The tour continues unabated and we are now in Ecuador, again a wonderful welcome.
Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca only have one day off between one concert and another but during that day they have continuous interviews and the same questions are often repeated and therefore I will try to translate only if there are interesting and different things.
For example, this is a really nice video. During a stop, Gianluca tells this girl that in one day they will be in Argentina and asks her to say a local tongue twister. She says it and in the end Gianluca says, no, I can’t say it, it’s too difficult.
But then he tries and the result is good!!😁😁😁
In this interview in Los 40 Ecuador the boys are asked some questions.
QUESTION= The most sleepyhead.
GIANLUCA= Ignazio, he is a vampire.
Ignazio says he sleeps little at night, which is why he sleeps when he can.
QUESTION= Who is the one who eats the most.
GIANLUCA= Piero and Ignazio.
Then Gianluca also adds himself and in fact Ignazio says that yesterday he was eating a hamburger sandwich and a potato chip came out and immediately Gianluca was ready to take it.
QUESTION= The most punctual.
IGNAZIO= Piero.
But then Gianluca asks a woman from the production and she replies Gianluca much to Ignazio’s amazement 😁😁
At the end they explain their EP Tre Voci Un’alma.
Then Il Volo was a guest in a television program: GAMAVISION
In this video Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca say it’s been a long time since they’ve been back to Ecuador and they talk about the concert saying they’ll try to have fun.
Then they are asked the question that is very dear to the Equatorian fans, that is if each of them has a girlfriend. Piero replies that he is free, Ignazio too and Gianluca says that he is busy in Italy and they tell him to send her a greeting.
Eventually Ignazio invites everyone to the concert and Piero says it will be an Italian night, with three Italians singing Italian classics and there will be fun.
Some moments of the beautiful concert.
One day and then immediately off to CHILE. Here they are upon arrival at the airport.
A moment of relaxation and an excellent lunch.
The show begins and the night becomes magical, who is good, who is ugly, and who is bad?? What an emotion!! ☺
This was posted from Gran Arena Monticello where Il Volo performed:
Il Volo 🎻 at the #GranArenaMonticello ❤️ was crazy! The Italians 🇮🇹 Il Volo 💫 delighted their fans with great songs 🎼 and their vocal talent 🎤 it was definitely an amazing experience 😍 His charm and his perfect harmonies 🎶 made the concert an unforgettable evening 🤗 so much so that the audience gave them standing ovations 👏
Come with us to see 👀 the most shocking moments of the concert 💞 and tell us which one was your favourite? 🤩
Thank you guys! 🇮🇹 We look forward to seeing you soon at the Gran Arena Monticello.
And this nice summary of SWING MANAGEMENT
Magnificent concert in Chile, but time runs fast, so, off you go, Argentina awaits!!
They arrived in Argentina, Buenos Aires.
All ready for the sound check.
ECSTASY OF GOLD+ NESSUN DORMA
IL MONDO + dialogues to thank the Argentines for being present, and for being so happy, after 4 years of detention due to the pandemic. Il Volo is happy to be back.
ABRAZAME + HISTORIA DE UN AMOR
ALL BY MYSELF + CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE + NO PUEDE SER
MY WAY
LA INCONDICIONAL
COSTANTEMENTE MIA
SE
TAN ENAMORADOS
HALLELUJA Brief but beautiful to see the crowd with the little lights
Gianluca makes all the Argentines sing the songs of the last World Cup they won.
And there have already been 6 concerts in less than 15 days, and they have all been a great success with the public. Multiple interviews and participation in shows, lots and lots of love for Il Volo, and Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca have felt all this love and have reciprocated with just as much love!!
But Brazil is waiting with 7 concerts……guys, rest your voices well when you have time, please!!
As I promised, for the next three weeks I will post a story about each of the guys when they were children. I begin this journey with Ignazio because his story begins at his birth.
Let me start by saying each one of the guys is unique in how he presents his story in their book, “Il Volo, Un’avventura Straordinario, La Nostra Storia.” Ignazio chose to write his story. He comes in and out of the story speaking to the reader and asking questions. He is an excellent writer.
Thirteen years old and totally amazing! Notice how well he articulates. Mr. Perfection!
All of what is said here was said by Ignazio in his story. I did not change the thoughts or feelings of Ignazio or any of the guys in any of their stories. Its’ all in their own words. You might say I’m relating the story as seen through my eyes. Ignazio as the narrator gives you the facts and I follow him by giving you information that is important to the story and makes for a better narrative.
This is a very, sensitive and sincere story! This is Ignazio’s Story. So, let’s begin, in Ignazio’s own words!
If life is a story and, if every story need’s someone to tell it, here I am to tell you mine, all of it from the beginning.
My story is not a fictional story even if it seems to be one of those dreams that you never want to wake up from. My story is sincere. It is the story of my life just as I experienced it before Il Volo and inside Il Volo.
My flight (every reference is purely coincidental) starts with a Christmas Letter.
It seems Ignazio’s mother, Caterina, and his father, Vito, were thinking about expanding their family. It is Christmas time 1993. Ignazio’s sister Antonia, who everyone calls Nina, is at school and the children are told to write a letter to Santa and the Baby Jesus. What Nina writes is a miracle and the beginning of one of the most beautiful and sincere relationships between a brother and sister. Nina, 7 years old, writes:
Dear Santa and Baby Jesus,
I do not want any presents for Christmas. Give my gifts to poor children. I want a baby brother for Christmas.
Nina
Ignazio continues, “Said and done!”
Shortly after New Year’s Caterina discovers she is pregnant. When Nina is told she wants to confirm that her request has come true. Nina asks her mother if she can join her for her first ultrasound. During the checkup, Nina asks the doctor, “May I know what it is?”
“What do you want, honey?” the doctor asks.
“I want a little brother.”
“Then come, I’ll show you the string bean.”
Nina’s first wish is granted but her second wish, not exactly! Nina wants her brother to be born on October 1st, her birthday. It seems Ignazio had another idea.
My name is Ignazio Boschetto. I was born on October 4, 1994, in Bologna, Italy.
No, I didn’t make it for Nina’s birthday. I was wrong. What can I tell you? When they brought me home, I was better than any doll to Nina. Everyone was happy but soon, there are some worries. During the first visit, the doctor found that I had a strange kidney malfunction. After several checkups, they found I was born with a single kidney, but the one kidney I had was larger than normal and it works as if it were two kidneys.
And, as if that wasn’t enough, I was born with the squint of Venus, but I was fine, a Bolognese, brand new. The truth is, I could have been born Sicilian – Sienese. How would you see me with a Tuscan accent?
Is it the same if the images that I will never forget are … the memories of my parents? It’s not that I’m crazy or strange, it’s right that my story would never have existed without my parents.
In 1990 when Nina was four years old and before Ignazio was born, his parents made the decision to leave Marsala. They left with the hope of a better life for their family. As Ignazio says, “The family they had only begun to create.” Things were not going well in Marsala, and it was difficult to make a living for a family. They decided to go to Siena because a good friend of Ignazio’s maternal grandfather, who was a building contractor, offered Mr. Boschetto a job. Ignazio’s parents would do anything to make the families’ life better. Ignazio says, “of the sacrifices they have made there were many and big for me and for my sister, I do not spend a day when I do not think about how proud I am of them.”
On arrival in Buoncovento, Mr. Boschetto worked as a mason. Mrs. Boschetto did many different jobs. By 1992 they realized they did not earn enough to keep going. And, Ignazio would say, “that’s why I was born in Bologna.” They made the decision to move to San Martino on Agrine near Bologna. Upon arrival, Mr. Boschetto, being a mason, immediately found a job. Mrs. Boschetto. was always a determined person who had a great desire to keep busy. She reinvented herself. She was a good cook and she found herself a job as a chef in a restaurant not far from home.
Within a few years they managed to achieve economic stability and decided to move into a house. Finally, a house just for them in Guarda di Molinella. Ignazio says, “The house was very small, but it was my first house, the one in which I was born.”
By far, Ignazio was the most pampered member of the family. He was a lively child who laughed all the time, Ignazio says, “I never stopped laughing.” He learned very quickly to talk and walk. He was never silent.
When I was three or four years old – I played with the piano my parents had given Nina. My mother says I was one years old when I played. Nina taught me to play Happy Birthday with one finger. I was a happy child. My mother told me, ‘You’ve never been a child,’ in the sense that I was always quite serious and responsible. I ask you, ‘Would you ever say that?’ In all, I was a happy child. It seemed the situation started getting better. It wasn’t all roses and flowers but in four years it had changed a lot and so the moves were not finished. The moves were always to make a better life for me and Nina. The moves continued even after my birth. When it seemed that we were fine, it was always time to leave.
Of all the houses I lived in, one particular address remains in my mind: Via Marconi 94 in Molinella. It was a big and very beautiful house. We moved there just before I started elementary school. I do not remember the first day of school, but I certainly did not take long to get noticed. If you’re thinking of scenes of me being put in the middle of the class to sing, forget it. I had a passion for music but, I had an even greater passion for pranks. I tell you, since I started talking and walking, mine was an escalation of agitation. It was official I was not the most mischievous in class that would be my friend Nicholas. I was second. It was always an open challenge, a race to the red crosses. Now the question arises: What are the red crosses? The teachers had a billboard and on it they listed all the students in alphabetical order. If you were good in your school and good in your grades, you got a blue cross, however, if you had taken an insufficiency or if you behaved badly, evil was everywhere! Nicolas and I were the most popular! Our billboard line was a red fire specimen.
With the passage of time, I found something good to do at school, that is, an activity that was able to hold my interest enough to prevent me from slipping into some disaster. I joined the school choir. I always liked to sing, to be ‘in the middle’ of the music. And more and more passionately I began to understand how to make better use of Nina’s famous pianola. I learned how to start the musical bases and flip through them. And that’s when I discovered La Donna E ‘Mobile. I liked it so much that I sang with the base and invented words. I don’t remember the words but, it certainly was a song about Pavarotti. Having seen Pavarotti on TV, I knew he always had a big handkerchief so I would invent text and sing on the air La Donna E ‘Mobile.
Now I would not want you to get the wrong idea of me as a child. A saint I was not, mind you, but thinking about it now if I was mischievous at school, maybe there was a reason.
Around 1998, when Ignazio was four years old and had just started kindergarten, the climate in the house changed. There was a problem in the family. Ignazio’s mom was diagnosed with facial cancer. For a child of Ignazio’s age, it was hard to understand what was happening. He realized that something was wrong when he began to see less and less of his mother. She was going back and forth to the hospital for months without finding a solution. Ignazio said, “Mom did something she always did with us, for as long as I can remember, she explained the situation to us, speaking openly. This is a great merit that I must acknowledge about my family, but perhaps a little more to mom, because the fact of speaking clearly with us children and telling us the truth about things that affected our family and life in general taught us to face up to early adult conversations. With mom we always talked about sex, about society, a little bit of everything that life had in store for us as children.”
Now, I’m going to step out of the story because there are no words that I can say that will express the emotion and the sensitivity of Ignazio words. So, I chose to have Ignazio talk directly to you.
I do not even have to tell you that since my mother’s conversation, my life has changed. I was small, but I could not afford to think like the other children of my age. As for my sister the situation was even more complicated because since 1998, the year of our mother’s first hospitalization, until 2003, the year when all the bad story is over, my mother has become Nina. For the first two years of elementary school, those dotted with red crosses, I have not often seen mom, a little because I went to school, a little because she had to return frequently to the hospital and stay there for long periods. Dad worked and my sister, despite her twelve years, had to be a housewife. She has become my biggest reference point. We had to grow both of us very quickly, without thinking about toys and different entertainment, and not so to speak, but really. The truth is that we were not interested in anything that usually affects two children of that age, because the only thing we wanted was to have mom at home.
It is difficult to say what was the worst moment because her absence was always felt. For sure, however, I was particularly impressed by a quarrel with my sister. I was four and she was twelve and I was playing with a toy, she was fed up because I made noise, she took the toy, and we had a fight. After responding badly to her, I immediately repented. For me Nina was very important, really like a mother. In the end I did not sleep for a week. But I never told her, at least until now.
After five surgeries and one hundred and fifty points in the face, mom has returned home. Too bad they did not leave me much time to enjoy her. I wanted to sit her on the sofa and, I wanted all the kisses, hugs and everything I haven’t had in those years. Mom is mine and woe to those who touch her! And instead, a few years earlier, mom had started working in a pizzeria and, not even the time to leave the hospital, she rightly started working again. What could I do?
Most of the time Ignazio stayed with Sabrina, his nanny, who was the girlfriend of the pizza maker who worked with his mom. But there were days when Ignazio was allowed to go to work with his mom. Since Ignazio never wanted to lose sight of his mother again, he would stand by the fridge where the drinks were held and, from there he had a perfect view of the cash desk. At the time, his mother did not work in the kitchen. She was now managing the pizzeria, so most of the time she was at the cash desk or answering the phone. And Ignazio never took his eyes off her. He was so happy that he could talk to her, and he did a good job of selling drinks to the customers.
So, let’s take a look at the situation. Ignazio’s mother is home, the pizzeria has become Ignazio’s second home, he certainly was good at selling drinks and everything seemed to finally be the best it could be.
Ignazio concludes, “at school, then, as I told you, I was part of the choir, and I was more passionate about my music. In short, finally a little tranquility. How long has it lasted? Four years, more or less.”
In July 2004 we were on the road again.
So here we are, it’s 2004, Ignazio is 10 years old, and his life is about to take a major turn. La Forza del destino!
So now we will leave Ignazio’s Story but not before I give you an update on Bosky TV.
In our community which Ignazio formed we believe “Together is Better.”
The video has English subtitles so you will understand all that is said by Ignazio! Basically he says, “Thanks to our community that we have created so recently, we have been able to contribute to the aid of people affected by a terrible tragedy.”
So here is Ignazio again asking for your help for the victims of the earthquake!
This is why I love this guy! Only Ignazio would take time out of his tour and busy schedule to help people who have been hit by a most devasting earthquake! He is truly blessed by God! The Lord said, “Love your neighbor!” For Ignazio the world is his neighbor. He tries to help everyone! I thank you God for putting him on this earth!
If you want to help people affected by this terrible tragedy, you can do it through this foundation https://www.fondazionepek.it/ PEREZ-KOSKOWSKA P&K FOUNDATION
“SOLIDARITY DOESN’T SHAKE, HELP US TO HELP!” Current account in the name of: Fondazione Perez-Koskowska ets Banca di Bologna IBAN: IT94 E088 8337 0600 4000 0403 993 Reason: Colletta Earthquake Turkey and Syria 2023
Or you can contribute in the following places. Watch the video to understand how this is done.
Join me next week as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and open the door to a new adventure! Next time we will explore Piero’s beginnings
If you would like to share a story with me, please email: susan.flightcrew@yahoo.com
To read more Il Volo stories visit us at www.ilvoloflightcrw.com
What I have written here are excerpts from the book the guys wrote about their lives. “Il Volo, Un’avventura Straordinario, La Nostra Storia.” (An Extraordinary Adventure, Our Story) This is just a small piece of each mans’ story. The book is written in Italian. If you can read Italian, I would highly recommend that you read it. It’s wonderful! If not, I can only hope that someday it will be translated into English. Or you can use Google Translate to translate it.
I also recommend you read their second book “IL Volo: Quello Che Porto Nel Cuore” (What I Carry in My Heart).
And let’s not forget the new album. Available on Spotify, Amazon, and other music media!
I’m late with the list of various concerts in South America, due to Michelle Impossible’s translation, but now I’ll try to catch up quickly.
We continue the LatAm Tour with stops in Colombia.
Here is Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero upon arrival in Bogotà, very warmly welcomed!!
There is very little time to rest and therefore we immediately move on to the concert.
There are many nice full song videos, which I am attaching.
MAS CHE AMOR + COSTANTEMENTE MIA
HALLELUJAH
TAN ENAMORADOS
UN AMORE COSI’ GRANDE (spanish version)
SE
O SOLE MIO ☺
VOLARE ☺
HISTORIA DE UN AMOR
Beautiful collage of songs
Colombia, Bogotá waits for them and receives them with all the expectation and love that they have always generated in their public. We love you, we admire you and we are happy and grateful for your presence in our country. Welcome Always.
It is another fantastic trip that is done with all activities. Seeing them together is already cause for joy. Their brotherly love is the ideal complement to their beautiful voices and they should know that almost 50% is a component of their success!!!!!! … all their presentations in whatever activity they carry out have a stamp that they only imprint on each concert, at each moment, at each response, at each composition they perform, everything becomes warmer, more tender, more meaningful, they produce the double the butterflies in the soul, double the emotion in the heart.
If the songs are beautiful, they become sublime, pure feeling, pure emotion.
With the fact of having chosen them, what lives inside each one is revealed.
For their wonderful voices, for each tone of voice, for each harmony we have clues to a bit of their world.
Since there is a common factor between them, their great and blessed talent, their love for singing, their brotherly love, their admiration for one another, their dedication to the profession and their public, their sincere appreciation to their families, to Its origins and its great team: manager, assistant, teacher, band, technicians…, transmit to us all that beauty that the world contains where they are super talented, loving and charming hosts, intelligent, very different from each other but absolutely complementary. Hearing and seeing them is the closest thing to being in Paradise.
God allow your union to last, your brotherly love be the foot for many, many more successes. Let nothing and no one separate you or induce you to leave this great road that you have built for 14 years now. Wishing that time multiplies. ….it only remains to express
Sincere admiration, great affection and much respect from Colombia. (Luz Adriana Toro Arango)
This is an Instagram comment by MUSIC TREND COLOMBIA:
Rarely does a three-voice ensemble have the chance to move with total confidence between some of the most famous songs in the world without failing in the attempt.
What happened to @ilvolo today at the Movistar Arena was simply perfect 👌🏻
This is the comment of LUZ ADRIANA TORO ARANGO after seeing the concert:
Yes, just perfect. One does not “die of emotion”, because God is very great. My heart stopped, I floated on a cloud of fantasy, I was in paradise during the entire concert. They are much more than what one expects. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! Admiration Love and respect from Colombia.
This comment by MOVISTAR MUSIC COLOMBIA is also beautiful.
The music of IL VOLO won everyone’s heart! 💙🤩🎶
With a repertoire of poems made into songs, IL VOLO delighted us with its incredible voices. ✨🤩 Language was not a barrier for everyone to dance and sing at the top of their lungs, because music was the main language, turning it into a concert full of emotions and indescribable energy.
Music makes you feel alive, it makes you feel more connected to the world!
Il Volo participated in a television program: DIA A DIA CARA COLOMBIA
Very interesting this exchange of views on love, which I translate for you.
GIANLUCA= We should always do crazy things, right?
WOMAN= How crazy are you made for love?
GIANLUCA = I traveled very far to see a woman, in Mexico, I remember.
PIERO= Never, never, like him (Ignazio)
GIANLUCA= But he is the craziest.
PIERO= He fell in love with a Brazilian, and every month: “Where’s Ignazio?” He went to Brazil, always Brazil, always.
WOMAN= Once a month did you go to Brazil to chase love?
IGNAZIO= Yes.
WOMAN= Loving from afar, is it possible?
PIERO= I believe that love is nourished if they are together.
GIANLUCA = Out of sight, out of mind.
WOMAN= In other words, you don’t believe in love from afar.
GIANLUCA= Well, it’s very difficult, but everything is possible… isn’t it?… If you believe in something. That love is like learning to do something, if you want to learn to be a singer you have to study every day, you have to have a cure, right? Even for love, I believe.
IGNAZIO= I don’t agree, they are all words…
PIERO= They are all words…
IGNAZIO= Love is such a spontaneous thing that you don’t control it nor can you study it.
WOMAN= And you? You say no, you’ve already lived it, you don’t want to live it again.
IGNAZIO= Well, I’m a person who doesn’t set limits and therefore I won’t say no… but it’s difficult because… one of the most important things in a relationship is everyday life, right?
WOMAN= Spending time together…
IGNAZIO= Yes, fine, you go to work, you have your life, I have my life, but when we want to be together, we stay together.
GIANLUCA= (addressing the woman) What do you think?
Then, they were interviewed in the LA POSTA program for Ecuadorian TV. (I translate briefly)
It’s an interview to publicize the arrival of Il Volo in Ecuador, so the questions are aimed at this purpose.
The interviewer asks why they have dedicated an EP to Latin songs and Gianluca replies that they have always had the opportunity to sing these very beautiful songs. The woman says that there is a lot of reggaeton there and it is remarkable to return to the songs of their fathers with beautiful voices.
Piero also says that he loves the way of dealing with life in South America, always with a positive attitude. The woman asks if it is the first time they have been to Ecuador and Ignazio replies that they have been other times. So they talk about the beautiful beaches and she asks if they like Equadorian food and if they are going to visit Quito, but Piero replies that they will only stay one day but next time they will try to stay and visit the city.
Il Volo also had an exclusive interview with CTV Faranduelando, here’s what they said about them:
“We talked to the Italian trio Il Volo, about their new production in tribute to Latin America entitled ‘Three voices one soul’. Enjoy this great interview with Il Volo.”
(I translate briefly)
Gianluca begins by saying that in 2013 they paid a tribute to the great Josè Josè and from that moment they fell in love with Latin American music and now with their EP they have decided to pay homage to romantic music.
When asked how does Latin music influence Il Volo’s music, Ignazio replies that Latin American music is very close to Italian culture, both are very romantic and since Il Volo always says they bring Italian culture into their music, the idea was to bring all the tradition of Latin America to the younger generation.
They are asked if Il Volo will make a video for the song Tan Ennamorados and Piero replies no, they are too busy in the tour, the EP is already out and they will sing the songs in the concerts, and then they are concentrated in a new project.
The new question is how Il Volo felt singing with the mariachis.
Gianluca replies that it was a challenge because powerful voices are needed but also full of passion and feeling to better interpret the song with the marichi.
Piero replies to the last question about what Il Volo thinks of current Latin American popular music.
He says that Il Volo respects every musical genre, music is for everyone, and the three of them are nobody to criticize. The musical genre of Il Volo is a genre not very well known by the new generation, and that’s what they try to do, it’s a genre that has been sung in the past by great artists and also the young people, as happened to the three of them, yes can fall in love with these songs. Everyone recognizes himself in a musical genre, everyone can listen to what he wants, we respect all musical genres and all artists who sing.
I would say that the tour is going very well, but damn there is no time to breathe and immediately another country to add to the concerts.
Tell me what you think and…… see you soon!!
Daniela 🤗
I was sending this post, but I saw a video recently posted by Ignazio on Bosky TV.
Activate the subtitles, and read carefully the purpose of TOGETHER IS BETTER.
Once again a demonstration of great heart and generosity.
March started very well here in Italy, in the evening on Canale 5, we were waiting for the previously recorded episode where Il Volo was a guest of Michelle Huzinker in the MICHELLE IMPOSSIBLE program.
It was all wonderful, Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca perfectly at ease, but you will see for yourself from the long video.
A splendid Michelle comes down the stairs and makes a long speech to introduce Il Volo.
MICHELLE= Do you ever think about the moment that completely changed your life?
That moment when everything changes in an instant, when we took that train, that decision, or accepted that job, that’s the moment that started a series of events that led us to where we are today.
And if it had gone differently what would it have been like? Would we still be with those people we know today? Or would it be completely different? Because in my opinion the people we have around us are very important and are a turning point, they are fundamental in the meetings we have, and this is why we must be careful, we must pay close attention to the opportunities that present themselves, because the meetings that we do, they can change our existence, and fate is unpredictable.
(The very sweet notes of MICHELLE MA BELLE begin and Il Volo enters and goes down the laddersinging Il Volo, kisses and hugs )
GIANLUCA= Good evening.
IGNAZIO= Hello everyone.
PIERO= Hi Michelle.
MICHELLE= IL VOLO !! ❤❤❤
GIANLUCA= Did you hear that serenade???
MICHELLE= But guys, what an entrance, thanks!
PIERO= In English it doesn’t make it, but in Italian: you are beautiful!!
MICHELLE= You too, you too, and then I’m always very happy to have you here, come and let’s settle down here on the staircase we sit down with a grace. (it’s not very comfortable to sit on those steps)
GIANLUCA= We are all super bright. (All four are wearing elegant and bright suits by Armani)
MICHELLE= (Ignazio remains standing) Please, Ignazio, take a seat.
IGNAZIO= I am admiring your enchanting-ness. (he says it by mangling the word in Italian )
MICHELLE= Wow, that’s too many compliments! I am super happy that you are here, because I think back to the first time we met…….
IGNAZIO= (He starts to sit down) Help!
MICHELLE= Ignazio, you’re very young, look, this is the first hint of seniority.
IGNAZIO= It’s not the age problem, it’s the size problem. 😁
PIERO= The first button Ignazio, unbutton.
MICHELLE= They have never changed, because I met them for the first time in 2011, think, they were very small, I presented WETTEN DASS in Mallorca …. (At the bottom of this long post is the video of Wetten Dass )
GIANLUCA= Our debut on international television was with you.
MICHELLE= Yes, I was hosting this program in Germany, by the way it was broadcast in Germany but we were in Mallorca. Next to Il Volo were : Cameron Diaz, Heidi Klum, Jennifer Lopez…
IGNAZIO= Ah, I remember her well. (Jennifer Lopez)
MICHELLE= You remember her well, eh….and then there were them singing, you realize that they left abroad, that is, they were born here, but they immediately hit the international stages and this is an incredible thing, because it’s not something that happens to everyone in Italy.
PIERO= Us….our story is particular, because we didn’t know each other…
MICHELLE= Exactly…
PIERO= We met in 2009. We live together….it is in all respects a coexistence, because we have been living together for the past 14 years…
IGNAZIO= Unfortunately yes (ironic-laughter). 😁
MICHELLE= Yes, but I really want to understand, because before, I told the audience about the “sliding doors” issue, i.e. you met by chance. Tell us for a moment that moment when you met, i.e. did you really understand that it would have changed your life?
IGNAZIO= But I think that, as you said, being at the right time, in the right place is fundamental, because in any case there are so many talents all over the world, in Italy, especially we have beautiful voices, and we were lucky enough to find each other in the same place, in the same year, because we met on a children’s television show, and from there they put us together. But it was our decision to say: “OK, let’s continue together”, because in any case we, yes, we are a group, but we are three singers put together, that’s it.
MICHELLE= I understand, but let me understand something, you started your experience, you were put together and then you walked the most important stages in the world. Suddenly you were international, but between you, you had immediately that friendship could spring…
GIANLUCA= The thing that struck me is that there is this similarity, very strong in us, because music, like any form of art, allows you to express what you have inside, and it’s truly unique as a sensation, all the anxieties, all the emotions that we live, and singing is a way to express emotions, and we have this strong thing in common, this strong emotion and this passion for music that unites us in an indissoluble way.
PIERO= But the beautiful thing is that the emotions you feel on a stage are unique, indescribable, and the beautiful is being able to share them with someone who in that instant comprehends and understands those things….
MICHELLE= …. what that you’re living. They sang with Barbra Streisand, tell me, Barbra Streisand, then Laura Pausini, Eros Ramazzotti, you sang in front of the Pope, after singing with everyone, you go back to Italy and win Sanremo, and that was one more step, you became prophets at home.
PIERO= We used to come back to Italy only for holidays. 😑
MICHELLE= Really??
PIERO= We couldn’t digest this thing, but…..
MICHELLE= In what sense?
PIERO= We only sang abroad, America, South America, Japan… and in Italy, you know it’s always pleasant to sing for your people, for your countrymen, and therefore we had the opportunity to have the GRANDE AMORE song in our hands ……
MICHELLE= Wow, that’s a wonderful song.
IGNAZIO= But we never told you the story, you also wanted some gossip…
MICHELLE= Yeoh, give me some gossip…
IGNAZIO= The audition of GRANDE AMORE arrives and one thinks: “Wow, mamma mia, what a piece” ….. I didn’t like it, not even Piero…
PIERO= That’s not true!
IGNAZIO= No, the only one who liked it was Piero, he went crazy, Gianluca and I didn’t,….because the audition arrived strange, it was sung by a tenor and a soprano and lyric singing, so we got into the study…
MICHELLE= And you two (Ignazio and Gianluca) who are not as lyrical as Piero, didn’t love this piece so much.
IGNAZIO= Not for the lyrical fact, but because the piece didn’t reach us….
PIERO= But there was that refrain (he articulates it with his mouth), which stayed in my ear, and I said let’s try it, it doesn’t cost us anything, let’s just waste one day of our lives….
IGNAZIO= We sat there with Celso Valli (arranger), Michele Torpedine our manager…
MICHELLE= So you won Sanremo thanks to Piero, though!! (She pronounces the phrase in a Sicilian way – applause)
IGNAZIO= Let’s not exaggerate.
MICHELLE= Then Sanremo, a nice extra piece. then at a certain point you also find yourself in international situations, crazy international parties, where you met Beyoncé…anyone, but you were scared…..
IGNAZIO= Her too I do not forget! (Beyoncé)
MICHELLE = Oh yeah? She has a beautiful voice.
IGNAZIO= She’s beautiful, apart from the fact that she’s a crazy singer, she’s very good…
MICHELLE= It’s the queen…
IGNAZIO= But then she is a beautiful woman, really very beautiful.
MICHELLE= Yes, I imagine. Then you went home and you were afraid to tell this because you thought they didn’t believe you anyway.
PIERO= Our friends thought we were crazy, because we were 15/16 years old, we went home, I repeat on vacation, I was ashamed to tell my friends that we were at those parties…
GIANLUCA= Let’s say that flaunting is always wrong, both knowledge and material things, we certainly don’t boast.
PIERO= I used to tell my brother, my sister and that’s it.
Later, over the years, as time went by, we showed some photographs.
MICHELLE= It was a matter of delicacy.
GIANLUCA= But the secret is just that, in the end, for how many things can happen to you in life, like totally changing the path, we always live it with that innocence, just without ever forgetting, that child that is within us, which is the most important thing.
MICHELLE= For this reason you are so wonderful, huh! (applauded)
Like that time when at some point you escaped the fans, and you found yourself in the kitchen with a girl named Lady Gaga.
PIERO= Yes, get Ignazio to tell him.
GIANLUCA= We were at a big event in New York, in 2016/2017 if I’m not mistaken, and we were guests of this big event where Lady Gaga was also there.
He (Ignazio), at a certain point, after the performance, after the evening, the gala, says: “I’m going to sleep, I’m sleepy.”
MICHELLE= Well done Ignazio!!
GIANLUCA= He goes to sleep and instead we spend a nice evening with Lady Gaga. He missed this experience.
MICHELLE= But why did you go to sleep?
IGNAZIO= No, but I told them I was going to sleep…..
MICHELLE= Ahhhhh…….
IGNAZIO= I think you can understand me, each of us goes through periods in our lives where you are particularly passive….
GIANLUCA= (addressed to Michelle) Why are you passive??
PIERO= Can one be passive at 23???
GIANLUCA= He was 23!!!
MICHELLE= Passive in what sense?
IGNAZIO= (He got up) Let me breathe.
MICHELLE= You mean introspective, that you had a particular period?
IGNAZIO= I breathe and I answer you.
MICHELLE= You are very elegant.❤
IGNAZIO = Thank you very much.
MICHELLE= You’re not breathing but you’re fine. 😁
IGNAZIO= There are those moments where you ask yourself questions, I’m like that, it happened to me, but I think it happened to many people, that period comes when you stop and ask yourself who you are, what you want, if you’re in the right place, and I had that period where I wondered many things and I was also very closed off, and therefore I isolated myself a lot, I never went out with them. I went through that period and I have to say it’s nice to be a group, being three of us helping each other overcome difficulties and obstacles and therefore it was lucky to find ourselves in three. I finished my concept.
MICHELLE= Beautiful!! (applause)
PIERO= Can I say one thing? Just one thing, I ask the director to give me a close-up with Michelle, just a moment, where is the camera?
MICHELLE= Sure, why?
PIERO= I would like to tell my friends: “I’m in the right place.”
MICHELLE= Ah, what a charm. (applause) Ok, a little more gossip. Who happened to find his autograph on the calf of a Vololover??
IGNAZIO= On the calf!
PIERO= We were in the United States, the morning of the concert I go on the treadmill to run and while I was running, I saw this lady next to me, we say goodbye, I run with earphones, I see it and I think I know that signature there, it was my autograph, here, tattooed like this (and he marks at the end of the calf).
MICHELLE = Crazy, incredible! (applause…..you all must know that the woman Piero is talking about is Marie Crider, a founder of Flight Crew. When I had the pleasure of meeting her, she herself told me about this moment with Piero. Shealso wrote about this meeting with Piero in a post, and she also took two photos of Piero, you can read everything here, at the bottom of the post)
Piero says it was his signature, in reality was written IL VOLO” ☺
MICHELLE= I understood that all three of you are truly fantastic, but now, as life has brought you to be together, in this small juncture, while you are here at MICHELLE IMPOSSIBLE and I want you to do an impossible mission, that is to separate for a moment and ask yourself a little what it would have been like if these three guys hadn’t met, they would certainly have made a career as soloists, but they would have had different tastes from each other. Ignazio, what would you have sung, would you have entered opera?
IGNAZIO= If I were alone and could choose a musical genre, what I like most, I would opt more for pop …. R&B (type of music rhythm and blues)
MICHELLE= Oh, really??
IGNAZIO= Yes!
MICHELLE= You would have become an R&B pop singer.
IGNAZIO= Yes, yes.
PIERO= But he has an incredible vocal reach.
GIANLUCA= He is the Freddie Mercury of Marsala. (applause)
MICHELLE= But you are also, the boys told me, that you sing girl songs very well.
IGNAZIO= I’ve been trying for a few years to carry on a project, in our concerts, where I like to sing songs, let’s say made famous, brought to success by women and which maybe have never been sung by a man .
MICHELLE= I believe you, because the others fail.
IGNAZIO= But not for that.
MICHELLE= No guys, I’m telling you, I’ve heard it, he doesn’t like compliments so plug your ears, but he sings amazing female singer songs, without changing the key……Maestro, we want put Ignazio to the test and bring him to the centre, we want to see him alone, in a context…..
IGNAZIO= I change some keys, also because otherwise I would sing like the Cugini di Campagna (Italian musical group that sings in falsetto)
GIANLUCA= Which we say hello to them.
MICHELLE= Go Ignazio. So, only here at Michelle Impossible will we enjoy a beautiful piece…..
IGNAZIO= Wait while I take the stand. (of the microphone)
MICHELLE= We are here that listening to you: ALMENO TU NELL’UNIVERSO, an easy, easy song !! (Ignazio begins to sing) – at the end applause, standing ovation) ❤
MICHELLE= Piero, instead you? Let’s sit down again for a moment, (she laughs because it’s tiring to sit down) “Whoever wants to appear beautiful, must suffer a little,” then Piero, instead you, since you were little: pure lyric, you always have loved the opera, is it true?
IGNAZIO= (he too tries to sit down with difficulty) Ouch Ouch….
GIANLUCA= Again eh!!
PIERO= As a child I immediately rediscovered my vocation for opera, it was passed on to me by my family, and my plan before meeting them (Ignazio and Gianluca), because we met in the pre-adolescent phase, was to finish high school, enrolling in the conservatory and embarking on a course of study to become a tenor, that was my life’s goal.
MICHELLE= But in fact, even now you study 3-4 hours a day, because you train your voice, in the depths of your heart it’s as if you wanted to go there……or in any case you keep yourself trained because it’s a dream in the drawer or do you leave it there, in the sense that you’re already satisfied with what’s happening and you continue to train like this because it’s a passion?
PIERO= I think it’s right to be satisfied with the work you do, but never lose that ambition which is that extra stimulus that makes you alive and gives you that motivation when you wake up in the morning, to always do something more.
MICHELLE= That’s the beautiful thing: the goal in life. (applause).
So what would your dream be? Leave them (Ignazio and Gianluca) alone, leave diplomats “politically correct” alone, what is your dream?
PIERO= I don’t believe much in dreams but I believe a lot in goals. This is one of my goals, I don’t know if I will succeed in my life one day, but I will try to make this wish come true.
MICHELLE= But tell me, because that day I want to be there to show you the tape of this moment. What is the opera stage you would like to tread, the most important one for you.
PIERO= Definitely an Italian theater, more than anything else I’d like to debut with an opera: La Traviata, L’Elisir d’amore, one of these.
MICHELLE= And I think it will happen, meanwhile it happens here with Michelle Impossible, I ask the director please to transform this stage into a great Italian opera house, because they are the most beautiful in the world. Maestro, are we all ready?
PIERO = Wow, I go! (The stage has turned into a theatre – applause)
MICHELLE= Present us the piece well! The piece you will sing.
IGNAZIO= Can I do it?
PIERO= Go, go, you do it come on!
IGNAZIO= Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the second edition of Michelle Impossible, (Michelle corrects Ignazio’s pronunciation)…..I’m introducing, so leave it to me….. Now Piero Barone, a member of the Il Volo group, will delight us, charm us, amaze us, and in any case he will sing…
PIERO= Do you also want the tax code?? 😁
IGNAZIO=……one of the most famous, most important arias in the history of opera. Taken from TOSCA, E Lucean le stelle (applause, Piero begins to sing) ❤
MICHELLE= It’s nice to hear them sing alone, to hear how they are different from each other, in their character.
Gianluca is missing. In any case incredible. (turning to Piero).
PIERO = Thank you.
MICHELLE= I can’t wait to see you on one of those stages and I’ll be the first to come see you.
GIANLUCA= Everyone in the front row.
MICHELLE= The first really.
PIERO= Promise!
MICHELLE= We said it here. (applause)
MICHELLE = Gianluca…
GIANLUCA= Shall we sit down again?
MICHELLE= No, no now it’s your turn. We heard from Piero and Ignazio, what would you have done, in this moment, let’s say alone?
GIANLUCA= But honestly I’ve always wondered over the years, because knowing each other is difficult, I’ve had periods of confusion. I grew up listening to both Bocelli and Elis Presley and Bublé , Alex Baroni who I loved to death (an Italian singer ) so it was always a world between pop music and … but classical music has never been part of me, let’s say. Then I found a great inspiration in Elvis Presley…
MICHELLE= You mean you’re singing to me something about the great Elvis?
GIANLUCA= I’ll try (applause)
MICHELLE= So the stage is all yours and I would say transform it at this point…Elvis isn’t exactly from New York, but we want to bring people to America. He (Elvis) never got out of America, he wished he would…
GIANLUCA= He went to Germany to enlist..
MICHELLE= But never to sing.
GIANLUCA= He has never sung in Europe, exactly.
MICHELLE= Then you’ll do it now for him.
GIANLUCA= I try, humbly, I try, I go!
MICHELLE= Please. (applause). So at this point Piero, do you want to announce Gianluca?
PIERO= Ok! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the second edition of Michelle Impossible….
MICHELLE= Perfect like you said it!! (Piero and Michelle make fun of Ignazio)
IGNAZIO= Crafty (untranslatable) can you tell on TV?
MICHELLE= Nowadays, yes.
PIERO= We welcome Gianluca who will sing for all of us: Can’t Help Falling in Love. (applause, Gianluca starts singing) ❤
GIANLUCA= Thank you (applause and standing ovation) Thank you all, thank you Maestro, thank you to all the musicians.
MICHELLE= Guys but you’re giving me emotions, here the heart …. gives way, I have no one to make out with, it can’t be like this. (laughs)
I tell you one thing, but even during rehearsals, there are few artists who have ….plug your ears (she tells Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca, because she wants to give them a compliment), they seem to be recorded singing because they have perfection, because they study. Then you understand why they are so appreciated abroad, they are international, and I am happy that you are returning home, because now you are in South America at this moment and therefore you have come from South America especially for me.
GIANLUCA= But do you know what the most exciting thing is? Me as a child when I was on the sofa and I looked at you crazy, in love….
MICHELLE= Don’t say that I feel old… “when you were child”…. 😁
GIANLUCA= I wanted to pay you a compliment, (applause), I wanted to pay you a compliment….when I was a teenager…
MICHELLE= Come on, kidding!
PIERO= No, wait, Gianluca showed me his TV from when he was little, it was still in black and white! (laughs)
GIANLUCA= I wanted to say that before being famous, that sounds better, I watched her on television and I was in love and now we are delighted to be here with you.
MICHELLE= Thanks!! (then she turns to Ignazio). Leave the Maestro alone. Ignazio, look, Maestro Chiaravalli is very jealous.
IGNAZIO= But you’re mean, calm down!
MICHELLE= He’s jealous of his cube.
IGNAZIO= This is the reason why your hair fell out, calm down, you are too agitated. (jokes)
MICHELLE= No, because Ignazio, I’ve already touched this little cube here in the first episode several times, the Maestro doesn’t want to because he says things happen….
IGNAZIO= Can’t I touch it?
MICHELLE= You can’t touch it, because if you touch it, things happen.
IGNAZIO= Like?
GIANLUCA= (addressing the people) Aren’t you curious now?
AUDIENCE= Yes!!
IGNAZIO= (to Michelle) What are you laughing at, explain to me.
MAESTRO= (Piero tries to touch the cube) No, no, no, you can’t touch it.
MICHELLE= The beauty is that everyone you say “you can’t touch” wants to do it.
PIERO= You have become famous, we saw it in a television programme…..
MAESTRO= Yes, but you mustn’t touch this, please, because this is a mechanism….
MICHELLE= Look at them, look at them….but now are we the whole transmission here with the cube?
IGNAZIO= But can you touch it? I mean….
MICHELLE= I could touch it, but I’ll leave it alone because I know what could happen.
IGNAZIO= Let me see what happens.
MICHELLE= Try it then, if you must.
IGNAZIO= But you do it. Let me see what happens.
MICHELLE= Me? No, if I touch him, it’s happy. (laughs) You touch it first, go. (applause) Please go if you must. (Ignazio crushes the cube, but there is only one raspberry)
IGNAZIO= Oh, just like that?
MICHELLE= You touched it wrong, when you touch it wrong it happens like this.
PIERO= Can I?
MICHELLE= Go, go. (Piero squashes but only a raspberry). You have to touch it with feeling, understand?
PIERO= (addressing one of the laughing audience) You, I’ll see you later (jokes).
MICHELLE= Feeling, do you want to see how it is with feeling? Are you ready?
IGNAZIO= Go! (Michelle crushes and nothing happens)
MICHELLE= So?? But did something unspeakable have to start?
MAESTRO= Evidently there wasn’t the feeling that there should have been.
IGNAZIO= I’ll take care of it…with feeling we said (Ignazio brings the cube and crushes it with his forehead)
PIERO = Good night…..
MICHELLE= Enough let’s go on…..(but Ignazio starts singing sweet Notting Hill, Gianluca immediately joins in while Michelle and Piero dance
MICHELLE= All right guys the time has come for my request as a Vololover, for me and for my mum, you must do me a great pleasure, you know I wrote you a message before winning Sanremo and I wrote you that you would have won, I brought luck, so now I would like you to sing Grande Amore for me and for my mother, Ineke, who is at home.
PIERO= Before singing Grande Amore I have to tell you two things: 1= we sing it only if you sing it with us….
MICHELLE= Alright.
PIERO=…. 2= the project that we presented this evening to sing individually and then always gather together, which is our strength when all three of us sing together, we will present this project which is called TUTTI PER UNO (ALL FOR ONE) in just two evenings on this network Canale 5 in May.
MICHELLE= Ah, a big event on Channel 5.
GIANLUCA= We will go back to the Arena. (I already have tickets for May 1st ☺)
MICHELLE= I can’t wait.
PIERO= And it’s called UNO PER TUTTI – ALL FOR ONE…… tonight’s was a completely organized scene….
MICHELLE= But don’t say that….
IGNAZIO= Anyway, don’t delete our (telephone) numbers if we go back to Sanremo, who knows, you’ll write to us again.
MICHELLE= Of course. (laughter)
IGNAZIO= So you sing with us?
MICHELLE= But if you want to take that risk…
PIERO= Have you reviewed Grande Amore?
MICHELLE= Yes, in the dressing room, I reviewed it again, now I’m like real singers who wear inears. (Ignazio knelt down to give her the microphone)
PIERO= The proposal is being made to you.
MICHELLE= Then I am like Blanco who doesn’t hear anything (Blanco is a singer who didn’t hear the music in the inears at the last Sanremo).
Ok, how do we position ourselves?
IGNAZIO= As you wish, do you want to stay here, do you want to stay there.
PIERO= Maestro!
MICHELLE= I would like you to be united, I want to put you back together, because this moment is solemn, and every now and then I get into the song.
IGNAZIO= All right.
GIANLUCA= We are about to sing Grande Amore with Michelle Hunziker (applause)
MICHELLE= I can’t wait! Maestro!
IGNAZIO= Maestro! (Grande Amore begin)
MICHELLE= Il Volo (applause)
Thank you, you are fantastic! But how can you not love this song and these guys.
GIANLUCA= But thank you.
MICHELLE= I would like a man to dedicate these words to me looking into my eyes and tonight you did it in three….
IGNAZIO= Tell me that never, that you will never leave me. (he quotes the lyrics of the song)
MICHELLE= How good you are, a big round of applause again for Il Volo!!
Carry on with your tour in South America.
IGNAZIO= Thank you! One very quick thing: thank you, because you are one of the few people who makes us feel really good, makes us feel spontaneous, and makes us feel at home, so thank you very much, you are a wonderful person. Obviously they don’t know you at home, like maybe as well we know you and you really are a wonderful person. Thank you so much for inviting us!
MICHELLE= Do you want to make me cry?
GIANLUCA= But it’s true, it’s what we feel.
PIERO= It’s the truth.
IGNAZIO= Thank you musician, thank you so much you are amazing. Many thanks to all of you (to the audience) because you are the most important part and every artist owes so much to their audience, because you are the reason why we do this job.
GIANLUCA and PIERO= Thanks!!
IGNAZIO= See you in May.
MICHELLE= We get ‘em out with the final chorus of Grande Amore, come on, let’s get ‘em out big!
I don’t want you to go out like this, I want you to go out great. (final chorus of Grande Amore begins, greetings to all) ❤❤❤
This still image on PC was sent by Piero from Ecuador to show that they were watching MICHELLE IMPOSSIBLE from Ecuador.
It was a really beautiful program. Michelle, an elegant, kind and nice hostess, immediately put our treasures at ease, who gave their best, both in speeches and in songs.
Great to have them exhibited individually and then join them in the final. I’ve read many enthusiastic comments about their performances, from people who wouldn’t have listened to them like Il Volo, but seeing them separately, not only listened to them, but were pleasantly impressed by their undeniable skill.
I had fun translating everything for you, even if I fell behind with the descriptions of the concerts in South America. I can’t wait to see Il Volo in May at the Verona Arena.
Have fun everyone, I’ll add other things at the bottom that you will surely enjoy seeing and reading!!
Daniela 🤗
Il Volo to WETTEN DAS 2011
And here is the beautiful post made by Marie in 2014 after meeting Piero in the hotel gym.
It’s really fun to read about Piero wanting to take a picture of Marie’s tattoo and her asking Piero if she can take his picture.
You will have fun reading it and seeing how young Piero was!!
Marie, if you read today’s long post you’ll be happy to know that Piero hasn’t forgotten that moment and still talks about it today.
A big hug Marie !! ❤😘
Click on Marie’s Excellent Adventure title below to view the post.
Three years ago, after learning that the guys were going home because of COVID, I started checking the fans pages to see what I could find out. What I found out was people were very concerned that the guys were going into the COVID zone, Italy. Little did we know that we would follow them.
The guys did what they had to do. They left to be with their families.
I was not a person who went on fan pages. I was always too busy to stop and read all that people had to say. But suddenly, I wasn’t busy. In fact, I was completely shut down. No business, nothing! That’s what led me to start reading the fan pages. After a few days I realized that the fans were making themselves crazy over the guys going back to Italy so, I decided to write an article about it. I posted the article on Facebook and some of the administrators of the Il Volo fan groups started to message me. Can we post your article? Then they followed up with can you write another article. Well, I had nothing to do so I said yes!
At one point I received a message from Daniela Perani who asked if she could post my article on Il Volo Flight Crew! I said yes, and three years later I have my own column (every Wednesday) and the rest is history!
So, today, three years later, I am posting the original article which Daniela posted. I’ve included her remarks so you can get a feel for how this all went down! So here I am Talking About Our Guys ~ Three Years Later.
Daniela’s comment:
Reading, here and there on the various sites and fan pages, I found this beautiful article written by Susan De Bartoli. Several fan pages have recognized the goodness of this beautiful article by publishing it. Since maybe not all of you who follow Flight Crew may have read it, I thought I’d post it here too, and I asked Susan for her confirmation to do so. Here’s what she wrote.
Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about how our lives have changed in just two weeks. It’s surreal! I try to distract myself but it’s difficult to get away from it all. So, I decided to focus on something else. I can usually get lost in my writing. You know before I started my travel business in 1990, I worked in the motion picture industry. I used to critique films. It was a good job but, I decided I wanted to do more with my life so, I quit my job and I spent two years writing. The best years of my life. So, where am I going with all of this?
Like most of you, right now, I spend a good deal of my day listening to those three amazing guys sing and I said maybe I should do a review of what’s been going on in their lives for the last 10 years. I think, over the last few days, I must have watched hundreds of video clips including interviews and some full concerts and now I’m ready to Talk About Our Guys.
Let me start off by saying these three young men are extraordinary! They are remarkable, exceptional, persons. And, they have revolutionized the music industry. Let’s take a look at each one.
Gianluca is known as the Velvet Voice! I don’t who coined the phrase but, that is right on. Let’s use our senses to understand what that means. Take a piece of velvet and hold it in your hand. Now take your other hand and gently pass your hand across the velvet. What do you feel? You feel a smooth even surface that is crisp with no breaks in it. The sensation is so good that you automatically go back and do it again. And every time it’s the same. It’s pleasing!
Now take Gianluca’s voice, let the notes pass into your ears, what do you hear? A crisp, smooth, even voice with no breaks in it. The note barely passes into your ear, and you are going back for the next note. It’s always pleasing!
Gianluca is a lyrical baritone. He is exceptional because he can sing from the lowest to the highest note in the baritone range. Most baritones are limited in range. Gianluca’s voice is huge. He has a very rich chest resonance which creates a feeling of depth and drama in his voice.
A baritone voice is very romantic, very pleasing to listen to and is always inviting. Most songs are written for baritones. Gianluca starts, almost, every song. Why? In order for a song to be received well you must draw your audience into it. Gianluca’s voice draws you in in a romantic way and you hang on to every note. He can mesmerize you with songs like “Mi Mancherai” where he reaches into the depth of your being. His interpretation of “Surrender” is electrifying.
But, when Gianluca sings, “She’s Always a Woman”, he takes your breath away. The highs, the lows, the emotion, the expression. His voice expands like nothing I ever heard before. He has total command of the song. You walk away with your senses lifted to another level.
Let’s talk about Ignazio, who I call the bridge. He is a lyrical tenor. He, like Gianluca, is exceptional because he can sing from the lowest to the highest note in the tenor range. And God knows he can, easily, hit the high C. Waiting for it and knowing it’s going to happen is so exciting! He brings so much to the production, and I’ll talk more about that later!
A lyrical tenor has a warm graceful voice which is bright and strong but not heavy and it can be heard over an orchestra. Ignazio’s voice is smooth, clean and clear, with an acute extension. His voice has the ability to increase the baritone voice of Gianluca while softening the spinto tenor voice of Piero.
Ignazio has many faces. He is very whimsical in his songs as in “Libiamo ne’ lieti calici” from La Traviata. In the aria “Una Furtiva Lagrima” from L’elisir D’amore, Ignazio makes you feel the innocents of Nemorino’s love for Adina.
In his dedication to Pino Daniele you hear an interpretation that is emotional and a delivery that is so amazing that you get the sense that Daniele wrote his songs for Ignazio.
Ignazio’s voice is the one that brings it all together!
I certainly look for every excuse to include one of my favorite songs. Nobody else can sing it like Ignazio! Just thrilling! “Quando l’amore diventa poesia.”
And finally, Piero. Piero is a spinto (meaning pushed) tenor. A spinto tenor has the brightness and height of a lyric tenor, but with a heavier vocal weight enabling the voice to be “pushed” to dramatic climaxes with less strain than his lighter-voice counterparts. His voice is warm, graceful, bright, and can be heard over an orchestra.
Piero has a powerful voice that easily reaches the higher notes. Every note that comes out of his mouth reaches us with such intensity and remains with us for a long time. It’s the voice that reaches out to you and demands your attention.
Think of Piero singing “E Lucevan le Stele” from Tosca. Or singing the beautiful Spanish aria “No Puede Ser” from A Tabernera del Puerto. From the first note Piero pierces your soul! His passion comes through in his music. Arias are very dramatic and, Piero brings all the drama of the aria into his performance. Always a showstopper!
Now let’s put the voices together. Gianluca starts most songs because he is a baritone, and most songs are written for baritones. As I mentioned he draws you into the song. Gianluca will sing (in most cases) to Ignazio and Ignazio to Piero. This is how the three voices become one. Select one of their songs. Now close your eyes and listen to them sing. What can you say about this song? You can say, that is Gianluca or Ignazio or Piero singing. In the progression of the song, you hear the voices blend to form a symphony for your ears. Their voices are very distinct.
Most groups sing and you hear just a song but with Il Volo you are surrounded by voices. And the individuality of their voices entices you and it stays with you. “Musica che Resta”. (Music that Remains) Think of what Piero says when he introduces one of the solos, “After we were together a while, we realized we had three different voices.” He wasn’t saying that they suddenly found out they had different voices he was saying we are Tres Voces un Alma (three voices and one soul) and, we need to show you those voices individually.
Let’s look at how they described one another when they first started out. I think Ignazio said Gianluca was the serious one, and Piero was the Intelligent one and Gianluca and Piero said Ignazio was the funny one. So, let’s take a look at that.
Gianluca, in most cases, is the spokesman for the group. I’m not sure if this is by chance or choice. He seems to always take the lead when they are in interviews. And he is constantly monitoring the conversation. A good example is the video that was going around recently. It’s the one with the story about the shrimps. The boys were appearing on a Spanish show and Piero was telling the story about Gianluca and Ignazio’s food fight, when they were teenagers, and he mistakenly used the Spanish word cama (bed) instead of the Spanish word cara (face) which turns the story from them throwing shrimps into one another’s face into throwing shrimps at each other in bed. Gianluca picked up on this and immediately corrected the mistake while Ignazio and Piero got hysterical laughing.
Piero is the intelligent one perhaps because he thinks everything through. In interviews he thinks before he speaks, and his answers are always intelligent. He’s very serious and you can tell he thought out the answer before he spoke. And I’m sure that’s what makes his performance so great!
And, Ignazio, the funny one. And that he is! But is it really about the joke? Or is it more about the production. Let’s turn to the production.
The stage is simple. One sign that says it all – Il Volo. There’s the orchestra. Guitars, drum, piano, violins and whatever other instruments are needed for the performance. I want you to stop and think about the performance. We know these guys have three amazing voices but, what if they got on the stage and for two hours, they did nothing but sing. I don’t think it would work. A performance needs the ability to move on. There’s no change of scenery and no intermission so how do you move the performance along? Ignazio!!! The joking he brings into the performance provides the levity to relieve the seriousness of the performance. He brings a certain ease and suspense to the performance. The audience is always wondering, what will he do next. But is it always about joking? I want you to think about what I’m saying. Ignazio is constantly moving around the stage. He’s dancing and keeping the rhythm. He’s swinging the microphone around and constantly nodding towards the orchestra, Gianluca and Piero. Is that the lead up to a joke? I don’t think so. Let me tell you what you are looking at. Ignazio is following every note that is sung or played on that stage. His mind is in motion. He is sensitive and passionate with the music. He has the ability to see the music as it is happening. He knows where every instrument should come in and out. That’s why you notice little things like him smiling, nodding, pointing towards the musicians, Gianluca or Piero. He also grabs the baton from the conductor, sometimes to joke but more often to conduct.
Think about Ignazio conducting the Asti Symphony Orchestra while Marcello Rota sang his tenor part. He wasn’t joking, he was conducting. And that’s why everyone was watching him in amazement. And when it was over, they were speechless. Look at Michele Torpedine go across the stage to embrace him. He is in awe of this young man. Ignazio is music! You call him funny I call him brilliant! I am going to make a prediction here! Remember you heard it here first. Ignazio will compose a great opera and will probably also write the libretto for it.
An early interview. Talking from the heart! Very sincere!
Let’s go back to the beginning. When these three young men started out, they were 15 and 16 years old. Think of being 15 or 16 years old and you have a dream, and someone tells you that that dream, needs to be shared. To fulfill that dream you have to leave your family, your friends, your home, you have to go to another country, and you have to share this journey with two people who you really know nothing about except that they had the same dream you did. You have to trust that the decision that was made by you and your family, was the right decision. If not, it’s back to square one! You’re going to be lonely, and you have to learn to survive without the people you love. So, you learn to lean on one another. That dependence turns into a friendship and that friendship into a brotherhood. It enabled them to trust enough to collaborate and perfect something truly amazing. Something that revolutionized the music industry. Let me go further by showing you a collaboration by these three amazing, very, very talented, young men that is so unreal that it boggles your mind. This is a collaboration of love. Stop and listen to this performance of “Por Una Cabeza”.
Look at how they smile at one another during the performance. A smile that says yes that’s it! Their faces are ablaze! Their expressions let one another know that it works. And, finally, when it’s over, they are so excited they can hardly contain themselves. Look at their smiles, their faces are lit up in joy and their embrace says it all! They are brothers who love one another!
Daniela’s final comment:
Susan, I really have to thank you for your nice words, you hit the mark in the description of Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero.
Thanks also for allowing the publication.
We will be happy to have your other posts if you wish.
A hug from the whole Flight Crew family.
Well, obviously, I continued to write for Flight Crew!
How do I see things now. I see the guys more mature with voices that are more amazing each day! The sweetness is still there, and they still share their lives with the fans.
Sometimes it’s difficult writing about the guys because they’ve lived a lifetime and experienced things that most entertainers only experience late in their careers. They are so young and have truly lived a lifetime of dreams. Since the column is called Through the Fields of My Mind, I must talk about the past. Sometimes I think, how many ways can I tell the same story and then, I read your comments and I realize it’s new every time and there is always someone who has never heard the story before. All in all, I still enjoy Talking About Our Guys ~ Three Years Later.
Just a final note, I will be leaving for South America next week. I will be away for three weeks. Since I don’t know what the internet will be like in South America, I decided to bring you three individual stories about the guys. They go back to the beginning before they were Il Volo! You can continue to message and email me but I’m not sure when I will see the messages.
While I am away, I would suggest you read my weekly story on www.ilvoloflightcrw.com because I don’t know if I will be able to post to the individual fan pages. You can go on Flight Crew and sign up for email and the story will be automatically emailed to you when it is published. While you’re there, visit the Archives and read all the old stories!
Now for you listening pleasure The Concert in Verona 2015
Join me next week as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and open the door to a new adventure!
If you would like to share a story with me, please email: susan.flightcrew@yahoo.com
To read more Il Volo stories visit us at www.ilvoloflightcrw.com
Credit to the owners of videos and photos.
Come in and share the love of life, friends and Il Volo!
