01/11/26 07:02:00
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01/11 07:00 CST Andrea Bocelli will headline the Milan Cortina Winter Olympic
opening ceremony
Andrea Bocelli will headline the Milan Cortina Winter Olympic opening ceremony
By COLLEEN BARRY
Associated Press
MILAN (AP) --- Crossover tenor Andrea Bocelli will be among the headline
performers for the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Feb. 6,
joining the previously announced pop diva Mariah Carey, organizers said Sunday.
The opening ceremony will be centered in Milan's landmark San Siro soccer
stadium, featuring the Parade of Athletes and entertainment over the course of
the three-hour spectacle that is expected to be the most widely viewed moment
of the Games.
Reflecting the Milan Cortina Games' status as the most spread-out Olympics in
history, elements of the opening ceremony will also be conducted in three other
locations, allowing athletes from all far-flung disciplines to participate.
Moments will be beamed to the televised audience from Cortina in the heart of
the Dolomite mountains, Livigno in the Italian Alps as well as Predazzo in the
autonomous province of Trento.
The ceremony will also include a tribute to the late Italian fashion designer
Giorgio Armani, who died in September at the age of 91. Armani has long
designed the Italian team's Olympic uniforms, and his legacy as one of the
founders of Italian ready-to-wear is tightly tied to Milan, where he left his
mark with the Armani theater, Silos museum and sponsorship of the EA7 Emporio
Armani Milano basketball team.
Bocelli, a classically trained singer whose recordings include classical and
pop music, has performed for the coronation of King Charles III and for the
75th anniversary of the Italian Constitution in Rome. In a career-spanning
release titled "Duets" (30th Anniversary ), Bocelli sings in Italian, English,
French and Spanish, collaborating with musicians ranging from Karol G to Chris
Stapleton.
He will appear at the Olympic ceremony during a break from a world tour,
according to his official calendar, traveling the next day to perform at the
Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio on Feb. 7, followed by six other U.S.
dates.
Bocelli's performance "will constitute one of the most iconic moments of the
event, uniting the spectacle with the essence of Olympic values,'' organizers
said in a statement, adding that Bocelli's inclusion will "contribute a
contemporary and global tone to the narrative.''
Details about the ceremony, which is being produced by Marco Balich, a veteran
of more than a dozen Olympic ceremonies, have been trickling out over recent
months.
Carey, the first international star named to perform at San Siro, adds some
American pop-star pedigree to the opening event. The six-time Grammy award
winner announced her participation in an Instagram post saying, "Ci vediamo a
Milano,'' Italian for "See you in Milan."
Italian actors Sabrina Impacciatore, who appeared in the second season of HBO's
"The White Lotus," and Matilde De Angelis, who starred in the Netflix series
"The Law According to Lydia Poet,'' will also participate in the opening
ceremony, organizers have announced.
A crowd of 60,000 spectators is expected with millions more watching on
television.
Internationally acclaimed ballet star Roberto Bolle will headline the closing
ceremony, which is slated for Verona's ancient Roman Arena on Feb. 22.
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