Back in 2012, Tina Arena announced a series of live dates where she would play prestige venues accompanied by the countries finest symphony orchestras. The tour turned out to be bigger than anticipated, selling out 4 nights at Sydney’s Opera House and serving as the grand opening of Melbourne’s newly refurbished Hamer Hall. One of these Melbourne dates was captured on film, and after a screening on Foxtel was released as a live CD and DVD titled ‘Symphony Of Life’.
The set list saw Tina in her absolute element, with a mix of signature hits (Wasn’t It Good, Burn, Sorrento Moon), selections from her ‘Songs Of Love & Loss’ albums (I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself, Only Women Bleed, Both Sides Now), and songs from musical theatre (Maybe This Time, My Husband Makes Movies, Don’t Cry For Me Argentina). Having forged a multi-million selling career in France, Tina also gives a glimpse of her many Francophone triumphs with the stunning ‘Je m’apelle Baghdad’.
The song that cemented Arena’s European success, ‘I Want To Spend My Lifetime Loving You (theme from The Mask Of Zorro)’ sees special guest Anthony Callea stepping in for Tina’s original duet partner, Marc Anthony. The pair also turns in a spellbinding duet of ‘The Prayer’ – a song that Callea first brought to the attention of Australian record buyers, and Arena performed with Andrea Bocelli on his Australian tour. The sheer vocal prowess of these two duets has us hopeful for future collaborations between Arena & Callea – perhaps an original?
Making full use of her 54-piece orchestra, further inspired selections include covers of Tina Turner’s Bond theme ‘Goldeneye’ and the jazz standard ‘Cry Me A River’. Undisputedly the finest vocal talent Australia has produced, ‘Symphony Of Life’ sees Tina Arena coming into her own like never before. Sashaying around the stage in a series of knockout gowns, Tina is like a fine wine – only improving with the years.
This show was so successful, Tina performed an encore series of live dates with full orchestra and special guest Anthony Callea as part of the 2013 Mardi Gras Festival.
‘Symphony Of Life’ is available on DVD, Double CD, iTunes and Spotify.
