“Elvis had some great songs,” says the Italian tenor.
Andrea Bocelli has boosted the popularity of opera as much as anyone since Pavarotti. Yet the multi-million-selling star of countless PBS pledge drives hasn’t totally erased opera’s image as the caviar of music: It’s ambrosia to some, but a lot of people think it tastes like salty fish.
The Italian tenor says opera’s main obstacles are elitism and a lack of effort.
“Opera can permeate the listener’s heart, but it requires a bit of effort to understand it in the beginning. It’s not easy listening music,” he says, speaking through a translator from his home in Italy.
The bigger stumbling block, he says, “is the behavior of the opera world itself, which closed in on itself and transformed it into a form of elite music. They’ve forgotten the roots of opera, which was the music of the people.”
The 56-year-old singer has brought opera back to the masses by diluting it with large doses of pop. When he plays American Airlines Center tonight, he’s likely to jump between Verdi opera classics, Sinatra tunes and Elvis hits like “Love Me Tender” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
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