While everyone is stuck at home celebrating Easter with their quarantine loved ones, Andrea Bocelli kept some of the Easter tradition alive and delivered a special performance at the Milan Duomo.
By the invitation of the City and the Duomo cathedral of Milan, Bocelli gave a solo performance titled “Andrea Bocelli: Music for Hope” in Italy that was live streamed worldwide on YouTube. Before the performance, they showed footage of empty streets in Italy while his voice could be overheard offering hope that the day will serve as a “universal symbol of rebirth,” amid the pandemic.
“On the day in which we celebrate the trust in a life that triumphs, I’m honored and happy to answer ‘Si’ to the invitation of the City and the Duomo of Milan. I believe in the strength of praying together; I believe in the Christian Easter, a universal symbol of rebirth that everyone – whether they are believers or not – truly needs right now,” Bocelli said.
Continuing, he added “Thanks to music, streamed live, bringing together millions of clasped hands everywhere in the world, we will hug this wounded Earth’s pulsing heart, this wonderful international forge that is reason for Italian pride. The generous, courageous, proactive Milan and the whole of Italy will be again, and very soon, a winning model, engine of a renaissance that we all hope for. It will be a joy to witness it, in the Duomo, during the Easter celebration which evokes the mystery of birth and rebirth.”
Dressed in a tux, Bocelli performed inside the Duomo cathedral of Milan, where he sang “Panis Angelicus,” “Ave Maria,” Sancta Maria” and “Domine Deus.”
He finished the performance outside of the Duomo while he sang John Newton’s “Amazing Grace,” as the camera showed empty streets of Paris, London and NYC.
Watch the full performance now.