Around 7,600 individuals went to Ta' Qali on Saturday night, determined to enjoy a close encounter with Andrea Bocelli, and to show him how much they loved him. If the encounter was not at all that close, the enjoyment and love was constant, at times delirious. The audience was fulfilled with more than its expectations. The charming Italian tenor with the voice and range to match his varied repertoire was beautifully and ably complemented by Malta's very own national orchestra, and soprano Lydia Caruana.
Bocelli may have performed to such a huge audience, though I doubt he has done that often in a location that was the 10,000 square metre tent at Ta' Qali. But Saturday's would have by far been the National Orchestra's and Lydia Caruana's largest audience. Sitting among it, we saw the huge sweep of ourselves on the screens that dotted the tent-hall, facilitating participation.
The musicians and Lydia faced that massive audience, and were not daunted but inspired by it. Andrea Bocelli was the billed star attraction. After a slow start with E lucevan le stelle, he gave an impeccable performance, though he arrived in Malta a mere four hours before the concert started. The orchestra not only provided him with exquisite rendering of the music he sang to. Conducted with passion by Carlo Bernini, Bocelli's steadfast assistant in wherever and in whatever medium he expresses his talents, it was itself a very bright star of the evening.
The orchestra's rendering of the Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo was out of this world. I was told Maestro Bernini had tears in his eyes when it was rehearsed on Friday. Tears of joy in the audience at sharing such an experience could not have been far away. Lydia Caruana starred in her own right, alongside Bocelli, and together with him and Baritone Marcin Bronikowski, from Poland, and in particular in her fine rendering of Si, mi chiamano Mimi.
Lydia, who studies with soprano Antoinette Miggiani, has sung abroad, notably in Vienna and Dublin, among other places, if never to such an audience, 300 of whom bought tickets at the door on the night. If the audience was determined to enjoy Andrea Bocelli, and to love him, he grew more and more determined to give it his best as the evening progressed. If his voice enthralled, he stole the heart with his dedication of Mamma to his mother, on the occasion of her birthday, making me recall my goose pimples as a young boy, when the radio would play Mamma, sung by Beniamino Gigli.
The night with stars shining brightly under the huge high-tech tent at the new Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre, was a test for that entrepreneurial initiative. The test passed muster beyond the fruitful collaboration with Renaissance Productions, who contracted Bocelli. The organisation on the night was good. If the screens blanked at times, the blip was more tolerable on a first evening than members of the audience who were let in after the concert had started.
If I say I enjoyed Bocelli more in a concert at Taormina's Teatro Greco, and Joseph Calleja at Manoel Island, that is not to downplay Saturday's success. The venues were more appropriate. But then, the best approach is to have a range of venues to choose from. That is what Anton Tabone and Amabile Zammit apply themselves to. I wonder if careful use of Hagar Qim will ever be considered.
It will be a massive challenge to fill the Ta' Qali conference tent for an evening of first-class entertainment to the extent of Saturday night. But the centre is multi-purpose, and that's how those who run it will hope to make it move forward.
As the year draws to an end it will host the first version of L-Istrina in its second coming. May many flock or call there on the night, to demonstrate that sharing is a talent that can make each and everyone a silent star.