It’s an awe-inspiring sight seeing Andrea Bocelli singing in an empty cathedral. The drone footage of deserted streets and piazzas in Milan and outside the city's Duomo, added a little pinch in the heart thinking that these areas were once lively and filled with people roaming around.
On Easter Sunday, the Italian opera singer, who’s been blind since 12, sent a message of hope singing a selection of religious songs that touched the hearts of millions around the globe.
The concert, which aims to bring together people isolated during the coronavirus lockdown and to raise money for protective equipment for medical staff, also features organist Emmanuelle Vianelli playing by the altar while the 61-year-old tenor sings a few meters away.
Billed Music for Hope: Live From Duomo di Milano, the livestream concert featured traditional prayer songs "Panis Angelicus," "Ave Maria," "Sancta Maria" and "Domine Deus."
Bocelli didn’t talk in between songs. Wearing a black suit, he only spoke at the onset saying, “On the day we celebrate the trust in a life that triumphs, I'm honored and happy to answer 'si.'"
"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. Thanks to music, streamed live, bringing together millions of clasped hands everywhere in the world, we will hug this wounded Earth's pulsing heart,” he continued.
The performance was punctuated by a stunning finale, a rendition of “Amazing Grace” in a cappella. Singing in front of Duomo, he ended the song with the lines “Was blind, but now I see" after the camera shots of empty sidewalks and streets around famed landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, London's Trafalgar Square and New York's Times Square.
According to YouTube, the 25-minute livestreamed concert by the Italian tenor reached more than 2.8 million concurrent peak viewers in the largest simultaneous audience for a classical live stream in YouTube history.
At the same time, the video received more than 28 million views from across the globe in its first 24 hours. As of this writing, the video has amassed more than 36 million views.
