While Leslie Duran potters around the house, adjusting cushions, and puts her eight-month-old baby to bed, she still wonders if the last weekend was just a dream.
As most of the island will know by now, legendary opera singer Andrea Bocelli performed in Cayman at Pedro St. James on Saturday, 25 Feb., and flautist Duran was one of handful of local musicians chosen to play with him. Those who attended were treated to an intimate concert presented by the LRN Foundation, featuring Bocelli; his longtime collaborator and friend, maestro Carlo Bernini; soprano Maria Aleida; and string quartet CayForte, along with other special guest performances.
Struggling to find the words to describe her experience, Duran said she believes she got her bravery from her late father, who was a classic flautist.
“They asked me to play, and I said ‘yes’, but then I thought, ‘Oh my goodness… what have I done!’,” she said, explaining that it was an overwhelming offer.
She certainly did her Dad proud on stage with Bocelli, playing a number of pieces, including ‘Con Te Partiro’.
“Even now, a few days later, I keep asking myself, ‘Did that happen?’,” she said.
Yoan Tamayo Garcia, who plays the viola with CayForte, looks back on that night with reverence equal to Duran’s, along with a generous helping of joyous incredulity. He was first contacted in January about the concert, when Marius Gaina, director of Cayman Arts Festival, gave him a call, saying he had a surprise for him.
“He said, ‘I think you’re going to like this’,” Garcia said, adding that Gaina went on to explain that Bocelli was coming to Cayman to perform, and that they were looking for a local string quartet to accompany him.
“I was really excited when I heard the news, and Marius felt we were good enough to accept the challenge,” Garcia said. “Besides, we were the only string quartet on the island anyway,” he laughed.
The musicians received the music they would be expected to play, approximately six weeks before the big date, covering all the songs they would need to rehearse in order to be prepared.
With Bocelli currently on a world tour that has him crisscrossing the globe, from the US, Mexico and Brazil to arenas in the likes of Italy, Germany, Portugal, Austria, Greece and Spain, there was no time for CayForte to practise with the man himself. Nonetheless, they gave the task the level of attention it deserved, and when Bernini arrived on the island and heard them play, he was clearly impressed.
“I was expecting marathon rehearsals,” Garcia said, adding that Bernini said they only needed to practise a little, based on the aptitude of the local musicians and their interpretation of the material they had been given.
The concert night was “a life-changing experience”, he said. “It wasn’t just the fact that we shared the stage with a world-class performer; it was that he was available to take pictures with us as well.
“For me as a musician, it was magical. I was playing songs I’d been hearing since I was a child. To have him singing ‘Amazing Grace’… it just doesn’t get any better than that.”
An added bonus for Garcia was that soprano Aleida was actually from the same town as him in Cuba. “She went from there to become this opera singer travelling the world,” Garcia said. “How amazing.”
When asked about his personal highlight of the night, Garcia didn’t hesitate.
“The grand finale was the pinnacle. Bocelli sang ‘Nessun Dorma’ and people in the audience were standing, crying, shouting… even before he had finished the piece. It was emotional and something really, really remarkable.
“I’ll just never forget it.”
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