Tag Archives: Gianluca

Gianluca, Ignazio, Il Volo, Our Stories, Piero

Yes, Ilvolovers, there is a Santa Claus! By Jana

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As I sit here and watch another new Christmas movie on the Hallmark Channel, I am again, thrust into thinking about the guys… I am not sure what it is, but almost every Hallmark movie has me thinking about the guys.  Perhaps it is because they seem to epitomize the same message that the Hallmark movies try to convey at this time of the year.  This particular movie was about this lady in marketing that was often giving ideas to her boss and he took them as his own.  Finally, she got brave enough and told the president that they were really her ideas.  This last particular idea of hers was called “Christmas 365” – a marketing campaign for this particular client to spread the “holiday cheer” throughout  the year and not just during the Christmas/holiday season.

So, as I sat watching this movie and feeling the warm tears spill over my cheeks at the end, as usual; I got to thinking that isn’t this what our Flight Crew site kind of does – come inside and “Share the Love?”  All through the year, we post things about the guys doing things of charity.  We post things that will cheer up someone that is not feeling well.  Each day, we boost each others’ spirits with various pictures or by the comments we make from the posts. 

Il Volo is just a beautiful example of spreading the warmth, joy, and happiness we all feel at Christmas and the whole year through. Do they realize they keep us going day to day and month to month?  Every few days there is always something from them… a new story, a new project, hints of a new song or album, tour dates, or a new picture on their Twitter and Instagram accounts?

The classic editorial article of “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” also reminds me of them.  This editorial was written by Francis P. Church, way back in 1897.  I believe most are familiar with this answer, but I don’t believe I had ever really read it before now.  He states some very beautiful things in his answer, that reminds me of the guys.  There is one particular paragraph, and I quote, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.”  As I read this I thought, could we not replace Santa Claus with Il Volo?  How many of us would have such a dreary life, no awesome poetry written by the poetesses on this site, and no romance, whether real or imagined? 

Il Volo are our Santa Claus, that is for sure! Do they not give of themselves to us each and every day of the year in some small way?  And like Santa Claus, even if we have never had the chance to see them or touch them, we know they exist in our hearts, souls, minds, and dreams.  And to us, we know they are real! 

As Ilvolovers, we also spread their joy to others in promoting their music and having parties with all of our new friends we never knew 7 years ago! 

In quoting his final paragraph to Virginia, “No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”  We can only hope that Il Volo will also carry on this enigma that is “3 Voices, 1 Soul” a thousand years from now and beyond, gladdening the hearts and souls of children from 1 to 102 – to quote another song….

So, yes, to all the Virginias out there, and everyone else as well –

there is a Santa Claus and ours is called Il Volo!

Buon Natale!

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 p.s.  this passage is dedicated to my dear, friend, Virginia!  🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Editorials, Gianluca, Ignazio, Il Volo, Myron's Music Notes, Piero

Myron’s comments on Il Volo’s newest singing partner:

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Our Stories

Finding Il Volo~ Patrizia Ciava

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Below was a comment to a post titled “As Only John can Tell it, With “Joy and Warmth”.   It was at the end of the comments so most of you did not get a chance to read it.  Patrizia Ciava (Trishadria) added a few lines and gave her permission to post.  It’s that “finding Il Volo” story we all love. So enjoy! 〰Marie

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I discovered Il Volo only a few weeks ago. I don’t usually watch TV and I’ve never followed talent shows like Sanremo, so I didn’t know they had won in 2015. One evening in October, I was zapping through tv channels and I fell on the replica of the Florence concert “Tribute to the three tenors” broadcasted by Channel 5; I was mesmerized, unable to tear myself away from the screen until the end of the concert. “Who the hell are these guys!?!” I wondered in awe.
In fact, I should take a step back, because in 2012 my students at the University of Hong Kong, where I was teaching, asked me if we could study the words of their songs and I had to admit I’d never heard of them. They were astonished, as they were convinced that the group was very famous in Italy too. Unfortunately in China youtube and FB were often banned, so I couldn’t do a research. I remember that I brought to the class the lyrics of “Vivo per lei” sung by Bocelli and Giorgia instead.
But it was only after watching another TV program focused on Il Volo that same night, right after the concert, that I realized that those three amazingly talented young men were the same group my students has asked me about. So I was curious to know more about them and the next day I started searching the net for reviews and articles and found a shameful article written by a self-declared critic called Monina, which practically insulted the trio and those who appreciated them, as if they were all victims of mass insanity, and even going as far as slandering the internationally renowned artists who support them, such as Placido Domingo accused of being “ a go-getter” for having conducted the orchestra that accompanied them in the concert.

I was outraged and I decided to write an article too; I talked to the director of Il Sussidiario, a national online newspaper for which I occasionally write on cultural issues, and they gave me the green light after consulting the head of the music column.
So I started watching reruns of their countless concerts on Youtube. In the beginning it was to get to know them and understand the reasons for their immense success everywhere in the world, later it was to try to understand why they were having such an effect on me. Because the more I listened to them the more I felt an irresistible desire, almost a need, to listen to them over and over again. In my article I wrote, jokingly, that they have only one flaw: they can cause addiction. And I have to say that I have experienced this “side effect” myself. I’m not a young girl, I went unscathed through the era of the Rolling Stones, the Queen and Pink Floyd, so I couldn’t make out why they exerted such a strong and strange attraction on me. Of course they have gorgeous soaring voices, but it couldn’t be just that, there are other talented singers with beautiful voices that don’t have the same effect on me. It is not even linked to their music genre, because I am not particularly fond of opera and I enjoy listening to them singing all types of songs, from melodic to opera arias. After hearing their versions of songs I love like “Angel”, “My Way”, “Memory” or “Bridge Over Troubled Water” the original versions seem dull and insipid to me. Then, reading the comments at the bottom of the videos I realized that many people of all ages feel the same way, the most frequent comments are: “I listen to them every day and I feel happy, they make me feel good”. I found a particularly poignant testimony: “I listen to them and they give me so much joy and serenity. I’ll tell you something confidentially; I have a sister who unfortunately suffers from Parkinson, with all the problems connected to this disease, but since I gave her albums of Il Volo including the last one when she has a crisis, especially at night, she listens to them and it calms her down. In my case now I am too addicted to Il Volo. We are not young girls, but with a passion for beautiful music including pop music.”
In the review of a concert a US journalist wrote: “Some came to the concert out of curiosity, to find out why all the fuss about Il Volo, but when the trio starts to sing it’s as if a spell is cast on the audience.” And another journalist, reviewing the New York concert, said almost the same thing: “And while there may be plenty of skeptics out there who do not like or understand “operatic-pop, rest assured that when Il Volo let out their first notes it’s as if they cast a spell “.
So it’s an extraordinary and mysterious feeling most of us experience and share while listening to them, but it’s difficult to explain it in words. I tried anyway  to formulate a motivation in my article: “The perfect chemistry created by the combination of their wonderful voices, so powerful, special and versatile, combined with the passion and emotions that they convey, fascinates and ensnares anyone who hears them. Usually, those who have important voices like theirs, base their performance on their vocal skills and concentrate on virtuosity, while these three young artists use their beautiful voices as an instrument to stir feelings and emotions, like a painter uses his brush, a poet uses words and a composer uses notes. Of course, this clearly requires a special sensitivity both by those who perform and by the listeners, a gift that many critics probably do not possess. They are trying to rationally explain what is not rational. Harmony and beauty, in its many different forms, touches deep chords of the human soul and is not always explainable in words”.

Kindest regards,

Patrizia 

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For another interesting Il Volo article by Patrizia go to:   https://italiariunita.com/2016/11/08/il-volo-and-the-unbearable-heaviness-of-criticism/

 

Gianluca, Ignazio, Il Volo, Personally Speaking, Piero

Personally Speaking~Close Encounters of the Best Kind~ by Mary and Jane

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What are Ilvolover’s fondest desires?  To see Gianluca, Piero, and Ignazio in concert….yes…to see them face to face and get a hug at a M&G…..absolutely….to have some real time mingling, visiting, touching, looking into those dark Italian eyes, and watching them interact to our hearts’ content?…..dare we hope?

Well, it happened to Mary and Jane (and  a few others) last Sunday. They pledged their contribution to the Public Television Station in St. Paul, Minnesota, and got $120 worth of heavenly time with our favorite guys.  We were fortunate enough to arrive at the station a bit early and got a great table in the room where we would have  precious time with THEM.  But the best was that we were there to see them come through the door to the lobby with Barbara.  Of course Mary had to rush out and greet them….it was the polite thing to do, right?  Piero didn’t seem to mind that she immediately enveloped him in a hug (you have to grab those opportunities when they pop up).  Mary gave him a poem that she had written for him, knowing full well that finding time to read it was probably not going to happen.  Someone from the station came and took them away, paying no attention to Jane and Mary who were saying, “come back, come back.”  Oh well, we knew that they would return and we would have our time.

Time for that first hug!

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So, back to the meeting room to wait.  Other people were arriving, and we were glad that we had grabbed a table when we did.  There were lovely appetizers to munch on and wine and soft drinks.  We visited a bit with some of the other guests.  One couple and their daughter had come from Ohio just for this event.  It seems that the daughter had been Piero’s “Maria” in Tennessee when they brought girls up on stage to sing to while doing that song.

TPT Reception Room 

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Joyce and Bonnie

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Anne and Mary (Daughter-Mother)

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Jane and Mary

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Suzy, Allene and Joyce

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Aubrianna, (Tennessee Maria) her father and mother

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And then, a hush came over the room as we saw our darlings coming through the door.  They were dressed very casually and giving us big smiles as if they were glad to be there in spite of just having come from delightfully tropic Miami to the frozen northland.  Ignazio wasn’t feeling well.  We know that he suffers the most from jet lag.  Barbara told us that he had a touch of the flu, and he left shortly to have a rest before the filming.  But Gianluca and Piero were in good spirits and kept us very well entertained.  Some people were there who spoke fluent Italian and they had a great time talking to the guys.  Jane and Mary wished they had  boned up on that language, but as we all know, GG and Piero are well versed in English and we were able to visit with them and stare into those gorgeous dark eyes. 

While the line was forming to speak to the guys, Mary and Jane took the opportunity to have a chat with Barbara.  After hearing Jane tell her where she had recently traveled in Italy, Barbara said that she has not even seen some of those places!  She said that now she is traveling the world over, but someday when she is through seeing the world she will see the sights in Italy that she has never seen before!  When asked if they wake up in the morning at their hotels and wonder what city they are in, she said, yes, indeed that happens.  That it is a hard thing to do to travel so much, but they all love it.

A little blurry, but you get the picture!

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Autographing snowing in Minneapolis photo  for Maryphoto

Joyce, you know who and Mary

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Signing autograph

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Allene in Seventh Heaven!  (How adorable is this?)

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Audrey with handsome three!

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Suzy in the midst of Italian utopia!

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Joyce surrounded by Italian charm!

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They thought it was humorous as Jane was describing the “narrow roads of Naro!”  

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Joyce showed the guys a picture of her little dog named “The Queen of Naro.”  Ignazio says, “why not Queen of Marsala?’  Joyce said she would work on that and has since posted a photo on Facebook saying in December her little dog would now be called the Queen of Marsala with surprises coming in January!

What was so totally unique about this evening was that there were only 30 guests there.  That’s it…30 of us… with 8 of the total, representing the Minnesota Flight Crew ,with the guys all to ourselves.  Never have the odds been so GOOD and  never have we been to an event where everything was so relaxed and not rush-rush!  When the guys finished getting photos with each guest they (excluding Ignazio) hung around, snacked on the goodies and  mingled with us even more!  We kept looking at each other saying, “I don’t believe this!”  

Of course when  that part of the program was over ( all too soon), they left us blissfully satisfied by what we had been given.  The guys were taken into another room for the filming of the program that was to be shown live in  the Twin Cities area.  The station had provided a huge screen in the visitor’s room so that those of us who wanted to stay could watch the 1 1/2 hour program.  Of course we wanted to stay and stay we did until we were the last ones left and the station people were cleaning up around us.

The Minnesota ladies staying until the final moment!

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To say that it was a wonderful evening would be an understatement .  To have that much time close to the ones that we admire and adore was Nirvana.  And now we still have the concert in March to look forward to….our “cup runneth over.”

 

Mary’s Poem

TO: PIERO

RE: RED GLASSES

When I first saw you in Milwaukee,

All bushy haired and kind of gawky,

I fell in love.  Yes, I’ll admit it.

‘Twas your youthful exuberance that did it.

And something else got my attention.

They gave your face a great dimension….

Glasses of red!  A bit disarming,

But on your face completely charming.

They neatly framed your gorgeous eyes,

And so it came as no surprise

That you captured me in just a second.

Red glasses reached out to me and beckoned,

“Take another look and you will find

He’s not the ordinary kind.

His future bright still lies before him,

Thousands of fans will soon adore him.”

Red glasses you were right it seems..

You were there when he followed his dreams.

Glasses of red became his trademark,

Giving him a special bright spark.

Now that he’s maturing will we find

That red glasses  will be left behind?

Giving place to current fashion,

Forgetting that red was once his passion?

Piero remember how the masses

Adored you in your brave red glasses ?

Oh, yes, we’ll love you in any color.

You’re just as handsome in any other.

But the red ones have a special place

That time and style cannot erase.

Please keep them close and once in a while

Wear them again, ignoring style.

Reminding us of the beginning

When hearts of fans you first were winning.

You’re famous now, but as time passes,

Don’t forget your old friends–the RED GLASSES!

 

~~Mary and Jane~~