The “ WIND MUSIC AWARDS” and some other thoughts for this summer of Il Volo 2017.
I was pleased to view the “Wind Music Awards” presentation today and to see that our group, Il Volo, was presented with an award honoring 
the fact that their Notte Magica has achieved a Platinum album level of sales (meaning sales of a miniumum of 50,000). Also, in this category, Amazon lists “Notte Magica” as number one in sales. There are also some other awards they have won this year having to do with sales and honoring the fact that they are the best Goodwill Ambassadors that Italy has ever had to the rest of the world.
During the presentation the guys sang Nessun Dorma again, which makes sense since this song has a very, very wide audience around the world – opera lovers or not. But only one song is not a good way to judge a singing performance. Usually we have 15 to 20 songs to use for source material, but I will say that the guys’ singing artistry was very fine as usual. If I were to make one tiny comment it would be that they sounded a little tired – vocally – which makes perfect sense. After all they have been on tour ever since the last part of January with only a few short breaks and further more they have more to do yet up to near the end of July. That is a lot of concerts. One good thing I noticed when they started here in the USA in February was that they are avoiding having two or more concerts back to back to back. That sort of poor planning really hurt them during the 2013 Latin America tour. If you play Trumpet and break it then you can go out to a store and buy a new one but if you ruin your voice you cannot go to the store and buy a new one. The human voice is very resilient, but sometimes we push it too far and it does not bounce back fast or, maybe, at all. The Latin singer Jose Jose is an example of that sort of thing. He can never sing again – ever. You may remember that for the Latin Grammy awards show a few years back the boys sang Jose’s “El Triste” on a program where they were giving him an honor. He received the award and could barely talk – sounded like gravel – too much over singing, too much booze, too much drugs, and too much bad living. Thus, Il Volo sang his song for him.
I have written about this already, but want to share it again. When the boys came to Las Vegas this March they had been already fighting the desert-dry throat since Los Angeles so here our people made sure that there was humidity on stage and plenty of water bottles. My point is that because of taking good care of themselves, vocally, they sang one of the best concerts of the whole USA tour. This sort of thing has to be handled and taken care of from one moment to the next through all 2 ½ hours of the concert. But these guys are very smart about handling themselves. I sat in the front row and (as a vocal coach) admired tremendously how well they adapted. The singing was SUPERB! Less well trained singers would have coughed or broken phrase or sang out of tune. I know because I have heard some very famous singers give way to exactly that.
But not our boys. They had it under control from beginning to end. This is what professional singing is all about. Not just the money. All that and the fact that this program is THE most demanding set of songs that they have ever put together for a concert. The famous tenors did this program when they were in their 50s, but our boys are doing it in their early 20s. Bravo !
We need to hope that they keep this pacing steady as they head into the next batch of concerts. I am so proud of these guys.
My two cents worth….(Jana)
On the 2nd day of their performance, the guys did a “360 loop,” opting for a change in dress from their formal wear for Nessun Dorma, to a more comfortable leather and jeans, to sing their cherished hit, Grande Amore! The guys didn’t miss a beat, battling downpours of rain – even stepping out from the stage to get a little wet – all for the love of their fans!
They were also presented with a new award this year. They received the “gold” award for audience attendance. This seemed to be calculated only using the concerts from Italy during May 2016 to May 2017. The gold range level was from 40,000 to 100,000 audience attendance. Per Daniela,
The concerts from May 2016 to May 2017 are taken into account. I believe, but it is my opinion that only Italian concerts are taken into consideration, at that time (2016) the concerts in Italian palasport had already been made, only Florence And Verona that you also saw (6000 + 12000) then concerts in 2017 in Italy but only until May, so the major ones were Torino 11.000 milano 11.000 Verona 24.000 (both night) Roma 12.000 (both nights) then others have more capes small Ancona, Roccaraso Livorno and Bologna.
Last night they were good, admirable for being differentiated from the rest of the performances and also brave to bring a piece so busy on a very light evening. They have shown yesterday that they are serious professionals, elegant, mature at their age. Today they are three boys in jeans and leather jackets, show their age, have been addicted, certainly more suitable to this type of audience, they were cool and nice. They sang under a rain shower and Torpedine accompanied them to the drum. Bravo in both cases, have shown two faces of IL VOLO, they can do it.
Thank you to Daniela who sent us the link to the show! Watch it before it is gone!
http://www.raiplay.it/video/2017/05/Wind-Music-Awards-2017-a460e9c0-9369-4c01-b348-85efd9652df6.html
Here they are singing just Grande Amore:
Here they are singing Nessun Dorma!
A little sad… this is from 2015 – listen how the crowd sings along 2 years ago!
This is Maria/medley from 2016 WMA:
Here are some pictures!
Ignazio and the rain!
I think this is so cute – they are all looking at the award at the same time, the same way!
The last 3 years of memories for the WMA – what will the future hold for them next year? Only time will tell…. Maybe they will win a movie award of some kind for Notte Magica or Un Amore Cosi Grande?
We can only hope, but no matter what, they continue to soar upward and onward, setting their own flight path and no one can stop them!
Hope you enjoyed this post by Myron with a few bits from Daniela & I. Photo/video credits to all owners….
Ciao! A presto!
Jana
Thank you very much for this article! You have given voice to the concerns I have had for the past two years for their voices and their well being, seeing how many concerts they are attending, and even more now with The Notte Magica Tour. The type of music requires much more work. I am not an expert and always wanted to read from somebody that knew. Thank you I feel better but I really hope that the people around them, family, manager, and teachers will make sure to take care of them, even if that means making fewer concerts. I am sure none of us will complain if it is for their benefit. I would love to see them grow as high as our beloved Luciano Pavarotti! Is that too much to ask?
Good point about Pavarotti. For those that followed him you will, no doubt, remember that he got a little careless in the last years of his life about his vocal care. I saw him in concert about 6 years before he died and he was in bad shape – raspy voice, sounding with a very thin tone (instead of the former rich sound) . I had heard him 20 years earlier when he was in prime shape. This was a big difference. Sadly, he probably should not have been singing the last few events. I am confident that our guys are on the right track. Avoiding having multiple concerts back to back is very important.
By the way, Placido Domingo is doing quite well with his voice and he is doing more conducting these days.
Yes, you are very right. Hope the Boys will learn from him. Thank you.
I am grateful of the posting of the pictures of their tour & appearances on stage otherwise I & others would not be to see & hear these performances with mean so much to us. Thank you.
Like the Richard Marx song…. “everything we do…. we do it, for you!” 🙂
Congratulations to Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero they have come out on top once again !! Their happiness when they win an award is magical, the smiles on their faces tells all. Il Volo are the only ones worth listening to on the music scene today, all others cannot compare. Thanks again “boys” for all your hard work.
Yes, they quickly help you realize the great, from the mediocre!
☆☆☆☆☆ that, with previous comments, all I can say!> <3 <3 <3! Grazie!
Thanks to Jana for her added comments. Very good information.
Thank you Myron! They weren’t much…. 🙂
It´s superb,I´m pleased – another deserved success and reward for their perfect performance.
I´m very happy that Italy value their qualities and skills,thanks for sharing so much Jana.
Thank you Zdena – Myron did the bulk of it though!
Thank you Myron, Daniela and Jana for the information and photo’s. I did notice in some cases that they still have been doing some concert’s back to back in Italy. Let’s hope that they always take good care of themselves .
On another note Jana and Penina did you see my post yesterday about the yearly fee for the fan club?
Yes Jill, I did–I even answered you! (now you have to go look for it!)
Penina, could’nt find it☹️
Funny, neither could I! Anyway, I thanked you and said I thought they said it was yearly but I couldn’t remember exactly. So thanks for clearing that up. So far I haven’t used it, but I do like getting those emails and wishing I could take them up on some of them!
Thanks, Jill! However, I never saw anything about it being a yearly fee? I’ve had it now for a little over a year and I never saw any emails about that?
They never told you it expired or needed renewing? That’s really weird!
Penina – if they did, it got buried in my email somewhere and I never saw it?
Can you still sigh in?
oops! I mean SIGN in!
yes, computer remembers my password, etc. and it still lets me into the Facebook like page? Reading latest comments? Maybe they grandfathered those who signed up early? however, last email I got was about the free tickets to the Wind Music Awards, was there anything else? I saw on the fan page that the one concert has been postponed? Still says beta?
The last one I got was about the WIND music award tickets. I’m not on Facebook, so I can’t help you there!
Well, I can still get into everything and when I go on the shopping site, everything is at the sale price with the discount. So, I’m not telling them…. lol! 🙂 This is “their” fan club FB like site: https://fanclub.ilvolomusic.com/
From reading on the previous page about the Fan club charging a yearly fee & limited perks especially from what I understand perks are only for Italian subscribers. The Fan Club is basically for the Italians.
Dear Dr. Jay I wrote you on the previous page about the negative response in trying to find out any information about the Il Volo movies. If you are interested please read how it was a waste of time. I don’t blame the Il Volo guys but I get the impression that their people don’t include Canada as a country worth coming to which is shown from ignoring us regarding then movies.
Thank you, Myron, Jana, and Daniela! Your information, photos and videos are very much appreciated! I just can not get enough of these guys and their music! So any and all information regarding them is a real treat!
It is always a pleasure to read Myron’s comments, because he gives us a professional view so your opinion makes us even more proud of our gold players, but what I say, of platinum.
Thank you Myron
As far as my opinion is concerned, I do not think WIND MUSIC AWARDS make a beautiful figure to Italy, except a few artists, others give mediocre performances with low-level songs.
Our boys, besides being visibly at a higher level, have shown great versatility for two evenings, and the prizes received (thanks to sales) are more than deserved, considering the fact that Italian radios almost DO NOT listen to VOLO songs.
Yes, I find that so unusual! We can get international music channels through our cable and when I put it on Italia, I get half American music and a lot of it in English! I keep hoping, one day though, that I’ll here the guys!
I also think that a lot of this has to do less with quality of singing or the quality of the music sung as it does the “musical ambassador” business. Most of the other singers on that show are not as famous in the USA/Canada. Just a guess.
Really, Daniela? Italian radio does not play IL VOLO????
Cynthia, unfortunately, very few times heard IL VOLO on radio, even radio ITALIA transmitting only Italian music makes them feel very little. There are singers whose CDs are also put on several occasions in a day, them few times in a month.
Despite this, they won the Wind Music Awards to get a platinum disc.
oh hi Daniela, just saw this now…. thank you for this info…..
hmmmmmm……
Thank. You. So. Much. Myron. Jana , daniela. Very. Much. Appreciate. Photos. And. Videos. Seeing. And. Listening. To. Il. Volo. Guys. Is. So. Enjoyable. My. Daily. Viewing. Of. Il. Volo. Is. So. Gratifying. Such. Marvelous. Talent. Can. Not. Get. Enough. God. Bless. Them. Grazie
You are so welcome!
also, many thanks from me as well.
A great big Thank you to Jana from me for her support and all the work that she puts into this project.
Myron, thank you very much for this.
I read it earlier but at that time had pressing matters to attend to and I wanted to respond properly.
I appreciated the clips and the pictures, and very much appreciated your voicing out your concern about our guys’ well-being. I have that concern as well. That they take care of themselves, and not burn both ends of the candle.
Thank you again, Myron.
Warm greetings.