Andrea Bocelli Tickets : Andrea Became The Biggest-selling Classical Album

Andrea Bocelli, grande ufficiale omri , born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist. Born with poor eyesight, he became totally blind at the age of twelve following a soccer accident.

Since winning the Newcomers section of the Sanremo Music Festival, in 1994,he has recorded thirteen solo studio albums, of both pop and classical music, two greatest hits albums, and eight complete operas, selling over 70 million copies worldwide. Thus, he is the biggest-selling solo artist in the history of classical music.

In 1998, he was named one of People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People. In 1999, his nomination for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards marked the first time a classical artist had been nominated in the category, since Leontyne Price, in 1961.The Prayer, his duet with Celine Dion for the animated film, The Quest for Camelot, won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same category. With the release of his classical album, Sacred Arias, Bocelli captured a listing in the Guinness Book of World Records, as he simultaneously held the top 3 positions on the U.S. classical albums charts.

Five of his albums have since reached the Top 10 on the Billboard 200, and a record-setting 7, have topped the classical albums charts, in the United States.

With over 5 million units sold worldwide, Sacred Arias became the biggest-selling classical album by a solo artist of all time, and with just under 20 million units sold worldwide, his 1997 pop album, Romanza, became the best-selling album by an Italian artist ever, as well as the best-selling album by a foreign artist in Canada,and a number of other countries in Europe and Latin America.

The album’s first single, “Time to Say Goodbye”, topped charts all over Europe, including Germany, where it stayed at the top of the charts for fourteen consecutive weeks, breaking the all-time sales record, with over 3 million copies sold in the country. He is widely regarded as the most popular Italian and classical singer in the world.

In 2006, Bocelli was made a Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, and on March 2, 2010, he was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for his contribution to Live Theater.

On July 25, Bocelli held the fifth and final edition of the Teatro del Silenzio, in his hometown of Lajatico, Tuscany, to an audience of 10,000, double the amount of the first edition of the annual Festival, held in 2006.

After performing with Spanish tenor, Placido Domingo and Welsh Mezzo-soprano, Katherine Jenkins on the previous edition of the Festival, in 2009, Bocelli’s guests included the only other surviving member of The Three Tenors, Spanish Catalan tenor, Jose Carreras, and Italian rock singer, Zucchero. Sculptures by Swiss artist Kurt Laurenz Metzler, who attended the concert, were exhibited during this year’s edition.

The Teatro del Silenzio has in past incorporated sculptures by artists such as Arnaldo Pomodoro and Igor Mitoraj. Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, who was also in attendance, donated a Bronze statue she had made of Bocelli, to the city of Lajatico, in the afternoon just before the concert.

Bocelli was also awarded the Pisano Doc, during the dress rehearsal for the concert, on July 24, “in recognition for a great citizen, who with his extraordinary art and his humanity brings great prestige, honor and respect to the city of Pisa,” and received, the 2010 Premio Lunezia nel mondo, during a private ceremony held in July 21, for “the musical-literary quality of his songs.”

In 2006, Bocelli influenced the municipality of his hometown Lajatico to build an outdoor theatre, the “Teatro del Silenzio”.Bocelli serves as its honorary president and performs for one night only, every July, the rest of the year, the theatre remains silent.

Since the opening in 2006, he has held 5 concerts, in every July, with guests ranging from Opera singers Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras to Classical crossover artists Sarah Brightman and Katherine Jenkins, and Italian rock and pop stars Zucchero, Laura Pausini, and Elisa. Bocelli’s guests have also included instrumentalists Lang Lang, Chris Botti and Kenny G. The 2007 edition of the “Teatro del Silenzio” was released on DVD, in 2008.