ANDREA Bocelli’s concert at the new Leeds First Direct Arena is being moved to November 24 from September 14. Why? “Due to the promoter’s logistical and scheduling issues”, apparently.

The Italian tenor will now play two gala concerts in successive nights at newly opened venues, performing first at Glasgow Hydro Arena on November 23.

Bocelli will be joined at both concerts by Tony and soul singer Heather Headley, soprano Svetla Vassileva and the classical guitar duo Carisma, as well as by Italian conductor Marcello Rota, who has collaborated with Bocelli for 18 years.

Bocelli’s latest album, Passione, puts the emphasis on romance and was inspired by his pre-fame days when he sang in bars, taking requests for Antonio Carlos Jobim’s Girl From Ipanema, Elvis Presley’s Love Me Tender, Italian hits Era Già Tutto Previsto and Champagne and Neapolitan songs Anema e Core and Mala Femmena.

The album was recorded in six languages at Bocelli’s home in Tuscany and features collaborations with New Yorker Jennifer Lopez on Quizas Quizas Quizas, Canadian Nelly Furtado on Corcovado and the late French chanteuse Edith Piaf, whose vocal on La Vie En Rose was extracted from the master by producer David Foster: no easy feat, considering artists did not record on multi-track decks in the 1940s.

“Thanks to David’s genius, the presence of the marvellous vibrating voice of Edith Piaf is a real coup de theatre,” says Bocelli. “It’s as if she had come back just to stay with us for a while, after having left us 50 years before.”

Tickets for November 24 are on sale at firstdirectarena.com and remain valid from September 14.