Last Saturday night was hot, the humidity was merciless, and the night breeze that had chilled so many of our summer evenings on Sani Hill in Chalkidiki in the past was absent. But it didn’t matter. This did not dampen the enthusiasm of any of the approximately 2,000 spectators who, on the second day of sale, sold out tickets for the Andrea Bocelli concert.

The crowd began at the height of the Sani Beach Hotel and culminated at the foot of the muddy steps leading up to the hill where historians believe ancient Sani’s citadel was located and where the great Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli sang to end the ceremony. the program of the Sani Festival, which this year celebrated its 30th anniversary from the date of its creation.

Standing in line at the bar, shortly before the start of the concert, the audience was talking among themselves, describing the upcoming concert as “an experience of a lifetime.” “How terrible that we will soon see Bocelli,” said the woman next to her. “In Sani!” she added with great gratitude that the famous tenor was first found in Northern Greece.

The audience’s attention to the performance unfolding on the stage was absolute.

During the entire hour and a half that the concert lasted without interruption, the audience’s attention to the performance unfolding on the stage was absolute. Blue and red spotlights illuminated the Sani Tower, in front of which was the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki with former violin soloist Antonis Sousamoglu. The concert also featured sopranos Cristina Passariou and Aliki Chrysochou, artist Athina Andreadis, flutist Andrea Griminelli and dancer Angelica Gismodo, and the orchestra was conducted by conductor Carlo Bernini, who has been touring with Andrea Bocelli for decades.

Andrea Bocelli sang, among others, “La donna é mobile” from the opera “Rigoletto” by Giuseppe Verdi and “Granada” from the opera by Agustín Lara, while his most famous song “Con te Partiro” was first performed as an encore along with two sopranos. .

“The Sani Festival is an established cultural institution, internationally recognized and important,” Andrea Bocelli said in an interview with K, which will be published on Sunday, stressing that it was an “honor” and a “privilege” for him. to take part in the festival at the invitation of the artistic director Giorgos Mustaki, an invitation that was considered successful. At the end of the concert, the audience, many of whom shouted “bravo” at various points in the event, stood up to give Mr. Bocelli the warmest applause.