Charice Pempengco is again making waves in the international music scene with her performance in a concert recently. But this was no ordinary concert. She was personally handpicked by Andrea Bocelli to sing a duet with him at the Third Edition of the Teatro del Silenzio in Italy last Sunday, July 20, 2008, and wowed the crowd their duet performance of 'The Prayer'.

Of course, Charice is no stranger to many music buffs by now. She was first noticed internationally when she was invited to a Korean music festival from which a YouTube video was culled. This, in turn, led to an invitation from Ellen DeGeneres to perform in her TV show (where she received a standing ovation), followed by another awesome guesting on the Paul O'Grady in London. Next was another impressive performance on the Oprah show and the Mandalay Bay Las Vegas tribute to composer David Foster.

It was apparently at this David Foster tribute where Charice impressed Bocelli to merit the invitation. According to reports, Bocelli had finished his performance at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas event and was in his dressing room when he heard Charice sing. Andrea Bocelli then asked his assistants to bring him backstage so he could be among the first to congratulate the young Filipina singer.

Charice Pempengco was the only Asian performer in the annual concert put up by Andrea Bocelli, this year featuring Italian artists Noa (a Grammy winner), conductor Nicola Piovani (the Oscar-winning musical director of Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful, an Oscar Best Picture winner), the etoile of the Teatro della Scala Roberto Bolle and the 90 elements of the Orchestra Sinfonietta from Rome. Though this concert wasn't televised in the US (as fas as I know), YouTube has again come to the rescue with the following clip of their duet. Apparently bootlegged, the video isn't very clear. However, the sound is quite good.