Andrea Bocelli - the man with the big voice

A DECADE before he died in 1921, Enrico Caruso was asked what it took to be a great tenor. The recipe rolled right off his tongue. "A big chest, a big mouth, 90% memory, 10% intelligence, lots of hard work and something in the heart", he said.

A century later, one of the most popular tenors of today, Andrea Bocelli, agrees. "I share his view," he says in a voice as soft and comforting as an eiderdown. "I agree with Caruso that these are the necessary ingredients, though I would perhaps disagree with his proportions."

Bocelli is speaking from a hotel, in Italian. An interpreter sits by his side, and in the background, a dog goes crazy every time someone pushes the doorbell.

Bocelli is on his way to New Zealand, to give one concert in Auckland. He remembers playing here in 2004, but to his credit, he doesn't trot out the usual blather about how much he loved it here the last time. A stage is a stage, wherever it may be, and Bocelli always does his best to inspire those who come to see him.

"The high points of one's career are when you feel you've achieved the greatest sense of union with your audience," he says. "And that might happen anywhere."

Now 49, Bocelli grew up on the family farm in Lajatico, Tuscany. He started piano lessons when he was six, and was one of those kids trotted out to sing for relatives at every family get-together. His eyesight was affected from birth by congenital glaucoma, and he went completely blind at the age of 12 after a footballing injury. Bocelli later trained as a lawyer, singing Sinatra songs in piano bars to pay for his tuition, until Luciano Pavarotti heard him sing on a demo tape and became his mentor. Fame followed fast, but critics have been sniffy.

The problem, it seems, is pop music. Other popular tenors such as the Three Tenors were seen to be major classical talents who were temporarily slumming it. Not so with Bocelli. His insistence on singing saccharine orchestral ballads with "popera" stars has tainted his classical credentials in the eyes of many critics.

"The fact that some critics are irritated by the fact that I have developed a parallel career in popular music is a problem of theirs, not mine," he says. "As Oscar Wilde once said, people will forgive you anything but success. Long before my time, singers like Caruso and [Beniamino] Gigli would sing the popular songs of the day, and besides, opera itself is really popular music. Opera was born in Italy at the end of the 1500s as a style of popular music, and it really should retain that role."

But for some critics, the problem is not just the popular songs. They don't think he's much of a singer.

"He is rarely in tune and never in tempo," sniped London opera critic, Norman Lebrecht. "Bocelli is, plain and simple, a San Remo smoocher who was snapped up by desperate classical labels as a marketing gimmick it's the blind leading the deaf."

Ouch.

Yet Bocelli regards himself as an absolute purist. "I do my utmost to express myself rigorously within the confines of the operatic form, and all the great directors who have worked with me will confirm that."

Regardless of what some reviewers say, Bocelli is astoundingly popular. It's possible that some of his fans are drawn to his good looks and gentle personality as much as his voice; the vast majority of his record-buyers are women.

"Yes. Why, I don't know, but the knowledge of this gives me a great deal of pleasure. The idea of being some sort of operatic sex symbol may seem peculiar to me, but it doesn't displease me, either. But this is not why I sing. My dream is to bring people peace. I believe the purpose of music is to feed the soul."

Andrea Bocelli plays Auckland's Vector Arena on August 20, accompanied by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Marcello Rota. A portion of the profits from each ticket sold will be donated to Asia Pacific Business Coalition on Aids. Tickets via Ticketmaster: 09 970 9700 or www.ticketmaster.co.nz. We have two double passes to Andrea Bocelli's concert to give away. Email escape@star-times.co.nz by Thursday, August 14, with "Bocelli" in the subject line, to enter.