The Italian tenor, who lost his eyesight as a teenager, will perform at Vector Arena with guest Australian songstress Delta Goodrem, whom he invited to join him on stage after years of admiring her "beautiful, rich and naturally agile voice".
The 55-year-old, along with his wife Veronica and their young daughter, Virginia, will spend just two days in the country before continuing on to perform five Australian concerts.
The family, accompanied by their entourage, had spent days travelling from their home in Italy before touching down yesterday afternoon.
"I am very happy to be here," he said. "New Zealand is so far away
from everywhere and to travel here so far away I would really like to leave a pleasant message here after my concert."
Bocelli will tonight perform pieces from his album, Passione. "As usual my concert is going to be a concert of Italian tenor, a lot of pieces from the greatest international music and also I will sing some songs from the last album that contains all the most beautiful and best songs of all time.
"These are the songs I used to sing when I was a young boy playing in the piano bar. Every song is connected to a memory from that time, to a certain story from that time, from loves that I used to have when I was a young boy."
He also hoped to listen to successful New Zealand group Sole Mio during his stay.
- By Morgan Tait of the New Zealand Herald
