Singer Sergio Sylvestre insists he didn’t forget the words to the Italian national anthem ahead of the Coppa Italia Final. ‘Emotion got the better of me.’
The winner of Italian talent show Amici was chosen to sing the anthem at the empty Stadio Olimpico before kick-off, with Napoli and Juventus on the pitch.
Singing acapella with no band or recorded background music, in a huge arena with no fans due to social distancing measures, he stopped at one point and seemed to forget the lyrics.
Singer Sergio Sylvestre insists he didn’t forget the words to the Italian national anthem ahead of the Coppa Italia Final. ‘Emotion got the better of me.’
The winner of Italian talent show Amici was chosen to sing the anthem at the empty Stadio Olimpico before kick-off, with Napoli and Juventus on the pitch.
Singing acapella with no band or recorded background music, in a huge arena with no fans due to social distancing measures, he stopped at one point and seemed to forget the lyrics.
“I didn’t forget, it was just that emotion got the better of me,” he assured on Instagram.
“I’ve never been so nervous, not even when I sang at Amici or the Sanremo festival. Plus hearing the echo around the empty stadium, it made me suddenly feel very sad, it was incredible. I am very sensitive, so that really swept me up in the moment.
“I stopped for a moment not because I forgot the words, but the emotion just hit me and I had to pause.”
Sylvestre was born in Los Angeles, to a Mexican mother and Haitian father, and moved to Lecce after visiting as a tourist and falling in love with the town in 2012.