Andrea Bocelli @ NIA

Oct 10 2006 By Roger Clarke, Birmingham Mail

ANDREA Bocelli is blessed with a voice which can touch the soul and he certainly touched a near sell-out audience at the NIA who gave the Tuscan tenor a well deserved, extended standing ovation.

Three quarters of the evening were devoted to opera with support from the fine baritone of Gianfranco Montresor and the superb soprano of Daniela Bruera with arias and duets from operas including Tosca, Carmen, IlTrovatore and La boheme.

Bocelli then changed the mood with songs from his latest pop release Amore where he was joined by vocalist Rosalia Misseri.

Behind them all was the Prague Chamber Choir and Czech National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Marcello Rota, who is well worth seeing in their own right. As the music changed so did they, moving seamlessly from symphony orchestra to Manitoban, to Henry Mancini to big band without missing a beat.

The pop section included standards such as Became Mucho and Somas Navios, It's Impossible, with Misseri and a song Bocelli helped write, Because We Believe.