Andrea Bocelli (by Lora Schell)

Lora Schell


Italian 101


Cultural Activity 1

Andrea Bocelli

1.Why is this person important? Andrea Bocelli has been one of the most influential operatic tenors of the past century (along with Pavarotti). Since the age of 12, Andrea has been completely blind but that did not stop his musical inclination. He can play several different instruments and it doesn't stop there. 

2. Why did you choose this person? How does his life relate to you? I chose this person mainly because of his music. I never liked opera until my step dad introduced me to his song. His very first song that I listened to was Mi Manchi. After just one song I was hooked. His music is so compelling and it just lured me in. The thing that really touched me about Bocelli was the fact that he was going to school in Pisa to become a lawyer and he gave that all up for the possible chance to become a singer. He worked to try and pay for himself to get singing lessons. And that really is where our lives really relate. Like Bocellis', my family is not very wealthy at all. Anything that I wanted to do I had to work for it so I could pay for it. My dream is to become a doctor and I know that I will have to work really hard to get there. He did the same thing to follow his dream. He dropped out of college to pay for his musical career. He finally got his major musical break when Pavarotti heard him sing and asked him to duet with him. 

3. If he had never existed, would the world be different from how we know it now? Why? I really do think that the musical world would be different in a matter of speaking. In modern times, you really cannot  find many classical opera singers. That area of music seems to be getting smaller and smaller as time passes. Bocelli has had such a large impact on the musical world, being the #1 selling operatic tenor in the world. I think that if he would not have had his major musical break the area of classical opera would have faded away into the background and would be a thing of the past.

4. If you could meet that person, what would you ask him? If I could personally meet Andrea Bocelli I would ask him what his inspirations are for his music. His music isn't like our modern music. Each one of his songs has a meaning behind it and I would love to know what inspires him to write his songs.

Do you think the fact this person was Italian played a role in his achievement? I honestly don't know if being Italian played a major role or not but I do know that his visual impairment did. The fact that he has the disability that he does and went above and beyond what most people would expect is just incredible. But being Italian did benefit him in the genre of music that he is in. Opera is usually sung in Italian and the fact that Italian is his native tongue probably did help him