Whenever people talk about the Sanremo Festival, we zone out and think about things like petting a dog the wrong way or what high school would have been like if Jose Canseco was our sex ed instructor until there's awkward silence. Since this year's festival drafted classical music swerve in the form of Barenboim and Harding, we'll stand down.
In the end, Harding made it, Barenboim didn't. La Scala's MD was scheduled to play Chopin on the third night but cancelled due to back problems which he said made it impossible to board the plane to Sanremo, so they invited 19-year-old Italian pianist Leonora Armellini in his place.
Tonight's finale rolled out 007 Harding's Wagner/Verdi love with Ride of the Valkyries and Marcia Trionfale and then Andrea Bocelli (in bespoke Corneliani) did a sweet "Love Me Tender" duet with his 18-year-old son Amos on piano (video below!) Aaaaand we're back to thinking about how to pet a dog the wrong way.
lol hells yes to this
.@djharding is not amused. Staring into the sanremo abyss twitter.com/operachic/stat…
— operachic (@operachic) February 16, 2013