Andrea Bocelli will grace the Shanghai Grand Stage tonight with his angelic voice.

He will perform the Duet of Puccini's La Boheme with Maria Luigia Borsi, a famous young soprano from Italy.

Bocelli will also sing Time to Say Goodbye, the best selling single in 1996, with Chinese soprano Huang Ying.

The program covers almost all the classic arias, duets and folk songs in Italy such as Puccini's Madame Butterfly, Tosca, Turandot, La Boheme, Verdi's La Traviata, Nabucco, Torna a Surriento and Santa Lucia Luntana.

Bocelli has also invited Marcello Rota, the renowned Italian conductor, to take the baton of the 100-year-old Shanghai Symphony Orchestra as accompaniment.

Born on September 22, 1958, Bocelli grew up on the family farm in Lajatico, a close-knit farming community set among the vineyards and olive groves of rural Tuscany. Displaying rare musical talent from an early age, Bocelli started to learn the piano at six, later playing both flute and saxophone. His love of opera was also apparent from an early age.

Graduating with a law degree, Bocelli spent a year as a court-appointed lawyer, before embarking on a make-or-break attempt at singing. He approached the legendary tenor, Franco Corelli, known for working with some of the greatest voices in the world, who readily agreed to take Bocelli as his pupil.

In 1992, Bocelli began his rise to fame.

The blind tenor, now 45, has not only won over fans but celebrities in pop and opera circles.

Pop diva Celine Dion who worked with Bocelli on the song The Prayer, said: "If God had a voice, it would be that of Andrea Bocelli's."

The most renowned Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti believes Bocelli is his most likely successor as the best in the world.

Bocelli's outstanding skills at interpreting both opera and pop, two totally different art forms, have amazed his fans.

He revealed he dealt with opera and pop in the same way as others learned two different languages.

"Opera is like my first language and I have loved it since my childhood. Later, I came to know pop songs, and I consider them my favorite pastime. Then I naturally melted the operatic techniques into pop songs. "

In terms of opera, Bocelli prefers Verdi and Puccini's works and he regards Francesco as a great influence on his opera singing.

He said he has met a lot of Chinese students learning opera singing in Italy who have a different style to that of Italian singers and offer the local audience a fresh approach.

Performance Details:

Date: December 3, 2003  7:15 PM

Venue: The Shanghai Grand Stage

Ticket Price: 3000 -- 300 yuan

(China Daily December 3, 2003)