For Andrea Bocelli and his children, singing is a family business

In the meantime, her brother Matteo is all about relaxation. “I attempt to chill out as a lot as doable,” the 25-year-old explains. “The perfect medication on your voice is sleep.”

And as for 64-year-old Andrea, legendary tenor and their superstar father? No pre-show routine in any respect.

“No good-luck ritual, no fortunate allure,” Andrea explains. “We hold stress down by having a transparent conscience, residing as wholesome a life as doable and going through the general public with the correct quantity of seriousness and positivity.”

It’s a trio of views that coalesced for the primary time this 12 months as Virginia and Matteo joined Andrea for a nationwide tour in help of his newest album, aptly titled “A Household Christmas.” A follow-up to his blockbuster 2009 vacation effort “My Christmas,” one of many best-selling Christmas albums of all time, Andrea and his two kids take listeners on a seasonal experience by a collection of covers and authentic tracks that show a knack for goosebumps-yielding vocals runs of their genes.

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The overarching theme of the album, in response to Andrea, is an easy but highly effective one: “that household is a blessing, a supply of energy, a cornerstone of society.” Songs comparable to “The Best Present,” a heartfelt authentic ballad, mix the pop vocals of Virginia and Matteo with Andrea’s iconic voice, complemented by each an orchestra and choir.

“It’s a challenge that was actually conceived by a household for all households,” Andrea says, although he admits he “can also’t deny {that a} sturdy motivator was additionally the opportunity of spending extra time with my kids.”

The Italian tenor’s offspring occurred upon music in a purely natural manner. (Although he doesn’t sing onstage along with his household, even Andrea’s eldest son, Amos, who works as an aerospace engineer, is expert on the piano. “As for the music trade, he has stored his distance from it,” the patriarch says.)

Rising up, singing was a daily incidence for the Bocelli household round their sprawling Tuscan villa. “I by no means imagined I’d go on tour with my dad, however let’s simply say I used to be ready,” says Virginia, who first carried out onstage along with her father in the course of the pandemic. Andrea was set to sing the Leonard Cohen traditional “Hallelujah,” however the plan was for him to sing it in English.

“He didn’t need to be taught the English lyrics, and I used to be listening to this dialog between my mother and pa,” she remembers. “So I simply stated, ‘Oh, I can sing a little bit a part of it.’”

With that, an 8-year-old Virginia and her father took the stage in December 2020 on the Teatro Regio — Parma, Italy’s jewel field of a theater — and surrounded by flickering candles, delivered a young duet. It turned out to be the proper introduction: Whereas the efficiency was filmed, finally incomes 24 million views on YouTube, the theater was empty as a consequence of covid restrictions. “It’s a lot scarier with an viewers,” Andrea’s youngest says.

Matteo’s official singing begin at 18 was barely extra intimidating; he took his first bow along with his father on the Coliseum in Rome.

“Individuals suppose that performing subsequent to Andrea Bocelli is sort of powerful,” says Matteo, who first recorded the 2018 duet “Fall on Me” along with his father for the album “Si.” “However Andrea Bocelli can be simply my father, and the presence of your father could be very useful to have onstage with you.”

Along with the household Christmas challenge, Matteo can be hanging out on a pop profession of his personal. He’s signed with Capitol Data, the place he’s readying his debut album. He additionally lately contributed the tune “Cautionary Tale” to the 2022 fantasy movie “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” wherein he additionally seems, and lately duetted with Colombian singing star Sebastián Yatra on the observe “Till She’s Gone.” Earlier this 12 months, Matteo notably carried out alongside Andrea at Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker’s high-profile wedding ceremony in Portofino, Italy.

Nonetheless, Matteo is continuing into the household enterprise with a way of warning imparted on him by his father. “I believe my youngsters know properly that fame, per se, just isn’t a worth,” Andrea says. When he was Matteo’s age, Andrea had already accomplished regulation faculty on the College of Pisa and spent a 12 months as a court-appointed lawyer.

“It’s simple that being appreciated is a supply of satisfaction, however being well-known just isn’t an inherent high quality,” Andrea explains. “Genuinely, if one goals to accumulate true human depth, it’s an impediment, as a result of with fame, it’s simpler to lose contact with actuality. And in the event you don’t hold your toes firmly on the bottom, you threat getting misplaced. Each type of self-importance is an mental problem from which we attempt to hold our distance.”

But it surely doesn’t imply the Bocellis don’t benefit from the perks of an viewers, as seen at their cease earlier this month at New York’s Madison Sq. Backyard. Their present there, which has develop into an annual vacation custom, consisted of opera classics within the first half and a second act stuffed with Christmas cheer, in addition to Andrea’s pop hits comparable to “Time to Say Goodbye” and “Good.”

Because the present wrapped up and the household took their bows, Andrea’s kids walked him to the sting of the stage and down a collection of steps. (The tenor misplaced his sight when he was 12.) With the group nonetheless on their toes, Andrea might be seen conferring along with his youngsters earlier than deciding whether or not to come back again for an encore. It was a state of affairs that repeated itself a number of occasions because the viewers continued to cheer with every successive determination to sing one other tune.

“Dad simply stored eager to exit another time, another time, and we went out 5 occasions,” Virginia says. “He beloved listening to the love, the entire cheers and claps. Then on the finish we walked off earlier than taking one bow — left, proper and heart — all as a household.”