Steven Mercurio walked out on stage to open the concert with the Overture to La Forza del Destino. From the way the audience responded to this piece we felt this concert would be like no other! The excitement had begun. If we thought the crowd went wild for Steven, it was nothing compared to the cheers that followed when he walked Andrea out on stage. His presence, simply put, brought synergy.

His opening with Di Quella Pira was exactly what he needed to do to get this audience on their feet. From there on, there was no point of return. The powerful voice of Andrea filled every nook and cranny of the building, aria after aria, duet after duet, song after song. No one could escape the emotion he projected in each piece. The audience was in total ecstasy all throughout the concert, demonstrating his affection at each step of the concert. Andrea could do nothing but smile, smile, smile with great humility, but an enormous satisfaction.

The soprano, Sandra Lopez, performing in her native Puerto Rico, matched Andrea’s voice in duets that brought the audience to their feet one after the other, time after time. Sandra, as a good Latin, is very expressive. We were pleased to see a beautiful rapport with Andrea who felt extremely comfortable singing with her. There were exquisite exchanges between them.

Steven’s conducting was superb. The winning combination with Andrea continues! It is so much fun to see him on that podium! He brought a note of humor and entertainment interacting with the soprano while she sang Les Filles De Cadiz. The public thoroughly enjoyed his joyful approach to conducting, but when he directed the Philharmonic Orchestra of Puerto Rico in the William Tell Overture, the applause that came over the Coliseum was near deafening. He brought the house down, like only he can do when he directs this piece.

This concert had all the ingredients for success. A brand new audience, a brand new venue, an orchestra composed of native Puerto Ricans who followed the expert conducting of Steven Mercurio to the letter, beautiful songs from the new album, and an audience eager to see for the first time, the Andrea Bocelli they began to love by listening to his recordings. Andrea’s performance was a dream come true for thousands. Andrea surpassed their expectations. He made us feel as if this was the first concert we had ever attended. Just the same he did to the Puerto Rican audience.