26M Watch ‘Bocelli: Music For Hope’ UMG YouTube Broadcast [VIDEO]

UPDATED: More than 3 million watched live on YouTube Sunday as Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli performed inside an empty Duomo cathedral in Milan, Italy.

Within hours that number had ballooned to more than 26 million as sequestered fans across time zones watched a replay if the UMG produced event.

Accompanied only by the cathedral organist, Emanuele Vianelli, Bocelli sung pieces that included Ave Maria and Amazing Grace. He opened unaccompanied – a poignant moment, in a quiet city and world under lockdown.

The recording was released digitally on audio streaming services within hours.

The Sunday event was promoted by the City of Milan and the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo and produced by Sugar Music, Universal Music Group and YouTube.

Bocelli says of the event: 

“I will cherish the emotion of this unprecedented and profound experience, of this Holy Easter which this emergency has made painful, but at the same time even more fruitful, one that will stay among my dearest memories of all time. That feeling of being at the same time alone – as we all are in the presence of the Most High – yet of expressing the voice of the prayer of millions of voices, has deeply impressed and moved me. Love is a gift. Making it flow is the primary purpose of life itself. And I find myself once again indebted to life. My gratitude goes to all those who made this possible, the City of Milan and the Duomo, and to all those who accepted the invitation and joined in a planetary embrace, gathering that blessing from Heaven that gives us courage, trust, optimism, in the certainty of our faith.”

Bocelli and his foundation are involved in an emergency COVID-19 campaign to help hospitals purchase the equipment necessary to protect their medical staff with donations through GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/wk67wc-abfxcamerino.