Britain’s favourite Catholic tenor Alfie Boe launches new album and tour dates
Following the announcement of his brand new album, Open Arms – The Symphonic Songbook, Britain’s leading tenor has released the second offering from the LP to coincide with his brand new tour.
Alfie shared his rendition of the Chris Isaak classic Wicked Game, which first featured in the 1990 David Lynch film Wild At Heart.
The former Cardinal Allen Catholic High School pupil said: “I couldn’t resist adding ‘Wicked Game’ to the record. We recorded it on a separate day to the other tracks, filmed it with the orchestra and it felt quite magical. The contrast of epic drama, cinematic strings but soft all the same time. It’s a powerful song to sing, I just love it.”
The youngest in a family of nine children, Alfred Giovanni Roncalli Boe was born in Blackpool and brought up in nearby Fleetwood. His mother and father named him after the Italian name of Pope John XXIII, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli. He attended St Wulstan’s and St Edmund’s School and Cardinal Allen Catholic High School in Fleetwood. His earliest musical memories were of listening to his father’s Richard Tauber records and he discovered Puccini’s La bohème for the first time.
A decorated career that’s lasted 30 years, Alfie is one of the best-loved vocalists of his generation and a hugely successful, multi-platinum selling artist. He has triumphed on theatre stages and in concert halls around the world and has two recent UK #1 albums under his belt for albums ‘Together’ and ‘Together Again’, made with his great friend Michael Ball. The duo also won two Classic BRIT Awards earlier this year for ‘Best Album’ and ‘Group of the Year’.
His exceptional voice has made him Britain’s most popular and biggest-selling tenor. The Tony Award winner has conquered the world’s greatest opera stages and arenas and led the cast of Les Misérables. He stole the show at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace, and performed at the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations at Windsor Castle.
Alfie’s latest album is Called Open Arms – The Symphonic Songbook, and the album is a homage to rock which sees Alfie rework versions of rock’s finest tracks such as Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’, Metallica’s ‘Nothing Else Matters’, Bryan Adams’ and ‘Summer of ‘69, into symphonic pieces.
The foundations of this album go deep, back to over 20 years ago. Alfie was on Broadway, appearing in Oscar-winning film director Baz Luhrmann’s 2002 revival of La Bohème.
“Baz was opening up this vast world for me to venture into,” he remembers.
“And I found that the love of music for me had broadened, from classical to rock and contemporary. I’d always been into my rock music. But I thought: this is a great opportunity for me to show people the similarity between classic rock and classical music, and the structure of them, and how the two worlds are so close.”
Alfie highlights songs from the new album at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall on Sunday. Rest of the tour:
Tue, Oct 10: Cardiff, St David’s Hall
Wed, Oct 11: Oxford , New Theatre
Fri, Oct 13: Blackpool Winter Gardens
Sat, Oct 14 Birmingham, Symphony Hall
Mon, Oct 16 Belfast, Waterfront Hall
