During the American tour, in early March, IL VOLO was interviewed by the CNN channel by the journalist Juan Carlos Arciniegas. Now the full interview has been released. It’s a nice chat with friends, this reporter had already interviewed Il Volo 7 years ago.
I will translate it for you, but you must consider that I don’t know Spanish but being Italian, it is not difficult to understand most of the speech. In some moments I have translated with intuition, but I don’t think I have deviated from the meaning. Forgive inaccuracies.
The interview is anticipated by a promo with a summary of Il Volo:
They joined in a song contest for children of Italian television.
Today they celebrate 10 years of Il Volo’s career, the passion of three young people who made bel canto and traditional world music their presentation card.
For them, making forays into the most current music genre also in Spanish is now a constant.
They also tried with the urban genre, because they will always evolve, going back to the past, because for their admission they want to bring the music of past years and classical music to new generations.
Welcome to this chat with Il Volo.
OC = I am happy to be with you once again, 7 years have passed, in 2013, in this studio we spoke with Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero did I pronounce well?
G + P = Very well.
I = I noticed that Latin Americans don’t pronounce my name well. It is pronounced as “magnana”, “Ignazio”.
G = The last time was in 2013, we grew up see? We have a beard now!
OC = A long time has passed.
P = Seven years, we were more kids, now we are more serious.
OC = first of all, you have made an incredible career in these 10 years and you are still young.
I wanted to comment on the person who made you take this path on a musical level, in your case (Gianluca) the grandfather Ernesto, in your case (Piero), your grandfather Pietro and in your case (Ignazio) he was not a person but an instrument musical, but you have always had this passion, you (Piero) sang already from 3/4 year old child.
P = All three have the same past. We come from families, where my grandfather used to sing, and I have the same voice as my grandfather. My grandfather is blind, and I played with him, singing a song of the Sicilian tradition, and it was he who introduced me to this musical genre, “bel canto”, teaching me the songs we sing in our concerts.
OC = I saw you in a RAI pop music program where he (Gianluca) imitated Eros Ramazzotti, weren’t you taken by that genre, for example? (He asks Piero)
P = No, because when I started singing this musical genre, and I was a child, I started singing as a tenor and thanks to this musical genre, I discovered that I had this voice, like a tenor and I started studying piano and taking lessons in I sing.
OC = And how was Ignazio in your case?
I = I lived in the north, my family was from the south, from Sicily, I had a piano keyboard with music tracks and I sang on that track THE WOMAN IS MOBILE, I imitated Pavarotti, my grandfather played the harmonica. I had two grandparents, but one had an illness, had Alzheimer’s, and did not understand anymore.
It was a little different. It all happened like this.
OC = And your grandfather Ernesto? (He asks Gian)
G = You remember my grandfather’s name well. I call him every day, he is my inspiration. It is thanks to him that I discovered my voice, the same story as Piero.
My idol is Andrea Bocelli and we had the opportunity to sing Granada, with him, in Milan, in a very important concert. But as a child I have always listened to pop music too, all music. I like pop music and rock music, but what excites me is bel canto, the music that we have been trying to bring all over the world for 10 years, and our dream is to bring this musical genre to the new generations.
Our idols, like Luciano Pavarotti, Josè Carreras, Placido Domingo, are great artists who brought lyrical music and “bel canto” to all people, and this is also our goal.
OC = (unfortunately I don’t understand this question)
P = I think that every era, has its own type of music, is fashion. But the important thing …… a friend of my father told me that in the fifties, wide pants and wide jackets were used, but the classic suit has remained over time. The music we sing the music we are bringing is classical and classical music means that it is not going to die. We listen and respect any musical genre and any artist, because it is said that whoever entertains the audience, who does a concert, must be respected and we respect all musical genres, however we don’t want to lose our personality. Our goal is to bring our musical genre, what they sang to us, Pavarotti and then Bocelli and we try not to let him die, to bring it all over the world, especially to the new generation, because we are three young people of 25 years old, who we are singing.
OC = How did you intend the collaboration in a song with Gente di Zona?
I = It was an experiment, there was a record because we are friends of Emilio and Gloria Estefan, and in collaboration with Sony Latin, we made this project with Emilio …..
G = …… including a duet with Gloria, because we liked it.
I = We had a lot of fun, it was different, but we know that Il Volo is Il Volo. We are tradition and “bel canto”, we had a little fun.
G = It’s not just Italian music, Italian bel canto, because we also sing songs like Reloj, Historia de un amor, Bolero. We paid tribute to the great Josè Josè, it was a great emotion in our career. We discovered Josè Josè in 2012 and on the 2013 Latin Billboard we made this tribute and sang El Triste in front of him, one of the most difficult songs.
We had the opportunity to talk a little with him in Mexico, he is a great man and we will always remember him in our hearts, the great Josè Josè.
P = We are always looking for Latin music, because when we started in 2010, one of the first audiences was the Latin audience, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, and it is the reason why each album also has the Spanish version, same genre, same song, but sung in Spanish, and it is for this reason that even in our concerts, we sing songs of the Italian “bel canto”, but also songs like Granada and tribute to Josè Josè.
OC = Would you like to fall in love with a Spanish or Italian girl?
G + I + P = Italian
OC = Clear.
Now the question is 10 years and the first program was TI LASCIO UNA CANZONE, and you sang a song with many other children, IL MIO CANTO LIBERO.
G = Yes, it’s a beautiful song, but one of the first songs that we sang and that our fans always like in concerts is Il Mondo, so Ignazio sang it alone and then we sang it in three. (they make a fragment of Il Mondo)
OC = You presented yourself separately to the program, then your Italian producer introduced you to Tony Renis, you were the first Italian group to sign a contract with an American label.
I = It went like this, Tony Renis and Michele Torpedine saw us on the program. Torpedine was the manager of Bocelli, he discovered Andrea Bocelli, did many editions of Pavarotti & Friends, as artistic director, and together they thought of introducing us to America and when we arrived here, at the Universal Interscope, we signed the contract, the first contract of an Italian, directly here in America.
OC = The three little tenors called you and why the name Il Volo.
G = It is a metaphorical name, music makes us fly and it is simple to pronounce in all countries, and then because the most famous Italian song is Volare, in short, an easy word to hear, and then because Il Volo, the flight does not have a limit.
OC = How were the first months where you were together, was it immediately alchemy or not?
P = Let’s talk about the concerts, when it all started, it was a simple friendship, like three who share the same passion for the same musical genre. Now, after 10 years, thank God, our friendship has become brotherhood, we do as if we were three brothers. The first few months, of course, if you don’t know the other, it was one to discover yourself, day after day.
G = But we were 15 years old, children.
P = We did not understand what we were experiencing, for 14/16 year olds it is difficult to understand what is going on.
I= Andrea Bocelli’s manager comes and you say “no, I don’t want to be with those” it’s madness isn’t it?
P = I think we understood that what we were doing was our life, our future, after 4 years. That day we called our manager and asked for everything we had to do.
G = But I believe that even if life can change you totally, so quickly, you must always remain a little child inside, live life with happiness and also with humility, because when you are on stage and you sing for thousands of people, we get excited and admire what we are going through, this is our life.
OC = And you haven’t lost this.
G = No, of course not.
P = We are celebrating 10 years of career, with many concerts around the world. I believe that our strength, every concert, every night, is that we feel the same emotions it’s like the first concert of our career, and it’s a very important thing. We also had the good fortune to have had important artists with whom we made duets.
OC = A question for Ignazio. You participated in We Are The World in 2013, you sang with very famous people, like Justin Bieber, Michael Jackson was not in this edition.
I = No, because he was already dead. I’ll tell you how it was. The producer was Quincy Jones of We Are The World for Haiti, and the co-producer was Humberto Gatica. Gatica was our producer, he talked to Quincy Jones about us, and he said “get the boys to come” in the choir.
OC = But you didn’t know him?
I + P + G = No
I = We were 16/17 years old, we thought, “where am I?”
G =I remember one thing, very funny, many didn’t know us, because we still hadn’t released the album, we hadn’t sung O Sole Mio, we were preparing the album and Adam Levine, Justin Bieber and Celine Dion said, but who are these guys , and when we started singing “We are the world, we are the children” they turned amazed to look at us. (laughter)
OC = Let’s talk about music. It’s been 10 years and there are many albums, the first was IL VOLO, your presentation to the world, what did it represent in your career?
I = A lot. We recorded this album between Rome and Los Angeles and it was everyone’s job, the first experience, the first trip, the first struggles, because we didn’t know each other well and it means a lot to us. It was like having a first child. The most beautiful songs in our repertoire, such as Il Mondo, Smile, Un Amore così Grande, O Sole mio, also a song that allowed us to enter the Japanese market, which is Notte Stellata, because an athlete from Japan took a medal gold at the ice skating Olympics with our song Notte Stellata. All Japan has gone mad for this song, and now we will go to Japan to do concerts, we will go in May and then November. It’s amazing how a song can change many things.
G = This also happened here, in all Latin American countries, with O Sole Mio, with our version of O Sole Mio, which is halfway between the classic and the version of Elvis Presley, “It’s now or never”. The people really liked our rhythm, in concerts, when we sing O Sole mio, people start dancing, it’s incredible.
OC = I really like SMILE, it was used in the Batman film as a soundtrack.
G = Yes, not Batman but in the Joker movie, we make you a short piece, the final part, a harmony. (they perform a harmony of Smile)
OC= In the following years an album (We are love) was born, the sound changed a little, it is more pop, were you ready for this genre? How were these first years?
I = We tell you the truth, we had a period where we thought we were more pop, like We Are Love, 2012, with this album we won the Latin Billboard. It was unexpected, because it was an album a bit like an experiment, because instead of Il Mondo, Un Amore Così Grande, it was a more pop album, with unpublished, it was a period that we wanted to be more fashionable……
G = But on this record there is also a version of Historia De Un Amor by Lucio Gatica, which is very beautiful and there is also Bolero. This record is very beautiful and the Latin Billborad experience was truly incredible.
OC = Continue Ignazio, what were you saying …
I = …..yes, because he always interrupts me …
G = Why do you always talk …
I = Speak you …. I was saying it was an experiment, but Il Volo is Il Volo. Il Volo is not reggaeton, it is not rap-pop songs of now, we can be it, but there are people who already do this. We are UNIQUE, in the most humble way we can say, because we make a genre that nobody does at our age and also because we are Italian and after Bocelli no one else has followed him.
P = It is true, because in 2016 we worked on a very large project, a tribute to the three tenors, in Piazza Santa Croce in Florence, a beautiful square, you should go.
OC = I saw that you performed the Nessun Dorma and Placido Domingo was there.
P = Exactly, we paid tribute to these three tenors, but we saw the help of these three tenors, such as: Pavarotti died in 2007, however the Pavarotti foundation, thanks to his wife Nicoletta Mantovani, supported this project, therefore we received a message from Josè Carreras, and we had the support on stage, of Placido Domingo, and we paid tribute to the three tenors and we understood that this is what people come to listen to, the songs that no one sings today in 2020.
I = It has nothing to do with Noche Sin Dia. (It is not the same type of music.)
P = Nessun Dorma, Granada are part of our repertoire which is unique.
OC =What it was like to sing the Nessun Dorma, we were hearing it now. What must be done to be able to sing this aria.
P = You know what the trick is, the particular thing to sing this song is the vein (he shows the vein in the neck), when we do the high it swells ….
G = The highest final note
P = Because it is a high B and we don’t know if we can do it every time. When we have the Nessun Dorma in the concert, we prepare well, we make many vocalizations, because the voice must be very warm.
G = The incredible thing is that Puccini wrote this aria 100 years ago, this music is eternal and it is incredible to see people in 2020 as they get excited by listening to music composed 100 years ago.
P = But singing this music requires a lot of discipline, a lot of study, we can’t go out to the club the night before the concert, if we have to sing this song.
G + P = After the concert yes.
OC = When you started you were children, now you are 25 years old men, you have lost some things in your life these 10 years, like giving up attending a parties because the day after you had a concert?
I = It’s a matter of responsibility.
OC = But also a sacrifice, or do you not feel it as a sacrifice?
I = No, it’s not a sacrifice. I think that the sacrifice is to stay away from home, the life of a 16/17 year old boy to sacrifice friends, family, all those moments that you can have at 16/17 years old, this we missed a lot as a life experiences. But we have had many other experiences, seeing the whole world, speaking multiple languages, understanding what the more mature people mean, because we were 16/17, but we were in contact with people of 30/40/50 years, with a great experience. This has made us grow a lot. Now we relate in another way, we do the tour, we make the album and we keep a month to be with our family and then we work on a new project, above all.
OC = Have you finished celebrating 10 years in the world? There was a world tour that started in Europe, right?
I = We have been to Europe, Latin America, now to the US, first Eastern Europe and then we will go to the remaining countries of Europe.
OC = There are really many.
G = It’s the love of the people, and we can’t wait to sing, always. The stage is our family, the audience our home. This is our way of life, we love being in concert, we love people singing with us, and the love they transmit to us every day, in every concert and on social media, in messages.
The best thing is when you do what you like, that you can live with your passion, it is not just a job, because for us it is our passion, we live by doing what we like to do.
OC = And now I want to ask you about personal projects.
(to Gianluca) I saw you sing in the car alongside your father, you sang Maluma songs, you sang in English, you really like pop music. I always thought, I think I told you when I met you, that you could be an actor, Maluma now does it, with Jennifer Lopez.
(to Ignazio) you thought that you wanted to be a pilot.
I = I’d like to, I really like to fly, but we don’t have time to learn the essence, because it takes hours of practice. But we are growing, we know that Il Volo is Il Volo.
For example Piero is studying to do an opera, he will do the opera and we will be there in the front row to listen to him at his premiere.
We have grown and now I really like the world of music production. I have my own label, I’m producing a boy and I like him very much.
OC = I didn’t know.
I = I’m starting now.
OC = (to Piero) You wanted to make a documentary.
I = It was the most horrible video ever seen (laugh).
P = Horrible, horrible. But I liked the camera and videos.
But I study every day to sing an opera one day, it’s my great passion.
OC = But also to write it?
P = No, to interpret it, but you have to study a lot, but we have many concerts and it is very difficult, but never say never, I do my best.
OC = Have you set yourself a limit for this?
P = No, for Pavarotti, his premiere was at 28, so I have time.
OC = (to Gianluca) And you your plans?
G = Il Volo is the top priority, it is the most important thing, it is clear that each of us has his own style, his dream, as Ignazio said, we don’t have time for …. for example, I would like to study and implement, but we don’t have time, but tomorrow who knows …
I = If you like it you do …
G = This yes, if you like it you do it. Yes, I like music, reggaeton, I like J.Balvin, I listen to reggaeton a lot.
OC = Bad Bunny?
I = Bugs Bunny (laughter)
G = Yes, I like him very much and he (Ignazio) calls him Bugs Bunny. (laughs)
I = No, because I don’t listen to this music a lot and therefore I didn’t know him and he (Gian) said to me, “How come you don’t know him?” and I didn’t know what it was called and I really thought it was called Bugs Bunny, I really thought so.
OC = (to Gian) You imitate Eros (Ramazzotti).
G = Eros is a friend, you know that we did a duet with him.
OC = No.
G = (starts singing COSÌ imitating Eros) Così, così ….. this is Eros.
OC = But you always would be the actor, will the idea remain, or would you be a model?
I = A model? But if it’s 1.20m tall … (laughter)
OC = I don’t adjust because I’m sitting……. I don’t know…..like for a Prada fashion house …..
I = Why don’t I have the face of a model? Where is the camera ….
OC = No, you have a bad face, but keep your ideas clear.
Another very serious question.
Usually the musical groups then divide, see One Direction, have you also thought of one day to dissolve Il Volo if you take different paths?
P = For us, the more time passes, the more we understand that our strength is to be united. Everyone keeps his dream, his idea, but our strength is when we sing together. In the concert, when we sing singles, we talked about it just yesterday in the dressing room, after I sang a solo, I can’t wait to reunite with them to sing together, because I feel like I’m missing something …
G = How tender, romantic.
I = We miss to you, so much.
P = Il Volo is when we sing together.
OC = I understand you, it’s like you’re missing your arm for a second ..
P = And then we celebrate 10 years of career, I hope that many people will listen to Il Volo in the future always, but if we celebrate 50 years, we will do it together.
OC= We are running out of time.
What are the resolutions for the next 10 years of music?
G = Following the step of the great artists who are idols like Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, following this music that we would like to be the next, especially because we are young, and forwarding it to others of the age, is the only way to pass it on to more people , to the new generation, because they are not only adults to listen to pop-lyric and classical music. We have a very important musical project we are working on and it will come soon.
OC = What is it?
I = You are asking too much (laughter)
G = But we will come back here and we will talk about this soon, because it is very beautiful, very important for our career.
CO = Why can’t we know anything?
G = Next time we will talk about this.
OC = Yes, ok.
You have worked with Placido Domingo, you know everything that has happened, he has been accused by many women, he has apologized, but people now don’t want to talk about him and even the music industry doesn’t want to talk .., I don’t just say referred to him, but to what happened in the past years, in this type of environment.
P = We can only say one thing, we have known Placido Domingo well, we have known his family, we have worked with him, we have known a great person who has great respect for his family, is a great artist, a great person .
G = It’s a great one. He and his whole family came and gave us many emotions, especially in the concert in Florence, in Piazza Santa Croce, which changed our lives, because thanks to him we grew professionally, he gave us much life and professional advice, he is a great man and we have talked a lot with him about what he went through.
OC = Are you living in Italy?
P + I + G = Yes, of course yes.
OC = Wouldn’t you like to live……in Los Angeles?
P + I + G = No
I = If I could, I would like to stay there a month a year. I would like every now and then to disconnect from Italy and recharge the batteries.
OC = And you? (towards Gian)
G = I really like Los Angeles, when we made the record, or rather five years ago we went to Marina del Rey, I remember the morning, by bicycle, from Marina del Rey, Santa Monica, Malibù, incredible, one of the most beautiful memories of my life. I’d like to be in Los Angeles, it enchants me.
I = Stay in Italy, listen to me.
P = I like Europe.
Listen, we have to thank you for this interview, one of the best they have done to us. You know all about us. We thank you for the opportunity.
We also thank all the people who work with us every day and all our public who have supported us in all these 10 years.
G = And we will come to celebrate the other 10 years of career here.
OC = Thanks, I tell you that when you sing IL TRISTE it excites me a lot, it is very familiar to me and it excites me, you don’t know how much.
P = We dedicate it to you in the concert.
OC = During the concert? Wow. Thanks to you and I’m glad you came it was easy to talk to you.
G = Let’s sing our 10 years together on March 5th at the Microsoft Theater.
Final goodbyes
A really nice interview, many interesting things were said and we discovered many always very sweet sides of our guys.
A nice reconfirmation as always !!
Thanks Show Biz, thanks Juan Carlos Arciniegas, we note your esteem for Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca! ❤️❤️❤️
Daniela
For those who want to compare the video to the interview of seven years ago, I have placed below the video link of that interview, without translation.
Good viewing! 🤗
Click on link below to view the video.
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/spanish/2013/06/13/cnnee-show-intv-il-volo.cnn
Credit to owners of all photos and videos.