Introduction
With this review, I hope to take you with me to the Andrea Bocelli concert I attended recently in Budapest.
I have been thinking about how I should start writing this review about Andrea Bocelli’s concert in Budapest, Sunday, November the 17th 2019. There are so many things I want to share, and I want this review to be perfect. I wish I could share the full concert with everyone, including some details that will touch your heart.
Unfortunately, I can’t share the full concert, and I also can’t share every picture I took and every video I made. Regarding the pictures, I had an easy task, these are usually filtered quickly and divided into the ones I will share and those that I won’t share. But in this case, it’s the videos that will move the reader, and therefore I feel some extra pressure finding the best ones to share.
Andrea Bocelli is such an inspiring person to me, years ago I’ve been touched by his voice (without understanding a single word he sang) and my love for him only grew bigger over the years. Especially his duets with many other great singers from around the world are so beautiful that I can listen to them endlessly.
Last year I missed Andrea Bocelli's concert in Budapest, and honestly, it was high on my bucket list to visit one of his concerts. Just weeks before the actual concert I decided to contact the organization of the concert here in Budapest. I explained how Andrea is such an inspiration to me, and unfortunately will miss another concert of him in Budapest, proposing them to do a collaboration. When they agreed, I was in tears and couldn't wait for the actual day of the concert.
A huge surprise was waiting for us at the Papp László Arena
On the day of the concert, we could pick up our tickets at the ticket office between 5 and 7 pm. Arriving at the Arena it's getting more and more crowded with people attending the concert. We stood in line, and totally missed the fact that we had to get our tickets at the smaller building that we just passed. So we walked back and were assisted immediately. I showed them my id and was given an envelope with 2 tickets.
Excitement started to build at this point. We went back in line, and started to wonder what our seats would be. We tried to look at the info on our tickets, and compare it to the info inside the Arena with directions. Then it hit us that our tickets had 001 in the seating information, meaning we were probably seated very close to the stage.
All the way on the right, we had to take the stairs down and there we entered the ground floor of the Arena. The sitting areas were divided into blocks, and our area was the one on the left, but still in front of the stage. Then we noticed the C meant we were sitting at row 3. Wow! We felt like 2 VIP's!
Patently we waited until the concert would start.
Introducing some of Andrea's guests
Andrea Bocelli didn't perform alone, but there were many people with him on stage. I will first introduce you to some of these people before I take you with me to share memorable moments from the concert.
Marcello Rota - Conductor
Without a maestro, there is no orchestra. The respected Italian Marcello Rota has quite the resume.
Teo Gertler - Violin
When this little man appeared on stage, everyone was touched. A child that has the gift playing the violin is touching to see. I found this video where he is doing a rehearsal with Andrea Bocelli in Budapest before the concert. I have to share it so you can enjoy this talented little man totally in his element.
Christine Allado
Christine Maria Allado has quite the resume with her 24 years of age only. This woman has a voice that blows you away. I knew at the moment she started singing, that she is a star meant to be on stage. She has performed in musicals such as Phantom of the Opera, if you want to read more about her biography, you can visit her website
Anastasiya Petryshak
As soon as Anastasiya enters the stage, the crowd is in awe. She is beautiful and her dress only complementing her. But more importantly, she's a talented violinist. I enjoyed every second of her time on stage.
The last, but not least, guest
I have one more super talented singer to introduce here, unfortunately, I've tried to find out her name without any success. This also caused the delay of this review being published. My apologies that I can't tell you anything else than that she is amazing and has wonderful chemistry with Andrea Bocelli. I hope that someone tells me her name, so I can add it to my review because she deserves all the credits to be mentioned.
Memorable moments
Although the concert was great from start to end, I want to share a few memorable moments with you:
If only - Andrea Bocelli & Christine Alado (Anastasiya Petryshak on the violin)
On the violin: Anastasiya Petryshak
Con Te Partirò - Andrea Bocelli
The part where Andrea starts singing at 22 seconds. It's so great. His voice, it's amazing. I still get goosebumps listening to this one.
Andrea Bocelli: A man of few words
Andrea Bocelli, a man of few words (at least during the concert) .. he literally let the music speak for him. I could see by looking at his facial expressions that he was touched by the music as well, several times I saw him getting emotional and even more times I saw him smile enjoying the music or the standing ovations he received from the guests.
Honestly, he didn’t need to say anything, we all felt the music and the emotions that belonged with the music. It was an experience I will never forget.
The crowd and ballet dancers..
On my youtube channel you can find two videos of lesser quality where Andrea sings Ave Maria (Teo Gertler on the violin), this reminded me of my grandmother's cremation. I believe many will enjoy these, so if you can ignore the video quality, they are worth listening to.
Hopefully, I was able to take you back with me to the concert while reading this review. To me, it was a night that I will never forget.
Special thanks to Andrea Bocelli and all his guests, the orchestra and not to forget the organization who made this night possible!
Thank you for reading,
~Anouk
