(Paris) “I can’t stop crying when I hear a voice like hers,” says Nicki Dorman, a 70-year-old South African retiree, listening to Veronica Antonelli in the streets of the Parisian district of Montmartre, which she visits in songs.
In front of the Abbesses metro entrance, the 49-year-old opera singer, who created the “Montmartre (en) sung” concept 10 years ago, is waiting for the ten people registered for the visit. She is dressed in a large red cape, which she spreads like wings while singing during the excursion.
Among the group, Nicki Dorman and her husband Keith have Olga Shangina, a 36-year-old photographer who comes from Moscow. “I adapt and therefore do the visit also in English,” Veronica Antonelli told AFP.
The route begins and the group is guided by the bright red wings of the soprano to the crypt of the Martyrium of Saint-Denis.
“Here is an important place. It is here that the seven companions made “The Vow of Montmartre” and founded the Jesuit order”, explains the guide before singing Ave Maria between the walls of the building.
In front of the first interpretation of the afternoon, Nicki Dorman is conquered: “You have a magnificent voice! she blurts out, her eyes moist.
A street further, in the Church of Saint-Jean de Montmartre, Veronica surprises tourists who visit the place.
His powerful voice resounded between the walls. Those who see and hear it are thrilled. Some cry, others smile. Everyone stops to listen.
“You have a beautiful voice”, “Thank you for what you do”, can we hear in the passage of the singer.
Nicki Dorman, she no longer holds back her tears. ” That’s wonderful ! she said again, wiping her eyes.
For an hour and a half, the visit to the narrow streets of Montmartre is also punctuated by Dalida, rue d’Orchampt, where the Italian diva lived.
O mio babbino caro, a famous opera aria by Puccini, is sung at Place Marcel-Aymé and Le temps des cerfs brightens up the arrival in front of the Sacré-Coeur.
It took time for Veronica Antonelli to find her voice.
Trained at the Toulouse Conservatory, she met Claude Nougaro in 1996 … in Montmartre. “He told me to sing without accompaniment. […] But an opera singer never sings a capella,” she says.
Years later, in Sicily, the artist sings again without an instrument, this time in a cathedral.
A few years later, it was in Arizona that her passion was confirmed: “I realized that my voice was transformed by the rocks”, recalls the singer.
Since then, the artist has sought “to promote heritage, by means” of his a cappella voice, while trying “to convey emotions”.
The group is conquered. “I know Montmartre well and there I discovered lots of little places that I didn’t know. […] There is an original side, a little baroque,” concludes Annick Astro, 64.
