In the preview, on the night of Monday, February 26, the second of Viña 2024 appeared to be one of the most diverse. The mix of audiences to see the tenor Andrea Bocelli and the Argentine pop duo Miranda gave a particular setting to the day. But the Italian show was marked as one of those not to be missed. “Tonight is going to be historic,” announced María Luisa Godoy as she came out to greet the audience along with Pancho Saavedra, before the start of the television broadcast, around 9:30 p.m.
Although it was one of the sold out days, people arrived at Quinta Vergara on time. At the start of the television broadcast it was still possible to see some patches in the audience, while there was still an audience entering the venue.
And the start was worthy of that expectation. As if it were a performance in a theater, the orchestra plus the choir led by maestro Steven Mercurio, started with a solo performance of Carmina Burana, a classical piece that the Monster received with a standing ovation. At that moment it coincided with the entry on the scene of Bocelli, who immediately showed off his ability with a forceful interpretation of La donna è mobile, from Verdi’s opera Rigoletto. A shocking moment, sustained with a clean and well-defined sound.
Bocelli, who arrived in Chile on the night of Sunday the 25th on a private flight to the Torquemada airfield, has just performed in several cities in the United States. Wearing a blue jacket and a sober black jacket, he made a superb entrance and even left room for the entrance of the Puerto Rican lyrical singer Larisa Martínez (who has accompanied him in her shows for 3 years), while he made a discreet exit. In some way, music was the protagonist.
It is not the first time that a lyrical singer has performed at the Viña Festival. In 1974, half a century ago, when the Festival was deciding between names like Carlos Ansaldo, Vicente Gaponov, Izidor Handler and Dr. Luis Sigall, the famous chillanejo tenor Ramón Vinay (for whom Bocelli declared he felt admiration, in addition to the producer Humberto Gatica) was president of the competition jury.
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Twenty years later, the Spanish Plácido Domingo had a brief presentation at Viña 1994, where he even sang a version for the universal Gracias a la vida by Violeta Parra, in addition to performing songs from the popular Latin American songbook. Five years later, in 1999, the French soprano Emma Shapplin appeared, with her fusion of lyrical singing, synthpop and rock.
Andrea Bocelli’s proposal is to present small pieces of learned music, such as Granada by Agustín Lara or Funiculí funiculá by L Denza. At times he is accompanied by Martínez, with whom he even dances a few bars of waltz on stage. He was also accompanied by violinist Caroline Campbell, who performed J Gade’s Tango Jaoluise. Meanwhile, the Monster was just a tamed beast that followed the show with absolute interest. Even at times Bocelli left the stage to give way to a couple of dancers, who focused the public’s attention on the Quinta Vergara and social networks. In fact, after 10:00 p.m. Andrea Bocelli was a trending topic on X (previously known as Twitter), with a whopping 5,233 posts.
In total, along with Bocelli, 74 musicians and 40 choristers from the Santiago Metropolitan Orchestra took the stage, which adds up to a team of 114 professionals, something that until now had not happened at the Festival. In the history of the Viña Festival there are few shows with such a display on stage. For example, in 2017, the singer Isabel Pantoja was accompanied by an ensemble of 90 musicians, and for her part, Sting sang with 50 musicians in his celebrated presentation in 2011, one of the best Anglo shows that have passed through the Quinta Vergara.
The second part of the show focuses on the more pop repertoire. At that moment songs like All by myself, in the voice of the singer Pia Toscano, and even Bésame mucho, the immortal bolero originally written by Consuelito Vásquez, which the Italian recorded for his album Amore (2006) with the musical production of the Chilean Humberto, appear. Gatica. The hit Vivo por ella followed, sung in Italian, which was followed by the absolutely shaken Quinta. Then she invited Matteo, her son, to sing songs Fall on me, Dime and the closing with the classic Quando, quando, quando.
The audience rewarded the show with applause that seemed grateful like few other times. And by the way, came the ritual of the delivery of the gold and silver Seagulls, strongly requested by the Monster. The trophies were prepared in advance, as they have a plaque whose legend is written in the braille system, taking into account the singer’s blindness. A minimal gesture of attention for a show that will surely go down in Viña Festival memorabilia. “Tonight we experienced a memorable moment,” said Pancho Saavedra. The Monster’s overwhelming applause confirms this. The show also achieved high ratings, averaging 35.4 rating points and with a peak of 41.2 points at 11:08 p.m.
2024-02-27 07:16:59
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