Italian opera legend Andrea Bocelli told People that he’s “surprised” his “fellow artist” Timothée Chalamet disparaged the value of opera and ballet during the “Variety & CNN Town Hall,” adding that both art forms are very much alive and draw from the “same source” of human emotion as filmmaking.
“I believe we often tend to keep our distance from what we have not yet truly encountered,” Bocelli said. “Opera and ballet are art forms that have crossed centuries and continue to speak to the human heart, because they answer a deep need for beauty, truth, and emotion. They are not arts of the past, but living languages that can still move us, make us reflect, and bring different generations together.”
Bocelli is considered one of the great modern authorities on opera singing and has sold more than 90 million records during his career. The five-time Grammy nominee went on to invite Chalamet to one of his opera performances if he’s ever curious to learn more about the medium.
“I am convinced that a sensitive performer like Timothée, who understands the power of emotions, may one day discover that opera and dance draw from that very same source,” he added. “Should he ever be curious, I would be happy to welcome him as a guest at one of my concerts. Sometimes it only takes a few minutes of hearing this music live to understand why, after centuries, it continues to be loved all over the world.”
Bocelli is hardly the first in the opera community to fire back at Chalamet for his viral comment. Several opera houses from across the globe took to social media and issued a response, with most of them inviting the “Marty Supreme” star to a show. On Feb. 5, London’s Royal Ballet and Opera took to Instagram to share footage of its craftspeople and performers in an apparent response to Chalamet. The caption of the post read, “Every night at the Royal Opera House, thousands of people gather for ballet and opera. For the music. For the storytelling. For the sheer magic of live performance. If you’d like to reconsider, [Timothée Chalamet], our doors are open.”
In the full quote from Chalamet’s “Town Hall” conversation with Matthew McConaughey, the “Complete Unknown” star weighed the role of movie theaters in the modern entertainment landscape. He said that the popularity of a “serious movie” like Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” shows that audiences still crave nuanced storytelling suited best for the big screen, but at the same time, he understands that “some people want to be entertained and quickly.”
“I’m really right in the middle, Matthew,” Chalamet said. “Cause I admire people, and I’ve done it myself, [who] go on a talk show and go, ‘Hey, we gotta keep movie theaters alive. You know, we gotta keep this genre alive.’ And another part of me feels like, if people wanna see it, like ‘Barbie,’ like ‘Oppenheimer,’ they’re gonna go see it and go out of their way and be loud and proud about it. And I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive.’ Even though it’s like, no one cares about this anymore. All respect to the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost 14 cents in viewership.”
