This holiday season, internationally renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli is teaming up with his 24-year-old son Matteo Bocelli and 10-year-old daughter Virginia Bocelli for their first ever album together, A Family Christmas. Out now, the recording showcases their multi-generational musical talent in a range of festive favourites.
The first single released was ‘The Greatest Gift’ – a brand new, original track, written and arranged especially for this album, celebrating peace and love at Christmas time. Andrea, Matteo and Virginia sing in growing harmony, while the music swells towards a rousing final chorus with a string orchestra and choir accompaniment.
The album is produced by composer and multi-Grammy® and Academy Award® nominee Stephan Moccio (Celine Dion, The Weeknd, Miley Cyrus, Barbra Streisand), who has also contributed new arrangements and co-written ‘The Greatest Gift’ alongside Amy Wadge, Jonas Myrin and Andrea Bocelli.
A Family Christmas captures the Bocelli festive spirit: “We are offering our small, intimate, and heartfelt gift to anyone who wishes to enjoy the soundtrack of Christmas in the Bocelli home,” the family says. The album features new renditions of traditional carols arranged for all three voices, including ‘Away in a Manger’ and ‘Joy To The World’, plus popular Christmas tunes from around the world such as ‘Feliz Navidad’ and another brand new track, ‘Il Giorno Piu Speciale’, written by Federica Abbate, Cheope, Katoo and Andrea Bocelli. The trio of complementary voices intertwine and echo on the song ‘Do You Hear What I Hear?’, which provides a stirring opening to the album.
Each of the three family members gets a chance to shine on the album with solo tracks, duets and trios. For 10-year-old Virginia Bocelli, this is her first recording, having previously joined her father for a spine-tingling performance of ‘Hallelujah’ during 2020’s hugely popular Believe in Christmas concert, livestreamed from the Teatro Regio di Parma. She provides the tender opening to ‘Away in a Manger’ and ‘Over the Rainbow’, as well as performing solo on ‘When Christmas Comes to Town’.
Meanwhile, 24-year-old Matteo Bocelli is enjoying the start of his own successful solo recording career, after signing to Capitol Records in 2019. He shot to fame in 2018 after duetting with his father on the hit song ‘Fall on Me’ from Andrea’s best-selling album, Sì, which debuted at No. 1 in the US and UK charts. The emotive accompanying video, which features images of father and son through the years, has now surpassed 100 million views. Matteo and Andrea reunite on ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ and Matteo duets with Virginia on ‘Happy Xmas (War is Over)’, before taking a solo turn on ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’, which closes the album.
For Andrea Bocelli, one of the most celebrated classical singers in modern history, the chance to work with Matteo and Virginia on this album has been a source of great joy. “I think there is nothing more beautiful than making music with your kids,” he says. “I consider it a privilege.” As well as performing with his son and daughter on many of the Christmas songs, Andrea takes the lead on ‘The First Noël’ and ‘Buon Natale’.
Andrea’s emotive and instantly recognisable voice has earned him millions of fans around the world. In April 2020, he broke records with his emotionally charged Music for Hope performance from the historic Duomo cathedral in Milan. His unforgettable Easter performance ranks amongst the biggest musical live streams of all-time and the largest simultaneous audience for a classical live stream in YouTube history.
Reflecting on their new album A Family Christmas, Matteo concludes, “Singing these songs together, feeling the holiday warmth with my family is something really special. That’s what Christmas is about – making memories together to cherish forever. It’s really exciting to think that people will have a copy of our album sitting wrapped under the tree.”
‘A Family Christmas’ is available now on The Record Hub
