Roberto Alagna on summer tour with "Boulevard des Italiens" in several towns in the Var region

After having crisscrossed France with an anthology of songs from the musical show Al Capone, Roberto Alagna returns with Boulevard des Italiens . A colorful journey to the rhythms of traditional and contemporary melodies that have nourished the inspirations of the tenor of Sicilian origin, such as Abballati, Tu Vuo Fa l'Americano, O Sole Mio, Maruzzella , Parla Più Piano, Caruso and many other Neapolitan songs or wild tarantellas. In a purely acoustic setting, since Roberto Alagna will be accompanied on guitar by his old accomplice Jean-Félix Lalanne, on percussion, guitar and mandolin by Pascal Reva and finally by Roland Romanelli, on keyboard and accordion.

An ambitious tribute to Puccini

A series of concerts that comes after an already busy year, since Roberto Alagna, whom we reached by telephone, made his return to the stage of the Salle Gaveau in Paris last March with a most ambitious program, on the occasion of the centenary of Puccini's death. By lining up all of the operas of the Tuscan composer, and by offering at least one excerpt from each of them, from Le Villi to Turandot . A real feat for a tenor with forty years of career on his shoulders! " To honor the memory of Puccini, I wanted to present this program in different places, in Japan, at La Scala, in Strasbourg, in the village of Torre del Lago Puccini in Italy of course, where he had his house on the lake, and I will do it again once again in Barcelona this year," he announces to us. And to recall: " We sang Tosca with my wife , [the soprano singer Aleksandra Kurzak, with whom he lives in Poland, editor's note] and we also did Verona, twice, where we sang Aida and Carmen , since it was also the 150th anniversary of the creation of Carmen."

Another highlight for Roberto Alagna last spring was his reunion with the Bastille opera, with Manon , by Jules Massenet: "I found a role from my youth, that of the Chevaliers des Grieux, in this place where I feel at home! It was a great year, with intense revivals. Each time I say that I'm going to take it easy, but it's getting worse and worse," he smiles .

A disc based on "Caruso" recorded in Cagnes-sur-Mer

Because he is already working on a new project that is very close to his heart: "I spent three weeks composing, something I hadn't done for years, creating a new musical piece, with Jean-Félix Lalanne. Around a story that I imagined and concocted on a plane, returning from Puerto Rico, where I had sung Othello with my wife. A story about Caruso , a fiction based on real events, around this rivalry, mixed with love and hate, between Giulio Gatti-Casazza, the director of the Metropolitan at the time, and this unforgettable artist. In the tradition of Salieri's fascination-repulsion with Mozart. We will soon record the voices at the Marylin studio in Cagnes-sur-Mer. I wrote the whole story, I participate in the arrangements with the orchestra, we are both producers with Jean-Félix Lalanne, and we already have theater directors taking on the project." As for the music, it will be recorded in Vienna, with the Morphing Orchestra.

Still amazed at 62

A success that surprises the 62-year-old Franco-Sicilian tenor the most: "I've always considered my career a miracle. I was a very shy child, I never thought I'd reach this level, do everything I've done! I'm amazed, I'm not a jaded person. When La Scala asks me for this or that work in two years, the Metropolitan another in 2028 or 29, I say to myself, but how is it possible that they trust me? I'm in permanent self-criticism, always trying to improve myself." While also seeking, he assures us, a certain simplicity, a closeness with the public, with whom he loves nothing more than "entering into communion." And it is certainly not this solar artist who will prove Jean Cocteau wrong when he said: "Italians are good-natured French people."

Boulevard des Italiens. Friday, August 29 in Carqueiranne. Sold out. Saturday, August 30 at 8:30 p.m. in Roquebrune-sur-Argens, the LAC (Lake. Arena. Concerts) Free. www.roquebrune.com Sunday, August 31 at 7 p.m. in Brignoles, Suau garden. Free, subject to availability. www.robertoalagna.com