Culture
Great Performances “Andrea Bocelli: Cinema”
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Featuring Great Songs from the Silver Screen
On THIRTEEN’s Great Performances
David Foster, Ariana Grande, and Nicole Scherzinger, as well as
film stars John Travolta, Ali MacGraw, Ryan O’Neal, & Andy Garcia join the acclaimed tenor at Hollywood’s Dolby Theater
The international superstar tenor lends his unique voice to a lush symphonic salute to the movies, Andrea Bocelli: Cinema, celebrating some of the greatest celluloid songs and scores of all time written by a varied range of Italian and Hollywood composers. The concert special also reunites Bocelli with legendary music producer David Foster, whose first collaboration with the tenor was Foster’s own Academy Award-nominated song “The Prayer,” a duet with Celine Dion in 1999.
The songs in this new concert – many from Oscar-winning scores – are also featured on Bocelli’s new album Cinema which will be released globally on October 23 on Sugar Music/Universal Music Group and Verve Music Group in the USA. These cinematic songs are etched in the culture and hearts of several generations including epic theme songs featured in films such as “Doctor Zhivago,” “Love Story,” “The Godfather,” “Life is Beautiful,” “Il Postino,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and many more, as well as popular songs from stage musicals, immortalized by their film versions, such as “West Side Story” and “Evita.” As a special bonus, there’s a brand new song fashioned from the popular “Gladiator” score.
Hollywood luminaries John Travolta, Ryan O’Neal, Ali MacGraw, and Andy Garcia join Bocelli onstage to speak about the films from which the songs derive.
Bocelli has said he believes film music is “an exceptional artistic treasure trove.” His legendary voice, backed by fresh arrangements, brings new life to some of the greatest musical masterpieces for film by legendary composers from Leonard Bernstein to Ennio Morricone.
Bocelli sings in five different languages (Italian, French, Spanish, English and Sicilian) and, through the magic of digital wizardry, partners in a virtual duet with global superstar Ariana Grande on the heart wrenching duet “E più ti penso” from “Once Upon A Time in America”/ “Malena,” and in person with Nicole Scherzinger on the epic musical anthem “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” from “Evita.”
Filmed at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland on September 18, the broadcast is tentatively scheduled to include:
Maria from “West Side Story”
Lyrics by Leonard Bernstein – Stephen Sondheim
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Se from “Cinema Paradiso”
Music by Ennio Morricone – Andrea Morricone
Moon River from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”
Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
Music by Henry Mancini
Cheek to Cheek duet with Veronica Berti from “Top Hat”
Lyrics and Music by Irving Berlin
Italian Lyrics by Andrea Bocelli
Be My Love from “The Toast of New Orleans”
Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
Music by Nicholas Brodszky
E più ti penso (virtual duet with Ariana Grande) from “Once Upon a Time in America”
Lyrics by Mogol – Tony Renis
Music by Ennio Morricone
Brucia La Terra from “The Godfather”
Lyrics by Kaballà
Music by Giovanni “Nino” Rota
La Chanson De Lara from “Doctor Zhivago”
Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
Music by Maurice Jarre
French Lyrics by Ithier Hubert
Mi Mancherai from “Il Postino”
Lyrics by Marco Marinangeli
Music by Luis Bacalov – Riccardo Del Turco – Paolo Margheri
Historia De Amor from “Love Story”
Music by Francis Lai
English Lyrics by Carl Sigman
Spanish Lyrics by Marilena Amarai
Por Una Cabeza from “Scent of a Woman”
Lyrics by Alfredo Le Pera
Music by Carlos Gardel
No Llores Por Mí Argentina duet with Nicole Scherzinger from “Evita”
Lyrics and Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber – Tim Rice
Spanish Lyrics by Ignacio Artime – Jaime Azpilicuieta Perez
The Music of the Night from “The Phantom of the Opera”
Lyrics by Charles Hart – Richard Stilgoe
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
L’amore È Una Cosa Meravigliosa from “Love is a Many Splendored Thing”
Lyrics and Music by Paul Webster – Sammy Fain
Italian Lyrics by Alberto Curci
Sorridi Amore Vai from “La vita è bella” with The Adderley School for the Performing Arts Children’s Choir
Lyrics by Noa – Gil Dor
Music by Nicola Piovani
Italian Lyrics by Roberto Benigni
Nelle Tue Mani (Now We Are Free) from “Gladiator”
Music by Lisa Germaine Gerrard – Klaus Badelt – Hans Florian Zimmer
Italian adaptation by Matteo Curallo
The concert was arranged for Bocelli’s extraordinary voice by musical director David Foster. Bocelli’s prior Great Performances specials have consistently been some of PBS’ most popular concert performances, including Andrea Bocelli Live in Central Park and Andrea Bocelli: Love in Portofino.
With over 80 million albums sold worldwide, the acclaimed singer has been honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His Central Park concert in 2011 joined the roster of the park’s legendary live performances. And he had the honor of performing live in front of three United States presidents, three popes, and royal families all over the world.
Additional arrangements were composed by Humberto Gatica and Tony Renis, both of whom previously collaborated with David Foster on the Amore program.
Andrea Bocelli: Cinema was directed for television by David Horn. For Great Performances, Mitch Owgang is producer, Bill O’Donnell is series producer and David Horn is executive producer.
Great Performances is a production of THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET, and is funded by the Anne Ray Charitable Trust, Irene Diamond Fund, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, Rosalind P. Walter, The Agnes Varis Trust, The Starr Foundation, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, The Joseph & Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, and PBS.
Visit Great Performances Online at www.pbs.org/gperf for additional information about this and other programs.