For Andrea Bocelli, Music Reflects His Passion for Life

Beloved tenor sees each day ‘as an infinite series of unforgettable moments’

Gayle Jo Carter,

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Published October 21, 2024

AARP (Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

Famed Italian operatic tenor Andrea Bocelli, 66, is getting ready to celebrate 30 years in the music business in a big way. First up is a new album, Duets, out Oct. 25. The 32-track collection features many of Bocelli’s most beloved musical collaborations over the past three decades, including songs with Ed Sheeran, Céline Dion, 56, Dua Lipa, Jennifer Lopez, 55, and Luciano Pavarotti. It also includes new duets recorded especially for the album with musical superstars such as Shania Twain, 59, Chris Stapleton, Gwen Stefani, 55, and Marc Anthony, 56, as well as two of his children, Matteo, 27, and Virginia, 12. “The album in some ways is a testament to my entire life as an artist, reflected in the voices of many beloved and magnificent companions along this journey,” Bocelli tells AARP. And on Nov. 8, a concert film about the making of Duets, Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration, arrives in theaters. Bocelli shares how he chooses his collaborators, what he likes to do when not making music and when he’ll know it's time to retire.

This interview was conducted over email with an interpreter. It has been edited for length and clarity.

How do you choose who to make a duet with?

When I interpret a song, I need to fall in love with it first to give it meaning. When I sing with a vocal partner, either on stage or in the recording studio, it means that we are both attuned to those feelings. What I would like to underscore is my great satisfaction in finally putting together a double album featuring almost all of my greatest duets over the past 30 years of my career, together with a few new collaborations.

You had a health scare late last year and had to cancel some performances. How are you feeling now?

I’m back in tip-top shape. Unfortunately, we have to learn to coexist with viruses. The precautions I usually take are enough to safeguard my health and my vocal performance, but the seasonal flu once in a while gets the best of my throat. I was very upset for the inconvenience it inevitably caused my audience. But everything is in the Lord’s hands. All I can do, every day, is lift my gaze up to the sky and, always with gratitude, ask for help, pray and whisper: “Thy will be done.”

Are you doing anything differently to stay fit and healthy since that happened?

My routine is the same as always. My body is my musical instrument, so I try to keep fit exercising and practicing sports and not indulging in excesses. In the everyday life of a singer, study is also fundamental. Training must be consistent, just as for an athlete. As Maestro Franco Corelli would say: “Even with a Stradivari violin, if it breaks, you can hope to buy a new one. But you only have one voice, and if you ruin it, you won’t be able to get another one!”

How has your outlook on life changed in your 60s?

Every season of our life has its beauty. But it is also true that while gaining a bit more wisdom, we lose many other things. However, I remain very much in love with life, in every aspect.

Your wife, Veronica Berti, is your manager/producer. What are the challenges, if any, working with your spouse?

I would define what I have with my wife as a “meeting of souls.” She is my companion, friend, lover and accomplice in both the joys and sorrows of life. We have faced life’s battles together. Wherever the wind blew, we took things in stride. She proved to be brave and, from the start, she thrust herself into my life, withstanding those winds with strength and a positive and constructive attitude. In our family as well as our work, she is the electric current that injects energy into things and makes them run in perfect harmony.

As you reflect back on 30 years in the music business, what advice would you give your younger self?

When I was a young man, I was impulsive and full of energy. I would have a lot of advice to give that version of me who was able to mellow and grow a bit wiser. For instance, when I was 18, I would define myself as agnostic. I put the crucial issue of existence on the backburner. I would like to help that young man understand something — believing that life is ruled by chance may be convenient, but it's hardly logical or sensible. In addition, I would encourage him to enjoy everyday life as an infinite series of unforgettable moments, cherishing every encounter, every feeling and experience.

andrea bocelli performs on stage in a duet

Andrea Bocelli performs at the Teatro del Silenzio in Florence, Itay, with duet partner Laura Pausini.

Luca Rossetti

Who gave you the best advice and what was it?

The first important piece of advice outside of my family that I treasure was given to me by my elementary school teacher, Ines Giamprini. She said to me: “Never forget that it was the good Lord who gave you the gift of your voice.”

Besides music, what are your passions? 

I love the sea. In the summer, I try to spend as much time as possible sailing. I love horseback riding in the Tuscan countryside where I was born. I go back there as often as my professional commitments allow me to. I am a soccer fan, but I also follow boxing. I am a voracious reader, and since I was a boy, I've loved challenging myself playing chess. I am also continuing a family tradition — wine production. From our ancestors, who were sharecroppers, my brother Alberto and I inherited the love, gratitude and respect for the land we come from. I also make a lot of time for the Andrea Bocelli Foundation. The philanthropic activities I carry out through the foundation reflect a time-old choice that I can sum up as the will to pay homage to beauty and say yes to what is good.

What artists/music do you listen to?

My preference, whether singing or listening, is always the operatic repertoire. I am particularly fond of the interpretations of artists who were already my favorites as a child: Franco Corelli, Beniamino Gigli, as well as Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. I am always very curious, though, especially when traveling. I listen to the radio and as I flip through the channels, I come across new pop songs in many countries, some of which are wonderful.

Will you record more music with your children?

Nothing is more beautiful to me than making music with my children [sons, Amos, 29, and Matteo, 27, with first wife Enrica Cenzatti, 55, and daughter Virginia, 12, with Berti]. I consider it a privilege, so I hope there will be new opportunities in the future to repeat the experience we had recording the album A Family Christmas, which was conceived by a family for all families. Being together was an exciting adventure: three voices, three seasons of life, three sensitivities that are inevitably different but tied together by strong bonds of affection.

Do you have any plans to retire?

Nothing lasts forever. I can serenely think of a day when I will wake up and no longer find that vocal quality in my voice that I have tried to build and maintain through the years. That will be the day I retire. In the meantime, for now and God willing while I still have the strength in me, I will continue to share moments of lightheartedness and good music with my audiences around the world.

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Gayle Jo Carter is a former entertainment editor at USA WEEKEND, who during her 30-year reporting and editing career, has worked at USA TODAY, Voice of America and Feature Story News. When not interviewing high-profile people, she’s teaching reformer Pilates classes and doing her best to raise two empathetic, curious, healthy young people to adulthood.

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