Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, and his youngest son Matteo, gave a virtual performance of two heartwarming songs, O Sole Mio and Fall on Me, during the 2021 CCTV Spring Festival gala.

The annual Spring Festival gala, broadcast live on Feb 11, attracted a total of 1.14 billion viewers this year.

"It's been a pleasure to have been part of the CCTV New Year's Eve Gala with Matteo Bocelli to celebrate the beginning of the Year of Ox, singing O Sole Mio and Fall on Me," wrote Andrea Bocelli on his Facebook on Feb 11.

Known as an international superstar whose music has bridged classical and pop genres, Andrea Bocelli, 63, learned to play piano at the age of 6 and later learned to play the flute and saxophone before he showed his talent of singing at the age of 12 when he enjoyed his first success in a singing competition: performing the song, O Sole Mio.

The Grammy-nominated tenor has a large fan base in China where he has performed and worked with musicians. In August 2020, the tenor teamed up with pop singer Na Ying, performing a song, titled Remembering, which is the theme song of The Eight Hundred, an epic Chinese war movie directed by award-winning filmmaker Guan Hu.

"Singing with my father is always a special experience and we were so happy to have the opportunity to welcome the Year of the Ox by performing together," adds Matteo Bocelli in an interview with China Daily recently.

The father and the son filmed their performances for the 2021 CCTV Spring Festival gala at their home in Tuscany, Italy. During the coronavirus pandemic, they spent time together at home, where they've sung together not just for fun but also for specially recorded performances, according to Matteo Bocelli.

Matteo Bocelli says he has never been to China but he has always been attracted by Chinese culture.

"My father and I are both big fans of Chinese cuisine," he says.

The 21-year-old Matteo Bocelli showed strong artistic talent as a child and learned to play piano at the age of 6. As a teenager, his passion for music rivaled his love of sport and it was only in 2015 that he began to study singing under the guidance of his father. Currently, he is a student of vocal performance at the Lucca Conservatory.

"As a child, there was always music in the house. I sang in secret from a very young age-mainly to my mother. My father passed on his work ethic to me-you can overcome any barrier if you work hard and keep practicing. You have to be prepared to devote yourself to it," Matteo Bocelli says.

"Technically, our voices are very far from each other, because obviously he's a master and I'm a student. However, people say that there is a similarity-the attitude, and that's given by the nature and being always next to him, learning from him," Matteo Bocelli adds.

"I always admired those fathers who ran a family business and had the privilege of engaging their children. I thought this would be impossible in my case but life proved me wrong. I was pleasantly surprised. It is a great joy to be able to have my son next to me onstage," says Andrea Bocelli.

"I think that, in music, Matteo has that special something that you cannot learn, which is talent. But his determination, hard work and spirit of sacrifice will be just as important. He will develop his skills and attitudes in his own time and refine his artistic abilities," the father says.

Matteo Bocelli's first experiences as a tenor took place at the Teatro del Silenzio on July 30, 2016, where, in front of an audience of 12,000, he, along with artists, Italian baritone Leo Nucci and South Korean soprano Sumi Jo, performed arias from Verdi's operas.

In October 2018, Andrea Bocelli released his 16th album, Si. The tenor explains the title as "a celebration of love, family, faith, and hope". Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and Josh Groban are among the guest performers in the album. The album also features his son, Matteo Bocelli, on the moving duet Fall On Me.

For Matteo Bocelli, the "defining moment" came when he and his father performed onstage during the first night of the 69th Sanremo Music Festival at Teatro Ariston on Feb 5, 2019 in Sanremo, Italy.

"That's when I realized this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life," Matteo Bocelli recalls.

This was the place where Andrea Bocelli made his own debut in 1994, when he took part in the Sanremo Music Festival and won the "newcomers" category. In the same year, the tenor released his debut album, titled Il Mare Calmo Della Sera, the first gold disk of a whole series of prizes and awards.

Matteo Bocelli's music studies are coming to an end and he will graduate later this year. At the same time, he began to plan for a solo album.

"I think you'll be surprised, and I can't wait to see the reactions from my Chinese fans," he says. "The pandemic has really shown us how important music can be-to connect people that are separated, to uplift our souls and to give thanks for what we have. I would say my goal as a singer is to keep learning, to keep developing and to bring people together with music."