, too, and they will be together again just like when I was a little boy performing on the fireplace steps. Perhaps they had secretly dreamed that I might have the opportunity to perform in New York City, and maybe right here in Central Park.”

Concerto: One Night In Central Park will also be released on CD , DVD and CD+DVD by Sugar/Decca on November 14th.

Great Performances is a production of THIRTEEN for WNET New York Public Media, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers. For nearly 50 years, WNET has been producing and broadcasting national and local arts programming to the New York community.

Andrea Bocelli Live in Central Park is directed by David Horn. For Great Performances, Mitch Owgang and Andrea Cotromano are producers; Bill O’Donnell is series producer; David Horn and Filippo Sugar are executive producers.

Barilla is the main sponsor of the concert event and the television broadcast. Major funding for the Great Performances telecast is provided by Vivian Milstein, the Starr Foundation, the Irene Diamond Fund, the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, Joseph A. Wilson, public television viewers, and PBS.

Watch a preview of the concert:

The My Christmas concert is the ultimate holiday musical experience from Andrea Bocelli, showcasing the tenor in performances of traditional carols and other favorites in English, with a few additional selections in Italian and German. Regarding Christmas music, the star remarks, “I have long dreamed of recording a holiday album that captures the beautiful traditions of the holiday season. Every year, these songs have brought incredible joy to me and my family, and it is my hope to give back that same joy by making this album.” Of her experience singing Elvis Presley’s “Blue Christmas” with Bocelli during the taping, country music star Reba McEntire told the Toronto Sun, “I sat there in awe. I just loved it. (His voice) is rich like frosting on a cake – decadent. It’s so full. I stood there right beside him and just watched him.”

An iconic figure in music who has sold more than 60 million albums to date, Bocelli continues to defy categorization, age barriers and labels of any kind. In concert or on the opera stage, he has sung with everyone from Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo to Bono and Celine Dion. In addition to his solo Great Performances concert programs, Bocelli’s many memorable television appearances include the Oscar and Grammy Awards telecasts, mentoring contestants on American Idol and performances at the Official Ceremonies of the Olympic Games, all of which have propelled Andrea Bocelli into becoming a global household name in contemporary popular music.

Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers and PBS.

Photo: Karl Simone

“Dear friends,” 15 Grammy Award-winner David Foster calls them, “some of my favorite people in the world.” To you and me, however, they’re better known as Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban and Michael Bublé. The gilded trio leads a parade of entertainers nurtured by the Canadian-born producer, honoring him in a gala concert this December on PBS (check local listings).

Recorded live in performance at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center, Hitman: David Foster & Friends features Foster himself presiding center stage at the keyboard. The evening is a virtual jukebox worth of songs written by and/or produced by him. Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and brother Kevon offer “I Swear;” Brian McKnight revisits Earth, Wind and Fire’s “After the Love Has Gone;” former Chicago front man Peter Cetera gets down with “Hard to Say I’m Sorry,” “You’re the Inspiration” and “Glory of Love;” while Boz Scaggs reprises “Look What You’ve Done to Me” from Urban Cowboy.

Neatly arcing Foster’s remarkable 35-year career, other highlights range from early hits like St. Elmo’s Fire Love Theme, recalled here by Kenny G; and “Man in Motion,” performed by American Idol hottie Michael Johns, through foot stompin’ disco with Cheryl Lynn’s “Got to Be Real,” to the neo-jazz swing of Michael Bublé’s “Feeling Good.”

Also look for American Idol’s Katharine McPhee soloing on “Somewhere” then joining Italian tenor Bocelli for “The Prayer”; Bocelli’s silky “Amapola”; Bublé and Country’s Blake Shelton duetting to Bublé’s “Home,” and new Foster discovery William Joseph at the keyboard for “Asturias.” And if Josh Groban brings the house down with signatures “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (in duet with Brian McKnight) and “You Raise Me Up,” Scene Stealer Award would have to go to 16-year-old power-house Charice, from the Philippines. Best known in America for her appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, she stuns both audience and Foster with the Whitney Houston-by-way-of-Dolly Parton hit “I Will Always Love You.”

“A star is born tonight,” a genuinely startled Foster exclaims – a man who knows whereof he speaks. Over the past 35 years, he has amassed among his 15 Grammys three for producer of the year. He has also been nominated a whopping 44 times. He has produced hits with everyone from Natalie Cole to Celine Dion, from Barbra Streisand to the Corrs, Madonna to Chicago. He has also overseen such blockbuster soundtracks as The Bodyguard, Footloose and Ghostbusters.

More recently, he has created his own label, 143 (I Love You) Records, in partnership with Warner Brothers, where he’s developing the careers of Groban, Bublé and McPhee, to name just a few lustrous protégés.

Featuring pre-recorded segments with Dion and Foster offering “Because You Loved Me” and a special appreciation from Streisand (“David, thanks for spending part of your musical life with me”), Hitman: David Foster & Friends is a co-production of Chartmaker Records, Inc., Thirteen/WNET New York and Align Entertainment Group LLC. Also available on DVD from Warner Brothers Home Video, it is directed by David Horn and co-produced by Horn and Mitch Owgang. David Foster is Executive Producer.

“I’m grateful for my musical past,” says the still-youthful Foster, 58, who began playing the piano at age 5 and enrolled in the University of Washington’s summer music program at 13. “And I have great anticipation about the musical adventures waiting to reveal themselves in the future. I’m one happy, fortunate and lucky guy.”

GREAT PERFORMANCES is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers, and PBS.

Producer: Anu Krishnan
Graphic Art: Gabriel Torres
Technical Director: Brian Lee
Production Assistant: Diana Cofresí-Terrero
Copy Editor: Leslie Kriesel
HTML Implementation Assistance: Brian Santalone

GREAT PERFORMANCES Web pages copyright © 2007 Educational Broadcasting Corporation.

Thirteen Online is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York’s Kravis Multimedia Education Center in New York City. Anthony Chapman, Director of Interactive & Broadband. Bob Adleman, Business Manager. Tamara E. Robinson, Vice President & Director, Programming.

Television Credits

VIVERE: ANDREA BOCELLI LIVE IN TUSCANY

Directed by
David Horn

Executive Producers
Filippo Sugar
David Horn

Producers
Andrea Cotromano
Mitch Owgang

Creative Consultant
David Foster

Music Produced by
Humberto Gatica

Music Co-Produced by
Tony Renis

Music Recorded and Mixed by
Humberto Gatica
Alejandro Rodriguez

Editor
Laura Young

Additional Editing by
Gary Bradley

Coordinating Producer
Cara Cosentino

Production Coordinator
Fabrizia Cerciello

Lighting Director
Al Gurdon

Music Director
Matthew Della Polla

Associate Director
Sandra Restrepo

Stage Managers
Iain Patrick
Pippo Balestrieri

Production Manager
Vicki Betihavas

Location Manager
Rosemary Plum

Production Coordinator
Ian McGinty

Technical Manager
Brian Thomas

Engineer in Charge
Pier Paolo Piacentini

Vision Mixer
Sara-Jayne Phillips

Production Secretary
Jessica Lacombe

Cameras
David Barber
Chris Chatfield
Mark Cruickshank
Barrie Dodd
Dave Emery
Anthony Freeman
Kevin French
Julian Harries
Dom Jackson
Pete Johnson
Duncan McLaren
Gary Tepper
Andy Watt
Carlo Tamburello
Massimiliano Tortora
Shaun Willis

Video Supervisor
Billy Steinberg

Video Tape
Franco Leggeri

Gaffer
David Cook
Darren Hodge

Board Operator
Ben Cracknell
Digital Engineers
Alejandro Rodriguez
Christian Robles
Jorge Vivo
Jochem Van Der Saag
Kenny O’Brien

Additional Audio Engineering
Pier Paolo Guerrini

Pro Tools Operator
Valerio Calisse

Music Production Coordinators
Courtney Blooding
Maggie Cashman

Audio Engineer
Andy Rose

Audio Record Supervisor
Tim Summerhayes

Recording Engineer
Mike Silverston

Sound Engineer
Dave O’Carroll

Sound Assistant
Alison Dales

Post Production Audio
Ken Hahn
John Bowen
Jay Fisher

Music Mastering
Vlado Meller

Rigger/Driver
Alex Goodison

Production Aides
Marco Beltramini
Nick Boy
Michael Ponterotto
Pino Scimo’

English Translations
Kenneth Chalmers

Graphic Design
B. T. Whitehill

Taped live at Teatro del Silenzio
Lajatico, Italy

Special Guest
David Foster

Featuring
In Order Of Appearance
Kenny G

Heather Headley

Lang Lang

Elisa

Sarah Brightman

Chris Botti

Laura Pausini

The Band
Bass
Nathan East

Drums
Gregg Bissonette

Guitar
Dean Parks
Ludovico Vagnone

Keyboards
Emilio Marinelli

Percussion
Arnaldo Vacca

Piano
Randy Kerber

Orchestra Conducted by
Jorge Calandrelli

Orchestra
Orchestra da Camera delle Marche

Chorus
Associazione — Societa’ Corale Pisana

“Il Sole” Sculpture Created by
Arnaldo Pomodoro

For Four One Music & Events
Event Promoter
Vittorio Quattrone

Event Production Director
Massimo Ferranti

Assistant to Massimo Ferranti
Maurizio Cappellini

Andrea Bocelli’s Business and Management Office
Almud Music
Alberto Bocelli
Veronica Berti
Carlo Tomba
Massimiliano Ballanti

For Sugarmusic
Chairman, Sugar S.R.L.
Caterina Caselli Sugar

Legal & Business Affairs
Lorena Pizzi

General Manager, Sugar S.R.L.
Riccardo Usuelli

Product Manager, Sugar S.R.L.
Massimo Cardino

Attorneys
Ted Harris
Michael Goldsmith
David Toraya

For GREAT PERFORMANCES
Business Affairs
Ranfi Rivera

Director, Program Development
Bill O’Donnell

Series Producer
David Horn

A production of Sugar S.R.L. in association with Thirteen/WNET New York

© 2007 Sugar S.R.L.

The contents of these GREAT PERFORMANCES Web pages are copyrighted under United States and other copyright laws. You may not download, reproduce, transmit, display, distribute or make derivative works from the contents of the GREAT PERFORMANCES Web pages other than for personal use without the advance written permission of the copyright owner. Any unauthorized use of any of the contents of the GREAT PERFORMANCES Online Web pages may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution.

“Melodramma”
Music and lyrics by Pierpaolo Guerrini and Paolo Luciani
Andrea Bocelli

“A Te”
Music and lyrics by Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli, Kenny G

“Romanza”
Music and lyrics by Mauro Malavasi
Andrea Bocelli

“Vivo Per Lei”
Music and lyrics by Mauro Mengali, Luigi Panceri, and Valerio Zelli
Andrea Bocelli, Heather Headley

“Io Ci Sarò”
Music and lyrics by Walter Afanasieff, Andrea Bocelli, Eugenio Finardi, and David Foster
Andrea Bocelli, Lang Lang

“La Voce del Silenzio”
Music and lyrics by Elio Isola and Paolo Limiti
Andrea Bocelli, Elisa

“Bellissime Stelle”
Music and lyrics by Luigi De Drescenzo and Francesco Sartori
Andrea Bocelli, David Foster (piano)

Medley
“Bésame Mucho”
Music and lyrics by Consuelo Velazquez
“Somos Novios”
Music and lyrics by Armando Manzanero
“Can’t Help Falling in Love”
Music and lyrics by Luigi Creatore, Hugo Peretti, and George Weiss
Andrea Bocelli, David Foster (piano), Ludovico Vagnone (guitar)

“The Prayer”
Music and lyrics by David Foster, Carol Bayer Sager, Tony Renis, and Alberto Testa
Andrea Bocelli, Heather Headley, David Foster (piano)

“Because We Believe”
Music and lyrics by David Foster, Andrea Bocelli, Amy Foster Gillies, and Amy Skyla
Andrea Bocelli, David Foster (piano)

“Italia”
Music and lyrics by Chris Botti, Lorenzo Cherubini, and David Foster
Andrea Bocelli, Chris Botti, David Foster (piano)

“Canto della Terra”
Music and lyrics by Lucio Quarantotto and Francesco Sartori
Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman

“Sogno”
Music and lyrics by Giuseppe Servillo and Giuseppe Vessicchio
Andrea Bocelli

“Il Mare Calmo della Sera”
Music and lyrics by Gianpietro Felisatti, Adelmo Fornaciari, and Gloria Nuti
Andrea Bocelli

“Dare to Live” (”Vivere”)
Music and lyrics by Angelo Anastasio, Eugenio Finardi, Gerardina Trovato, and Celso Valli
Andrea Bocelli, Laura Pausini

“Time to Say Goodbye” (”Con te Partirò”)
Music and lyrics by Franscesco Sartori and Luciano Quarantotto
Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman

Andrea Bocelli’s latest CD, THE BEST OF ANDREA BOCELLI: VIVERE, marks the first time in his career that the singer has released a greatest hits compilation. The recording, which debuted in October 2007, includes “Time to Say Goodbye” (”Con te partirò”), his breakthrough hit with Sarah Brightman from the four-time platinum-selling CD ROMANZA; “The Prayer,” a duet with Celine Dion from his two-time platinum-selling CD SOGNO; “Melodramma” from CIELI DI TOSCANA; the Olympics theme, “Because We Believe,” from his most recent platinum recording, AMORE; plus new tracks “Bellissime Stelle” and “Io Ci Sarò,” with special guest, pianist Lang Lang. Selections from this best of CD are among the highlights of the tenor’s concert from his Tuscan hometown.

Many local PBS stations may be offering the concert DVD and THE BEST OF ANDREA BOCELLI: VIVERE CD as Pledge gifts. To order these items, pledge now.

Visit the Web companions of two previous programs that have featured Andrea Bocelli, ANDREA BOCELLI: AMORE UNDER THE DESERT SKY and ANDREA BOCELLI: TRIBUTE ON ICE.

Related Web Sites

• Andrea Bocelli
• Bocelli Online
• Chris Botti
• Sarah Brightman
• David Foster
• Kenny G
• Heather Headley
• Orchestra da Camera delle Marche
• Elisa Toffoli