Celebrating his remarkable 30-year career, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, alongside his son Matteo, unveiled a stirring new rendition of ‘Time To Say Goodbye,’ produced and arranged by acclaimed composer Hans Zimmer.
The father-son duo debuted their rendition of the iconic song at the Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, paying tribute during the In Memoriam segment to luminaries such as the late ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry, ‘Harry Potter’ legend Michael Gambon, and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ star Richard Lewis.
Reflecting on the significance of the song, Andrea Bocelli, 65, remarked, “It is the song of my life, it is the melody that represents me in the eyes of the world: reinventing it, thanks to the collaboration with Hans Zimmer, and singing it together with my son Matteo, represents an exciting challenge. It will be a new debut (and it is part of a larger upcoming project), and I am happy that it will take place on the same Oscar stage that already hosted me in ’99 together with my friend Céline Dion.”
Matteo, 26, expressed his reverence for ‘Time to Say Goodbye,’ stating, “‘Time to Say Goodbye’ is more than a song to me, it’s my family’s national anthem, it’s the soundtrack to hundreds of memories. Singing it with my father in a new orchestration is a great honour, and to sing it on the Oscars stage is simply a dream come true!”
Zimmer, 66, added his perspective on the collaboration, saying, “It was an honour and a thrilling challenge to find a new musical perspective on a masterpiece; and to provide a cinematic landscape to two of the greatest voices in the world.”
The reimagined version of the classic song is part of a broader project marking Andrea Bocelli’s three-decade milestone in the industry.
Originally released in Italian as ‘Con te partirò,’ and later in English as a duet with Sarah Brightman, ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ propelled Andrea Bocelli to international acclaim in the 1990s.
This collaboration isn’t the first time Andrea has joined forces with his son Matteo; they previously collaborated on the festive LP ‘A Family Christmas’ and their popular duet ‘Fall On Me.’
