Italian Tenor Andrea Bocelli: Israel Left a Very Powerful Impression on Me

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, the best-selling classical musician of all time, said, writing in the Daily Mail on Sunday, that of all the stops in a long career of world tours, Israel was one of his favorites, .

“Places in the world I have especially enjoyed include Israel, which left a very powerful impression on me,” he wrote in the Mail ahead of the release this week of his latest album, “Love In Portofino.”

Last year, he also confessed his love of Israel to the UK Telegraph. “A country that has really resonated with me and I was really impressed with was Israel. I found that the whole country had a very special atmosphere. I was there to perform but it was one of the few places that I’ve visited over the years that I had some free time to explore, and I was hugely impressed by all the religious history there,” he said at the time.

Bocelli visited Israel in 2011 performing at Masada in collaboration with members of the Rishon Lezion Symphonic Orchestra and the opera choir. Prior to that he visited the Jewish state in 2008 as part of a celebration for President Shimon Peres’s birthday.

Bocelli write in the Daily Mail that touring takes up lots of his time. “Unfortunately, when I’m performing, the schedule usually takes me from the hotel to the concert hall and then to the airport. If I made more time when I’m abroad, it would mean spending less time at home with my family. And my family is the most important thing to me,” he said.

“My favorite concert is the one I do every year in the Teatro del Silenzio (Theatre of Silence), an open-air amphitheater situated in Lajatico, my home town. The theater hosts a concert by me once every July and lies silent the rest of the year. I perform here with special guests and it’s a wonderful occasion. Come to Tuscany for its beauty, but come next year and enjoy my music too,” he enthused.

Bocelli, who was born with glaucoma and lost his sight at the age of 12, has won fans across the globe and has sold over 80 million albums worldwide.

Bocelli at Masada

"It was almost as complex as building a new town, but we succeeded in bringing Bocelli to Masada"

After establishing six new towns and building the National Information & Relocation Center for populating the Negev & Galilee, bringing Professor Nouriel Roubini to lecture during the 2009 sub-prime economic crisis and producing Broadway shows supporting the Negev & Galilee; OR Movement marked up another achievement: A concert saluting the Negev & Galilee featuring legendary opera tenor Andrea Bocelli

Advancing the populating of the Negev & Galilee is not just establishing new towns or developing the area; to the OR Movement, the change includes a complete switch in the national thought process. 

A year and a half ago Professor Nouriel Roubini arrived to lecture at the economic conference in Israel as an honored guest and friend of the OR Movement, during the 2009 sub-prime economic crisis.  Since then, the organization has produced two separate fundraising events on Broadway for the Negev & Galilee, an international photography competition about the Negev, and on a daily basis, leads visitations from Knesset members, ministers, businessmen/women, artists and actors throughout the peripheral regions in Israel.

At last Sunday night, the NGO marked up another achievement, thanks to a partnership with the Israeli Opera and the Tamar Regional Council. This concert, saluting the Negev and Galilee at Masada features opera legend Andrea Bocelli, in which proceeds will go towards the completion of the first and only Negev Visitor Center to be opening next year in the Bloomfield Family Gateway to the Negev, in the heart of the old city of Be'er Sheva.

From left: Veronica Berti, Roni Flamer, President Shimon Peres, Andrea Bocelli, Dov Litvinoff and Ofir Fisher

Renewing values of old, with a modern touch

"The idea of bringing Andrea Bocelli to perform in Israel began three years ago during a conversation with one of our donors, Karen Abramson. We then decided to start talks with his people, while seeking sponsors for the event.  At a certain point we understood that this task may be a bit too big for us alone", explains VP and Co-Founder Ofir Fisher.  "Karen Abramson told the CEO of the Israeli Opera Hanna Munitz about the idea, which as it turned out was shared by all of us including Esther Mor from Hadassah WIZO.  She then turned to the Italian Ambassador in Israel Luigi Mattiolo.  It was through the Ambassador, a proposal was sent to Bocelli, who agreed to come to perform in Israel, and the rest is history".

"More often than not, people ask us about the connection between these events and these famous people coming to the Negev and Galilee", relates CEO of OR, Roni Flamer.  "People ask us what is the connection between OR and Professor Roubini and the economic conference?  What is our connection to the site visits with Governor of the Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer?  What is our connection with Ambassadors from foreign countries, movie makers and incredible artists like Andrea Bocelli?

"The answer is, we want to connect as many people as we can to the Israeli, Jewish, Zionist mission", Flamer explains.  "To renew old values with a modern touch; to speak in the language of young adults our age willing to take part in this mission on the tough issue of populating the Negev and the Galilee. We need to aim high and connect anyone we possibly can to this mission, anyway at all and in every corner of the world".

Haim Saban, Andrea Bocelli add up to $9 million-dollar-night for FIDF

It was an evening of money and music. Which isn’t terribly surprising when media mogul Haim Saban is your host. For one, he’s listed as a Forbes billionaire, but lesser known is his passion for music: In 1966, he played bass in an Israeli rock band, The Lions of Judah, and after that, he made his first fortune composing scores for television cartoons. So it wasn’t altogether unexpected that by combining his business acumen with his predilection for music that Saban was able to raise almost $9 million for the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces western regional chapter during last night’s gala dinner in Century City: First achieve your goal, then reward your team. The event, hosted for the fourth consecutive year by Saban and his wife, Cheryl, was a lesson in how to throw a party. There was the astonishing entertainment (Andrea Bocelli), the better-than-average food (smoked salmon salad), and syrupy videos of IDF soldiers designed to tug at the heartstrings. All of which proved that no one else in the Los Angeles Jewish community is quite as deft at enticing others to take up a cause than the Sabans. “At the conclusion of Hanukkah, we remember how the Maccabees triumphed in the face of odds,” Haim said while addressing the crowd. “Let’s not forget that the Jewish people overcame the Syrian-Greeks, the Roman empire, the Spanish Inquisition, the Russian pogroms, the Holocaust. We are a resilient people, a strong people, a successful people.” And with a defiant voice, as if he were speaking directly to Israel’s enemies, he said: “We are here to stay and stay forever.” And nothing ensures a place at the table like a whole lot of money. If there’s anything Saban knows well, it’s business—and a friendly challenge to his comrades went a long way last night when he kicked off a kind of bidding war that brought the fundraiser’s total from an initial $2.5 million to $8,750,000. “On the way in, Cheryl said to me, ‘I think we should match what we raise tonight,’” Saban told 1,000 dinner guests from the podium. “I said, ‘You’re the boss.’” The “unprecedented sum” of $2.5 million—which, until that moment had been the highest amount raised during the Sabans’ tenure as chairs—became $5 million. “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander, who struck the perfect pitch as the evening’s emcee quipped, “This is better than my temple building fund.” With pep and wit, Alexander prompted the crowd to follow Saban’s lead, gushing over Saban’s good looks and feigning romantic interest for laughs. “Who wants to become the second most attractive man in the room?” With that, Leo David, a former Israeli soldier himself and the founder of the FIDF western regional branch, stood up and pledged $1 million. “Mr. Leo David just became more handsome than Haim Saban,” Alexander said. Next, Paul Guerin, the president of the west coast FIDF chapter, pledged $1 million and after that, the floodgates opened… FIDF western regional director Miri Nash, dressed sharply in a black cocktail dress that accented her long blonde hair, began dashing around the room with a microphone in hand, tossing it off to anyone who wanted to pledge more for the pot. A 17-year-old named Dominic pledged $1,000; another family gave $18,000 on behalf of the Persian synagogue Nessah; yet another family promised $100,000; and on and on until the final major gifts—$500,000 from Guess jeans founder Paul Marciano and $1 million more from his brother, Maurice—concluded an exceptionally energizing and effective philanthropic ploy. Even at four times the amount expected, Alexander pressed on: “If anybody else would like to become attractive… God will write you into the book; you don’t even have to go to high holidays next year.” The intensity escalated even further when David Foster, the 16-time Grammy winning artist took over the mic and the piano for the musical portion of the evening. Surprisingly boisterous and funny, Foster invited American Idol runner-up Katherine McPhee to perform her rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” before introducing “the best singer in the entire world”—Andrea Bocelli—to come on stage for a 6-piece program that included hits “The Prayer” and “Time to Say Goodbye.” But the most tender part of the night was when 9-year-old piano prodigy Ethan Bortnick took the stage to perform Mozart and turned towards the IDF soldiers sitting in the front row, gushing: “You guys are my new heroes.”

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