Celine Dion has said: “If God would have a singing voice, he would sound a lot like Andrea Bocelli.” Dubbed “the world’s most beloved Italian tenor,” Andrea Bocelli has performed for political figures, the Pope, and in packed stadiums. He’s collaborated with opera’s top names and pop stars as well as Muppet puppets.
Blinded from a soccer accident since the age of 12, Bocelli cannot see the spectacle created as he performs on the world’s stages. From the Coliseum in Rome to Carnegie Hall, from the Shanghai Expo to a field in Tuscany, LD Aldo Visentin travels with him up to seven months per year to illuminate “God’s singing voice.”
PLSN turns the spotlight on Visentin. We tracked him down after Bocelli’s Christmas tour, while preparing a new tour for the King of Chinese Pop, Jacky Cheung.
PLSN: Where are you from?
Aldo Visentin: I’m from Italy. I was born in Padua, a northeast city close to Venice.
How, when and why did you get into the lighting industry?
While I was a student, a friend invited me to spend an afternoon dancing in a disco club in town. I was “struck down” by the magical atmosphere created from the colored lights in the room. I decided to approach that unknown world by knocking on the door of any club and discotheque in town with the objective to become a light jockey. I was running a club show by 1985. It was purely a matter of passion. I was attracted to the idea of finding the right “light shape” which describes precisely all the infinite emotions, feelings and memories that music transmits to the audience.
Tell us about your training.
Italy saw an explosion of manufacturers of show-lighting devices between the mid-1980s to early 1990s. The industry flourished. Despite that, at that time there did not exist any officially recognized training facility to teach the different disciplines in show lighting. Like others, I took my first steps on the self-training route, gaining experience from working in the best equipped clubs which had the latest technologies of the time. Then I began to acquire a different type of training in working for a local production and rental company.
In the mid-1990s I moved to London and, for four years, I followed theory-practical formative training with a couple of manufacturers as a show programmer. In that period I was also trained to use and program lasers. That was great fun! The company, Laser Innovations, still exists, but a few years ago they converted their business from entertainment to forensic. During my time they manufactured complete laser systems for the entertainment industry; from laser beam generators to scanning heads and computer control. I programmed laser shows for their clients in club installations, all types of live events, touring and long-term rental systems for long-running shows.
Because they developed their own PC-based controllers, I was involved in software design – just the control concepts; I’m not computer programmer – and I was an internal beta tester. These jobs gave me a lot of opportunities to cross the lighting world with lighting and lasers, especially on tours. At that time the average professional level in the U.K. in lighting and productions was much more “mature” than in Italy, simply because there was much more business in the U.K. It was where I learned most about lighting, from the technical point of view as well as artistic applications in various kinds of shows. The British experience was one of the most important in my formative route.
What were your first shows as an LD?
My experiences as an LD were developed during work with very well-known Italian artists who are not famous outside of Italy. I also began working as a programmer and/or operator for globally-known artists at famous European and South American festivals.
How and when did you start working for Andrea Bocelli?
Andrea Bocelli’s management contacted me as an LD, asking for proposals of a lighting set beginning around 2005. From then to the first show, more than a year was spent, where other alternative proposals were made until the definitive set that was realized for the 2006 European tour.
Describe your working relationship with Bocelli.
Normally my proposals are discussed and planned relevant to what the whole look the show should have as its main characteristics, with trusted people of his management. The details are then left to my discretion.
There’s a poignancy in the fact that you’re designing a lighting show for an artist who can’t see it.
I do not know if Andrea’s voice is “God’s singing voice.” But I’ve always thought that an artist is a source through which art goes. I’m sure Andrea feels what’s going on around him during any moment of the show. The kind of feeling and the depth of his sensations are only within him and only people like him can understand. My lighting design is always inspired by the feeling, emotions, sensations of music performed by Andrea. I’m sure that if the same music is performed by a different artist, then a different kind of lighting design would come out because of the different art-energy source.
From where do you get your design inspiration?
In my opinion, every show is borne in its entirety with two main forces: spirit and matter. When I need to envision a design for a show, it is by observing the emotions and feelings that the music provokes in me that tells me which tools to use and how I should use them to render those feelings physical.
Music has the power to create an imaginary space of time, places and stories bound to the life of every listener. But for me, light is the energy force that is more able to recreate a time or image that the music conveys.
What are your challenges in working with a high profile artist such as Andrea?
Andrea Bocelli does not do long and tiring tours corresponding to a new record, like great stars often do. Andrea does more single gigging than touring, so the work across the year is in a series of short tours – no more than a month – and a set of gigs with pauses in between.
The work is not physically stressful as in a long-lasting tour, so I can organize other work activity. Nevertheless, the gigs are often in a non-conventional venue, such as an ancient theatre or by a historical monument and so on. Therefore, every show requires a unique and specific work of preparation, and all equipment must be rented locally. In these occasions it is necessary to redesign and reprogram the entire show. This happens even in the short Continental tours where in 15 days, just the capital cities are touched. There is often too much distance between them and a short amount of time to allow the use of a unique touring set.
My engagement with Andrea runs five to seven months per year, with half the time on the road and the other half in preparation and pre-visualization of almost every single event. Normally I do not follow all the TV shows, promotions or special events where the environment is opera music only.
Are you inspired by any certain lighting designers? If so, who and why?
Two designers who have attracted my attention the most are Marc Brickman and Paul Normandale. Light is manipulated in many different ways, and I think they are better able than others at choosing the correct type, manner and timing of light manipulation, and the interpretation that the light must perform.
What shows have you seen – present or past – that inspired you?
Pink Floyd in the already-distant 1994. I can remember it even in the details. However, I watched Pink Floyd earlier in a Venice show in 1989, I’m guessing. The show was not as exciting. When I watch other LDs’ shows I observe how the light is manipulated in the flowing of the music and I compare how I would have done instinctively the same or different things instead. It is always good to discover how some techniques used by others can be an inspiration source or the opposite. When I watch a show, I try to pick and keep the moments that appear brilliant to me, or that I consider better within the entire show. I do not like to express judgments on a colleague’s work. There are some specific shows that I consider as a reference in particular because they belong to my favorite band or performer.
How do you spend your off-time?
When not touring, the best thing I like to do is nothing. This could appear quite silly, but it is not. I like to switch off my brain and reflect. By looking around you – different people, places, nature, the weather, the day by day of everything – you can really understand more about life. This is to me a great form of inspiration. When I travel across the planet I like to observe, and record in my mind, the variation of natural light that each place “owns.” Often I wake up early or do not even go to bed, just to observe the sunrise. Natural light has the power to tell about a specific place and time.
I also have a model airplane hobby. I love to control my small planes. Radio-controlled gliders and motor gliders are my favorite! I love to build my planes completely by hand with no kits or pre-built components. I learned how to do it as a kid when at primary school a long time ago.
What do you see yourself doing in another five years?
I would be happy to become more involved in the creative process and preproduction: pre-visualization and pre-programming.
What is more important: artistic vision or technical skills?
One could not survive without the other. When I have a clear vision of how I want to design light in a show, I must know all the tools available to choose the right one. I am always thirsty to know more about new technologies at a deep level. The equipment choice must be always relevant to what the show really needs. That does not necessarily correspond to the latest cutting-edge technology or the usual industry standard product.
What do you think of the lighting industry today?
I love to follow all the novelty products that appear on the market because it represents a bigger range of tools available. But I noticed that more often the latest generation of technologies are used more for novelty appearance than for what is needed for the performance.
It is also quite strange to me when a large quantity of devices in shows are used just in a minimal way because the budget does not allow the proper programming time. So why spend a lot of resources to feed the machines? I’m not against the huge show – far from it. It is again a question of balance between the creative forces and the physical forces required. I believe that all those who desire to stay in this industry as an LD or a creative figure are destined to be in touch more with technologies that use the light fixture for generating images and graphic effects. That is the natural evolution in show lighting.
