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.

In remembrance and renewal, THIRTEEN’S Great Performances will broadcast A Concert for New York , performed by the New York Philharmonic on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of 9/11 , led by Music Director Alan Gilbert, taped the previous night at a free concert in Avery Fisher Hall at New York’s Lincoln Center.

Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection — featuring soprano Dorothea Röschmann mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, and the New York Choral Artists — will air Sunday, September 11 at 9:30 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings). The concert will also be broadcast internationally that same day.

Great Performances is a presentation of THIRTEEN for WNET, 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.

“Mahler‘s Second Symphony, Resurrection, powerfully and profoundly explores the range of emotions provoked by the memories of 9/11,” said Gilbert. “This great masterpiece has a very special place in the history and psyche of the New York Philharmonic, but its message of renewal and rebirth is universal. We offer it as a tribute to those lost ten years ago.”

Composed between 1888 and 1894, Gustav Mahler‘s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, is an all- encompassing work, complete with a triumphant final movement for voices and orchestra in the tradition of Beethoven‘s Symphony No. 9.

The idea for the finale of the Resurrection Symphony came to Mahler in a flash of inspiration while he was attending the memorial service of Hans von Bülow, his benefactor and predecessor as conductor of the Hamburg Philharmonic. The composer was just then struggling to find a text suitable to his lofty intensions. As he described it: “The mood in which I sat there and thought of the departed one was exactly that of the work which, at the time, occupied me constantly; at that moment the chorus near the organ intoned the Klopstock chorale, ‘Aufersteh’n! [Arise!]‘ It struck me like a thunderbolt and everything stood clear and vivid before my soul.”

Mahler‘s setting of the 18th-century German poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock‘s ode builds in majesty and intensity, as the Resurrection is depicted in a paean of triumph. The Philharmonic gave the work‘s U.S. premiere in December 1908, when the composer led the New York Symphony (which merged with the New York Philharmonic in 1928 to form today‘s New York Philharmonic), and has now performed the work a total of 28 times.

Music Director Alan Gilbert, the Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair, began his tenure at the New York Philharmonic in September 2009. The first native New Yorker to hold the post, he ushered in what The New York Times called “an adventurous new era” at the Philharmonic. In the 2010-11 season Mr. Gilbert led the Orchestra on two tours of European music capitals; two performances at Carnegie Hall, including the venue‘s 120th Anniversary Concert, which was broadcast on Great Performances; and conducted the acclaimed staged presentation of Janaček‘s The Cunning Little Vixen.

Born in Flensburg, Germany, soprano Dorothea Röschmann made her critically acclaimed debut at the 1995 Salzburg Festival as Susanna in Mozart‘s The Marriage of Figaro. At The Metropolitan Opera she has sung the Mozartean roles of Susanna, Pamina (The Magic Flute), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), and Ilia (Idomeneo) with James Levine.

Mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung has performed with the New York, Los Angeles, and Vienna philharmonic orchestras; She has also appeared at many of the world‘s finest opera houses including The Metropolitan Opera, and has given numerous recitals worldwide.

New York Choral Artists, a professional chorus founded and directed by Joseph Flummerfelt, has been heard with the New York Philharmonic in recent seasons performing repertoire ranging from Michael Tippett‘s A Child of Our Time to Mozart‘s Requiem.

A Concert for New York is directed by Michael Beyer. For Great Performances, John Walker and Cara Cosentino are producers; Bill O’Donnell is series producer; David Horn is executive producer.

Credit Suisse is the Global Sponsor of the New York Philharmonic. Major funding for the Great Performances telecast is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, the Irene Diamond Fund, Vivian Milstein, LuEsther T. Mertz, the Starr Foundation, the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, Joseph A. Wilson, public television viewers, and PBS.

The eclectic, crowd-pleasing program is set to include Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in C major, Op. 56, performed by Ax, Ma, and Shaham, a selection of Duke Ellington songs – including “Solitude,” “Sophisticated Lady,” “On a Turquoise Cloud,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing” — performed by McDonald, and full performances of Antonin Dvořák’s Carnival Overture and George Gershwin’s An American in Paris.

The two-hour concert, Sondheim! The Birthday Concert will air on PBS’s Great Performances Wednesday, November 24 at 9 p.m. (check local listings). Great Performances is a production of THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers.

Watch a preview:

Hosted by David Hyde Pierce, who provides sardonic narration throughout the evening, the cast, a veritable Who’s Who of Broadway’s finest performers, includes (in alphabetical order): Laura Benanti, Matt Cavanaugh, Michael Cerveris, Victoria Clark, Jenn Colella, Jason Danieley, Joanna Gleason, Nathan Gunn, George Hearn, Blaine Hoven, Patti LuPone, Marin Mazzie, Audra McDonald, John McMartin, Donna Murphy, Laura Osnes, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Maria Riccetto, Bobby Steggert, Elaine Stritch, Jim Walton, Chip Zien, and from the current production of “West Side Story,” Karen Olivo, who gets the evening off to a spirited start leading the dancers in “America.”

Conducted by longtime Sondheim stalwart Paul Gemignani, the evening (as well as the broadcast) was directed and co-written (with Pierce) by actor-director Lonny Price, who appeared in the original cast of Sondheim’s ?Merrily We Roll Along. Price also directed the Great Performances presentations of Candide with the New York Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic’s concert versions of Sweeney Todd and Camelot.

Stephen Holden in The New York Times raved, “While such celebrations tend to be messy affairs, ‘Sondheim: The Birthday Concert’ … was a model of organization, with a suave host … and witty leitmotifs woven into its structure. Performances by an all-star guest list …proceeded at a brisk pace; there was no speechifying.”

The concert includes songs and orchestral pieces from Sondheim musical theater favorites such as Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, and Sunday in the Park with George.

Many of Sondheim’s most famous numbers are on display, of course, as well as such interesting items as “Don’t Laugh,” which he wrote for his friend Mary Rodgers’ Hot Spot, and “Growing Up,” written for a later production of Merrily We Roll Along but sung here by original cast member Walton.

In an especially memorable sequence, some notable creators of Sondheim roles reprise their greatest moments, including McMartin (Follies), Gleason and Zien (Into the Woods), Peters and Patinkin (Sunday in the Park with George), the segment concluding with a couple of rival Broadway Sweeney Todds, Hearn and Cerveris, amusingly flanking LuPone, who played Mrs. Lovett opposite both of them.
Sondheim’s lesser known career as an occasional film score composer is acknowledged by a pas de deux danced to the theme written for Warren Beatty’s Reds by Riccetto and Hoven, and choreographed by Josh Rhodes.

Other highlights in an evening filled with them include “We’re Gonna Be Alright” (Mazzie and Danieley); “Johanna” (Gunn); and “Too Many Mornings” (Gunn and McDonald), and the parade of legendary leading ladies who cap the evening with a non-stop succession of showstoppers guaranteed to quicken the pulse of all bona fide show fans: “The Ladies Who Lunch” (LuPone); “Losing My Mind” (Mazzie); “The Glamorous Life” (McDonald); “Could I Leave You?” (Murphy); “Not a Day Goes By” (Peters); and “I’m Still Here” (Stritch).
In addition to the PBS telecast, the concert will be released on DVD in November by Image Entertainment.

A production of Ellen M. Krass Productions and THIRTEEN for WNET.ORG, the telecast was directed for television by Lonny Price and produced by Ellen M. Krass and Mort Swinsky, with Stewart F. Lane, Bonnie Comely and Cathy Fitzpatrick as executive producers. Bill O’Donnell is series producer; David Horn is executive producer.

Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, Vivian Milstein, LuEsther T. Mertz, the DuBose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers and PBS.

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Television Credits

THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC LIVE FROM NORTH KOREA

Executive Produced & Produced by
Paul Smaczny

Directed by
Michael Beyer

Executive Producers
Tom Baer
Gabrielle Babin Gugenheim
David Horn
Song-Kun Pang

Producers
John Walker
Jean Wittersheim
Hyok-Ki Hong

Line Producer
Oliver Rieger

Director of Photography
Nyika Jancsò

Camera
Martin Baer
Jürgen Clemens
Rolf Gihsa
Eugen Gross
Manuel Lucentini
Andreas Naumann
Karl-Heinz Nitschke
Christian Schulz
Andreas Splett

Technical Director
Hak-Dong Joh
Bok-Yong Chun
Rainer Kampe

Lighting
Si-Woo Eim

Vision Control
Matthias Block
Daniel Düsdieker
Hung-Yong Park

VTR-Operator
Jae-Hyeun Ha

Sound Technician
Frank Mosch
Myung-Jae Lee

Assistant Sound Technician
Yong-Seong Lee

Technical Assistant
Yoon-Keun Kim

Transmission Coordinator
Mostafa Bibak

Assistant Director
Martin Feil

Vision Mixer
Barbara Saxer

Floor Managers
Sabine Koch
Claudia Groh

Assistant to the Producer
Maria Stodtmeier

Production Assistants
Birgit Filimonow
Robert Urmann

Public Relations
Frank Gerdes

Balance Engineers
Toine Mertens
Georg Obermayer

Audio Producer
Christopher Alder

Operations Manager
Martin Hammer

Production Coordinator, MBC
Helena Park

Production Manager, Arte France
Pascal Aron

For Euroarts Documentary Unit
Director
Ayelet Heller

Cameraman
Michael Boomers

Camera Assistant
Andreas Köppen

Production Manager
Alexander Helsing-Hu

For New York Philharmonic
Music Director
Lorin Maazel

President and Executive Director
Zarin Mehta

Director of Public Relations
Eric Latzky

Artistic Administrator
Matías Tarnopolsky

Operations Coordinator
Brendan Timins

Production Consultant for North Korea
Michele A. Balm

For ABC News
Host
Bob Woodruff

Executive Producer
Rudy Bednar

Senior Producer
Ann Reynolds

Director, Foreign News
Chuck Lustig

Producers
Clark Bentson
Margaret Aro
Beth Loyd

Associate Producer
Bryan Taylor

Editors
Sharon Kaufman
Bram Harris
Ruth Iwano
Mike Mongulla
Gina M. Pampinella
Bud Proctor

Camera
Francois Bisson
Jane Hartney

Sound
Magnus Macedo
Giovanni Battista Grimaldi

For THIRTEEN/WNET
Coordinating Producer
Cara Cosentino

Line Producer
Mitch Owgang

Chief Engineer
Frank Graybill

Editors
Scott Lozea
Laura Young

Audio Editor
Jon Berman

Engineering
Jeff Dockendorff
Charlie Kirby
Sean Riordan
Roman Rossell

Production Assistants
Jessica Lacombe
Kristen Sonntag
Michael Weinstein-Reiman

Intern
Shaun Kilroy

Tape Operators
Michael Nickolas
Frank O’Rourke
Kirk Rosario

Transmission Engineer
Nat Tam

Graphic Design
B.T. Whitehill

Business Affairs
Arlen Appelbaum

Director of Program Development
Bill O’Donnell

Executive in Charge of Production
Neal Shapiro

A production of Euroarts Music International in coproduction with Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, Arte France, and Thirteen/WNET New York, in association with New York Philharmonic, and ABC News, in cooperation with European Broadcasting Union

© Euroarts Music and Educational Broadcasting Corporation 2008

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