GIANLUCA = We’re in Belo Horizonte, the first concert in Rio de Janeiro has just taken place.
IGNAZIO = Returning to Brazil means a lot to us, also because it’s one of the audiences that has always followed us from the very beginning. They’re one of the warmest audiences, always welcoming us with such affection.
PIERO = It’s a special relationship with Brazil, because they’ve given us support, affection, and love for so many years. We always love returning and hope to do many more concerts in the future.
Il Volo on its way to Belo Horizonte with Maestro Machado.
PIERO= We’re on our way to soundcheck. Today we’ll do our first soundcheck with our audience, with the fan club. We’ll see what this stage, the Belo Horizonte stage, will be like. We performed here two years ago; it’s one of my favorite cities in Brazil.
And for those who want it, there’s even the complete video of the FULL CONCERT!
Also in Curitiba, Il Volo made an announcement that made all the fans happy:
The guys announce that next year in March they will be in concert again in SAO PAULO Brazil, on 19-20-21.
Italian newspapers also enthusiastically reported the “bang-bang” start of the concerts in South America. Here is one of the articles I’m translating for you.
IL VOLO BRINGS ITALIAN BEL CANTO TO BRAZIL “HERE ONLY SUPPORT AND LOTS OF LOVE FOR YEARS”
Il Volo brought a slice of Italy to Latin America, selling out their debut in Rio de Janeiro, followed by a date in Belo Horizonte. The Brazilian concerts will continue this evening, October 7th, in Curitiba, and tomorrow, October 8th, in Porto Alegre.
“We’re in Belo Horizonte, after our first sold-out concert in Rio de Janeiro,” commented Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto, and Gianluca Ginoble. “Returning to Brazil means a lot to us, also because it’s one of the audiences that has always followed us since the beginning. They’re one of the warmest, always welcoming us with such affection. We have a special relationship with Brazil because they’ve given us support, affection, and love for so many years. We always love returning and hope to perform many more concerts in the future.”
After the American leg, starting November 2nd and lasting until the end of the year, Il Volo will be the protagonist of the Live in Concert tour, which will touch down in major European capitals, including Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Prague, Budapest, Paris, Madrid, and many others. The trio will return to Italy in December next year.
I’d say the start of the LATAM Tour 2025 has been truly remarkable, and everything will continue in the same vein.
It’s fantastic to see the affection and admiration our guys inspire everywhere.
Piero, Ignazio, and Gianluca, full speed ahead!!
A lot happened, but as usual, let’s summarize on the timeline.
On April 15 Il Volo, or rather Piero and Ignazio, were interviewed by Radio Bruno.
Here is their arrival at Radio Bruno.
It’s a nice interview to promote the concerts in Mantua.
There is the possibility of activating subtitles so I won’t do translation..
I wrote that I didn’t translate, since it was an interview very similar to the one already done for Radio 102.5, but towards the end Ignazio spoke about the wait for little Bianca and I want to translate this moment because it is absolutely sweet!
IGNAZIO= I’m pregnant too, because everyone says that when your wife is expecting a baby, the father also gets fat.
DONNA= Do you sing her some songs about her belly?
IGNAZIO= I’ll tell you something I haven’t said yet. Last night, we were in bed and in the evening I always kiss her goodnight and so I started singing to her (and he starts a sweet song). I finish singing and I put my ear on her belly and “pum” a kick, I was so emotional, it was crazy, I still get emotional now!! ❤️
We also received a nice photo of Il Volo at the Donatello Restaurant in Bologna.
Easter time is coming and Gianluca sends us photos with his friends and Ignazio with Michelle, but Piero…..not received!!
Despite there being several rainy days, the spring weather is making itself felt, everything is in bloom.
The commercials for the Mantua concerts are starting to run on television.
Unfortunately, the day after Easter, here on “Lunedì di Pasquetta” (Easter Monday), was overshadowed by the terrible news of the death of our beloved Pope Francis.
Just the day before, he had given the Urbi et Orbi blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter’s and had taken a ride in the papal car in the square to greet the faithful.
Although had been hospitalized for a long time, he seemed to be recovering well and no one expected such bad news. We were all shocked. 😭🙏
We remember the beautiful moments spent by Il Volo with Pope Francis, in the Vatican and in Panama at the Youth Day.
Rest in peace Pope Francis, you were a great Pope. 🙏🙏
April 25th marks 16 years since Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca were first brought together to sing, that’s right, it’s already been 16 years of Il Volo!!
Mamma mia, how small our boys were, but their voices…..ah what voices!!
“Ours is an arranged marriage, only later did we fall in love. Some days we can’t stand each other. The turning point? Telling each other everything to our faces”: Il Volo reveals
After the tour in America, the trio returns to Italy for the third edition of “Tutti per Uno – Viaggio nel Tempo”, the only Italian dates set for May 8, 10 and 11.
After the American tour, Il Volo returns to Italy for the third edition of “Tutti per Uno – Viaggio nel Tempo”, the only Italian dates set for May 8, 10 and 11. After the success of the first two editions, broadcast on Canale 5 and which achieved significant ratings, the show moves for the first time to Palazzo Te in Mantua. Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble will be accompanied by numerous guests. After “Tutti Per Uno – Viaggio Nel Tempo”, Il Volo will continue with a new tour that will touch the main European capitals and Latin America, starting in June and throughout 2025.
Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble spoke about themselves on Malcom Pagani’s podcast “Dicono di te”, not sparing any sincerity. “Do we want to distance ourselves from each other? – says Piero – The truth? Very often. There are mornings when after a performance, when I wake up, I furtively approach the breakfast counter, savoring the solitude to read the newspapers in peace and I see Ignazio and Gianluca arrive to keep me company. Am I happy? No, I’m not. I’ve never told them: I do it now. There are times when I can’t stand them (laughs, ed.)”.
And Ignazio adds: “There was a time when I was often alone on tour. Piero and Gianluca would go to dinner together and I would stay on my own. It was a sign of discomfort and at the umpteenth joke, at the umpteenth ‘you’re never with us’ I said what I was thinking: ‘I’m never there because I’m not well. I’m never there because in the end let’s say we know each other, but maybe we don’t know each other enough and I can’t pretend nothing is happening and act as if nothing is happening in a place where I feel judged and not understood’. From that day on, our relationship changed and we started to say things to each other’s faces. It was an important moment: today we tell each other everything we think and our relationship has made great progress.
“Ours is an arranged marriage – concludes Gianluca – and only afterwards did we truly fall in love. Being together for so long has shaped us character-wise and emotionally: we have lived the same experiences on stage (…) The experiences have bound us together”.
Is disagreeing a form of wealth? Ignazio says: “It is our strength. We are not a group but three people with their individuality, we find ourselves working together. If we do not always agree with each other it is fine also because doubt makes me feel alive. Life is not black or white it is made of nuances, colors, diversity”.
Piero adds: “You could have said it with fewer words: It would have been more honest if you had simply said: ‘I never agree with you’ (smiles, ed.)
And finally Gianluca: “It certainly is, we really discuss everything but they are constructive discussions that never give up self-criticism. We are the most severe judges of ourselves”.
But today, April 29th, there is one last wonderful piece of news and it is Ignazio himself who gives it to us, while walking hand in hand with Michelle!! 🥰❤️❤️
IGNAZIO = So, the other day we made a post saying that we are “expecting”, and that it was a girl, but then, we had the morphology scan, and in the morphology scan it came out that it is a boy!
MICHELLE = It’s a boy!
IGNAZIO = He has a little willy! And his name will be….
MICHELLE = Gabriele! ❤️
IGNAZIO = Gabriele! ❤️ We wanted to tell you!! Ciao.
MICHELLE = Ciao!
And so, it will be a boy: Gabriele, how exciting!! 💙
The beautiful Michelle is radiant in her pregnancy.
Still nothing reveals her expectation, but we all know that the morphological scan is done between the fourth and fifth month of pregnancy.
Michelle wears the “angel caller” pendant which, it is said, emanates a delicate sound that, according to belief, can calm the baby in the womb and ensure serenity to the future mother. 😍
And so, we have also reached the end of April.
Il Volo is preparing for the concerts in Mantua, but first, on May 3rd there will be an engagement in Mexico.
A few days ago the news was published that on 11 June, Il Volo would sing the Italian anthem at the start of the Moto GP.
“The very famous Il Volo trio will open the race on Sunday 11 June for the Mugello Grand Prix.
The group made up of Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble will perform for the first time on the Tuscan circuit, in a show crowned by the passage of the Frecce Tricolori, just before the start of the MotoGP race at 2pm.”
And here is the video of the departure with Il Volo singing the Italian national anthem.
Shortly before the performance, the presenter said: “We are Italian, Italian pride Il Voloand the Frecce Tricolori!”
A nice event, and they are always very correct!!
And what can I say, I completely approve of their men’s suits.!!!
Now, I want to offer you the translations of a couple of articles that have been published.
The first was published by IL FATTO QUOTIDIANO before the concerts broadcast on Canale 5. It’s a nice interview in which we discover interesting things.
Fifteen years of career and always around the theaters around the world and in Italy with sold outs. Il Volo is a more unique than rare case. Many have attempted a pop-opera career, without however equaling the acknowledgments of Piero Barone, Gianluca Ginoble and Ignazio Boschetto. With each TV show Il Volo grinds excellent ratings and once again they don’t want to disappoint expectations. “Il Volo – Tutti per uno”, with the participation of Federica Panicucci, will be broadcast on Saturday 27 May and 3 June in prime time on Canale 5. The show, recorded at the Arena di Verona, will see guests and friends alternating on stage : Irama, Madame, Fiorella Mannoia, Danilo Rea, Edoardo Leo, Annalisa, Antonello Venditti, Francesca Michielin, Mario Biondi, Gianna Nannini, Pooh, Aida Garifullina and Giorgio Panariello.
What is your balance of these two evenings?
We are very happy for these events despite the persistent downpour, which was suggestive, but made us understand the love and affection of our audience who never got up for three and a half hours of recording. It was magical.
How did you choose the guests, in some cases distant from your world?
We were inspired by the great experience of Pavarotti and Friends with the great teaching of going beyond the barriers of music to demonstrate to the public all three aspects of our artistic expression. This is how the duets on ‘Meravigliosa creatura’ with a rock artist like Gianna Nannini or the beautiful “Ovunque sarai” by Irama were born. But there will also be room for the classical repertoire with one of the most popular sopranos in the world like Aida Garifullina.
What was the result that will be seen on TV?
Very nice especially for the enthusiasm of the guests who came to visit us and immediately accepted our invitation. Our performances took place in a completely natural way.
“All for one” returns to the theater on 2-3-4 September at the Arcimboldi in Milan. What concert will it be?
“The best of” of the two evenings. Obviously it won’t be the 60 songs chosen for Verona, otherwise people will hit us! But we will make sure that people can appreciate three different singers, giving space to our different musical inclinations and tastes.
Fifteen years together, is there still tolerance between you?
There is more resignation. Seriously, we are more mature and respect our spaces, giving weight to the most important things in our lives. This is also the result of events in the personal sphere that have changed us and made us understand what is important in life. And another characteristic of ours is the maximum transparency between the three of us.
In recent years, some have tried your lyrical-pop path, but not with the same result. What are the difficulties?
The music has changed and also a lot compared to when we started. There is an audience of very young people who listen to a totally different musical genre. Furthermore, one is much more ‘influenced’ by social networks and by the fashions and trends of TikTok. These are all elements that can affect the success of a genre or a song. We have been making crazy experiences for fifteen years, proposing a precise musical genre.
The world also seems to have changed since your third place at Eurovision 2015. Mengoni waved the rainbow flag to send a precise message…
And Mengoni did very well to do it. Words can hurt or destroy a person’s life. Raising awareness on certain topics is very important. Absurd that you should always judge a person. Just like Mengoni, all of us artists also have a duty to launch precise messages. We need laws for rights, but also against homophobia, and then much more should be invested in education. Education is fundamental to society. If, on the other hand, we continue to invest in totally useless things, change will be difficult.
Is there hope for the future?
Yes. The new generations are different from ours and from the previous one. They are much more open minded and have a different approach.
Would you go back to Sanremo?
The idea of going to the competition does not scare us at all, but if we have a valid song. For us, Sanremo, but also doing events on TV, represent an excellent promotional showcase, since there is a lot of snobbery towards us and around us from the radio stations (which don’t play our pieces, not even with a gun at their temple) to certain press (especially at the beginning of our career). We are, however, working on an unreleased disc with the hope that the radios will support us.
Now it’s not just my words, the guys themselves have admitted that the radio stations never play their songs and that a certain type of press has always hindered them.
Well, what can I say, very harsh words, but it’s the pure truth.
I am very angry about this!!!
And now also this interview of QUOTIDIANO NAZIONALE always published before the concerts.
From Bethlehem to Verona, from the Basilica of the Nativity to the Arena. After the Christmas concert in the Holy Land last December, Il Volo returns to the Canale Cinque screens in prime time with Tutti per uno, a double appointment with the participation of Federica Panicucci broadcast tomorrow and on 3 June. In fact, with that musketeer motto, Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble consolidate a friendship that sees them once again confront each other in the millenary setting of the hemicycle in Piazza Bra with a crowd of friends and colleagues including Gianna Nannini, the Poohs, Francesca Michielin, Annalisa, Irama, the Russian soprano Aida Garifullina, Madame, Fiorella Mannoia, Danilo Rea, Edoardo Leo, Giorgio Panariello, Mario Biondi, Antonello Venditti.
Where does this new show come from?
Ginoble: “We were born as child prodigies who brought bel canto to the world, then, after the victory in Sanremo, we concentrated on prestigious projects more oriented towards that classical music which certainly represents the soul of the group, but minus ours. All for one tries to tell us both ways, varying from opera to great songwriting, also passing through pop, to reiterate that we are three singers in the round”.
Barone: “We have three different personalities and three vocal styles which, when we harmonize, become one thing. Also focusing on our differences, this project is structured in such a way as to give a 360-degree idea of what Il Volo is”.
Let’s talk about the guests.
Ginoble: “It was interesting to mix voices and genres with others. Piero singing Marvelous creature with Nannini, Ignazio confronting Michielin (in a love monologue written by him, ed.) or me with Madame, these are moments very special. We have taken ourselves a little out of our comfort zone and we are proud of it; Piero is the most theatrical, Ignazio the most televised and I the most social. Three different images, three different communications that become one. The repertoire has been chosen keeping in mind take this into account too”.
Is anyone missing from the guest park?
Boschetto: “We had contacted Sam Ryder, who I consider one of the best singers around today, but he was busy with Eurovision. The others were all there”.
Starting the show with the Straussian Also sprach Zarathustra means winking a little at Elvis who used it as an introduction to his concerts.
Ginoble: “It seemed like a perfect union. An iconic beginning that we wanted to appropriate. Love and theft, as Dylan says”.
What effect does it make for you to come back with your show?
Barone: “The awareness that a television network is entrusting you with two Saturday evenings in prime time charges you with responsibility. On the evening of the broadcast we sing in Krakow, but we won’t sleep from the anxiety of knowing the audience figures. On the best of these television evenings we will build, with guests, the only two live Italian dates we have on the agenda this year, on September 2 and 4 at the Arcimboldi in Milan”.
What’s after the TV show and the concerts?
Barone: “Next year we are therefore celebrating years of career and we are preparing for an album of unreleased songs; we are working with a team of authors on songs conceived especially for our vocality”.
Surprising to discover on the web three young Korean tenors singing Splash! by Colapesce and Dimartino ( Italian singer) as if they were Il Volo.
Barone: “The fact that three people with that vocality arouse in people a comparison with us, it means that we have made ourselves known. And if those three Korean boys ask us for a collaboration, we are ready to say yes”.
Wow, yes you read that right, they’re working on a CD of unreleased tracks written especially for them, I can’t wait to hear it.
And the monologue read by Ignazio and Francesca Michielin before the duet was written by Ignazio and not by Francesca, as I had supposed.
And now this beautiful interview was released by Michele Torpedine immediately after the concerts.
IL VOLO: THE ITALY THAT MAKES YOU DREAM
Among the cheering crowds who welcomed their songs in Mexico City, where twelve thousand listened to them, and in Zagreb, to mention just two of the many recent international dates, and the success of their concert at the Verona Arena broadcast on Canale 5, the three singers of Il Volo are certainly the symbol of a singing made in Italy that brings the tradition of ‘bel canto’ to a vast audience. Thanks, of course, to a unique and extraordinary talent and a lot of daily study, but also to the work of Michele Torpedine, their manager who, from Bologna, the city where he lives, launched, before them, to name just a few names, Andrea Bocelli and Sugar. The second part of the show will air tonight.
Torpedine, the fame of Il Volo, Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble, confirmed by the concert on Canale 5, has an increasingly planetary dimension.
“Yes, because they are the perfect representation of how our traditional repertoire, interpreted by three extraordinary soloists, has no equal in the world. Abroad listeners identify their music with the beauty, the joy and even the pride of being. I am particularly happy with the concert in Verona because perhaps, finally, even in our country, we will stop giving the word ‘national-popular’ a negative meaning”.
You mentioned three soloists.
“The characteristic of the three singers is that they are great artistic individuals, each with their own identity, capable, if they wanted, of a brilliant solo career and with the same level of notoriety as the group. Just to prove it, the TV program was called Tutti per one, because it focused attention on the creative value of individuals, as well as that of the group. Thanks also to the many duets, Il Volo has confirmed that it is a symbol of the best made in Italy, that of good feelings, which makes you dream”.
You were born as an orchestra player, played the drums, before starting your career as a manager. Who were the protagonists of that season?
“It was an unrepeatable season, wonderfully told in the latest book by my friend Andrea Mingardi, Thus we played in Paradise which he recently presented in Bologna and, for work reasons, I was not there. Andrea was the greatest of all, his orchestra was the most beautiful, technically the best, and also the most expensive. All of us orchestral players considered him someone from another planet. A musician unattainable for us. Read the book if you want to rediscover the atmosphere of true musical Bologna . Nothing comparable to today”.
What plans do you have with Il Volo?
“From 2 to 4 September, we will bring Tutti per Uno to the Teatro degli Arcimboldi in Milan. It will be an opportunity to admire Il Volo in a more intimate dimension. Many insiders, journalists, managers, from every corner of the world will come to visit us. we exclude a possible participation in the Sanremo Festival. With the direction of Amadeus, even among the most famous singers the desire to participate in the competition has returned. Obviously everything is linked to having the perfect song. For now there is no decision, but just an interest”.
So could we see Il Volo again in Sanremo? Nothing would make me happier, but I certainly hope that the jury is really objective and the press room is educated and correct, certainly not like Sanremo 2019.
And now let’s take a peek at a beautiful wedding that took place on Saturday 10 June, the wedding of Giuseppe di Stefano, one of the twins, a friend of Gianluca.
If I’m not mistaken Gianluca was also a witness, here’s a shot and a couple of short videos …… What a dream !!!❤
…………and finally, a nice photo of Gianluca and Eleonora❤❤
….one of Ignazio at the hairdresser ❤
……and one beautiful Piero’s photo ❤
Latest news, Il Volo will give a concert on July 21 in the square of Ascoli Piceno, a town in central Italy. It is completely free and is an initiative of two entrepreneurs of the area, but tickets are needed which will be given by the municipality of Ascoli Piceno only to residents and no more than two to head.
Many of you, in the comments after the various articles on the Verona concert, asked me for the opinion of the press. I have not forgotten about this and therefore here I am giving you my opinion.
I want it to be clear, that it is only my personal opinion, maybe I am too protective, towards Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca, or maybe, like a mother, I want the best for them, because I think they deserve it, and therefore also this time, I was disappointed with the reviews in the press, or rather, I was half satisfied, but I certainly expected more.
Let’s start from the fact, that the concert was magnificent and you have all been able to see it.
The television ratings have absolutely rewarded the concert, they had the maximum ratings of the evening, therefore a real success.
The next day, it was Sunday, but I expected that the newspapers and television news, at least those of RAI, would write or say a few words of congratulations.
Those few newspapers that reported the news, did it purely as a news item, “Il Volo had the best ratings”, no compliments to the three boys.
On the Sunday after the concert, I watched the RAI news and also all the entertainment shows that also report the news of the various shows.
NOTHING, no one has talked about it, nor in the news, not even in the gossip broadcasts.
BIG DISAPPOINTMENT.
Here are some of the articles, of which I will translate the best parts.
The music has restarted and it has done so in a big way with a show that is not only musical. Starring Ignazio Boschetto, Piero Barone and Gianluca Ginoble who, in the unprecedented role also of conductors of the evening, led the spectators and viewers of Rai 1 in an evening dedicated to sharing. Il Volo, Tribute to Ennio Morricone had the merit of turning the lights back on to music.
The opening on the notes of Ecstasy of Gold, the main piece of the soundtrack of Once Upon a Time in the West, was exciting.
Two and a half hours of music, memories and emotions in a journey not only linked to the figure of the Maestro, but which fits perfectly with the musical journey undertaken over the years by the three boys, increasingly careful to bring excellence around the world of our country.
Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca then retraced their 12-year career, with significant images and with the performance on the notes of ‘O Sole Mio, a song they sang as children, and Grande Amore, the piece with which they triumphed at the Festival of Sanremo 2015.
Music is sharing and it certainly cannot save the world, but it certainly has the merit of making it more enjoyable. Especially after the terrible year and a half in which we changed our perspective on the present and the future.
After a long season without concerts, live music officially resumes thanks to the concert held this evening, Saturday 5 June, in the splendid setting of the Verona Arena. Protagonists Gianluca Ginoble, Ignazio Boschetto and Piero Barone, the three souls and the three voices of Il Volo. Two and a half hours of beautiful music, a concert-tribute to the romantic and visionary genius of Ennio Morricone.
Broadcast live on Rai Uno, the event certainly did not disappoint expectations.
In the lineup some of the most beautiful songs already interpreted in the past by the trio ….. Inevitable some of the themes composed by Ennio Morricone for the cinema … national pop scene …. Finally, from the very first listening, the unpublished “I Colori dell’amore” (The Colors of Love), signed for the occasion by Maestro Andrea Morricone, a particularly suggestive piece, crowning an unforgettable evening. We start again … we start again in a great way.
People, as many people as they have not seen in the same place for a long time. With the masks, the right distances ……. the music has started again, the Verona Arena has been granted to a few thousand people who have been excited for almost three hours together with Il Volo which paid homage to the teacher Ennio Morricone. A perfect evening for climate, program and joy, to the point of (almost) forgetting the waiting time “justified” by television times ….. an evening that will go down in history.
Gianluca, Piero and Ignazio start with Ecstasy of Gold, the theme of The Good, the Ugy and the Bad by Sergio Leone. Then a few words, presented Andrea Morricone ………. who will conduct the orchestra in some pieces during the evening. One is Your Love …….. the three artists remember when, in 2016, they participated in the tribute evening to the three tenors Pavarotti-Domingo-Carreras. The composition cannot be anything but the Nessun Dorma and the execution is thrilling; the orchestra, directed by Maestro Marcello Rota, and the choir the latter arranged as tradition dictates in front of the stage, immense …………… The colors of love is the piece created for Il Volo by Andrea Morricone followed, for the last standing ovation, by Libiamo ne ‘lieti calici, aria from La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi and the reprise of Estasi Dell’Oro. With a dedication to the people that Covid has taken away and a thought to Vito, Ignazio Boschetto’s father who died last March, the circle closes, the music remains in the air. And, I’m sure, people are finally smiling under themasks.
Il Volo-Tribute to Ennio Morricone: success for the concert that bewitched the audience.
… aired on Rai1 last night live from the Verona Arena, it won the prime time with a 25% share, winning 4,702,000 viewers.
…… The exclusive concert-event of the international trio Il Volo, in honor of Maestro Ennio Morricone, saw Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca alternate conducting, accompanied by Marco Giallini and Laura Chiatti. The Filarmonia Veneta Regional Orchestra was conducted by Maestro Marcello Rota, with special participation in some pieces by Maestro Andrea Morricone.
The event, which also marked the reopening of the Verona Arena’s musical season, lasted over two hours, winning one standing ovation after another from the audience present at the Arena.
Certainly these are all positive articles, but they are few and moreover from minor newspapers, certainly not those that, after Notte Magica, have really said very badly about them.
But one yes, I had a great satisfaction reading IL FATTO QUOTIDIANO.
This newspaper had written very badly after Notte Magica, using titles like this: ”Il Volo on Canale 5, the great opera scam: we hope that people will keep them abroad, so, at least for a while, we get rid of them”.
The three tenors have returned to live music for the only concert scheduled for this year. The Verona Arena was sold out with a Covid capacity of 6 thousand people to applaud the most famous arias of Maestro Morricone and the many guests on stage. Emotion for a special dedication to Ignazio’s father that Piero Barone made at the end of the show.
The challenge was twofold. The great return to prime time live on Rai Uno and all three alone to conduct, without any intermediary. The result of “Il Volo – Tribute to Ennio Morricone”? In front of the screen last night there were 4,702,000 viewers and 25.8% share. Excellent listening that rewarded an evening that was indeed the celebration of the great Maestro but also the story of Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble, their story between anecdotes and songs from their repertoire included in the lineup. The event was organized in full compliance with anti Covid-19 guidelines and protocols.
……………Excited, the three tenors dedicated the event “to the people who didn’t make it. Our thoughts go up there to them.” Piero then added: “This concert is dedicated to Vito who we miss so much and is watching us from up there.” That is, Ignazio’s father who died of an illness on February 28th. The concert will be broadcast in the United States by the PBS network. Il Volo will return to America next year for a series of concerts, while the Morricone tribute album will be released later this year and will be sold all over the world.
But the journalists who had written so badly about Il Volo after Notte Magica, where did they go?
What happened to them??? This time they didn’t write anything bad, but not only that, they didn’t write anything at all, as if the event hadn’t happened.
And then the articles that I first translated are beautiful, but there is no direct compliment to the boys, nothing that says about their personal growth, artistic maturation, praise to their voices.
The only really beautiful article, no ifs and buts, is the one published by VANITY FAIR, really well written, you understand that whoever wrote it was really present and experienced the emotions of that concert.
The Arena di Verona reopens its doors to music starting from Il Volo with a show in honor of Ennio Morricone, live on Rai Uno. We stayed with them in Verona.
Months of closed doors, silence. The Verona Arena turns the lights back on and lets the music play, starting with Il Volo – Tribute to Ennio Morricone, a concert event, in honor of the great Maestro. Broadcast live on Saturday 5th June on Rai Uno, it marks the great restart of the summer season of one of the most important places for Italian music.
It is a special evening. The three boys appear excited, after days of rehearsals, which ended at two in the morning the night before.
A show prepared in detail, where for the first time the two tenors and the baritone also play the role of television hosts but choose not to read the hunchback, in order to be more free to be themselves. The difference can be seen, after a somewhat rigid start in the spoken parts, when they finally break up joking with each other. It is their beauty. Serious and composed as they sing, they appear much more fun (and entertained) if they let themselves go to their dynamics of colleagues (and especially friends) who have been working together for the past 12 years. Instead, no hesitation in the sung parts, from the first note of Your Love, the song that opens the concert, among the images of the film Once upon a time in the west. They show once again, in this first concert after a year and a half of stoppage which for them is also the first live television broadcast, that they are professionals able to fill the sky of Verona with three powerful voices that fit together perfectly and excite an audience that stands up many times, in continuous standing ovations, demonstrating great participation and emotion to the three protagonists.
“These have been difficult days for us. We’ve been thinking about doing a live broadcast for a long time, but we’ve always wanted to wait, we didn’t think we were ready. Today we want to send a message to young people. Never give up on your dreams. Because we didn’t do it,” says Ignatius, just as one of their dreams comes true.
…………It is their only 2021 concert in Italy and is also broadcast in the United States by the PBS network. “The best thing is to see so many people working on this event,” they say. And with them there are also the dancers, as if to emphasize that the art that must start again also passes through dance.
………….What you don’t see on TV are the ladies in the front rows waving to greet them or the people outside the Arena listening. The greetings of the three, when they are not framed and the words during the advertising blacks. There are also many foreigners who have come from abroad to attend the show. “We have experienced shortcomings and distances. There are those who have had great losses and those who have great satisfaction. We are dedicating this concert to people who have not made it. Our thoughts go up there to them,” says Ignatius. And among them there is also his father Vito, who died suddenly in March. “This concert is dedicated to Vito who we miss so much and is watching us from up there,” says Piero at the end, in a moment that becomes very emotional but which again leaves room for the professionalism of three friends who support each other. And so, while Ignazio sings perhaps at his best, the hands of Gianluca, visibly moved, look for his, to support him, in the most difficult, but also the most exciting, moment of the whole show.
They show their nuances, especially when they go on stage alone. Gianluca sings Your Song by Elton John showing his more pop side, dedicating the song to his mother, sitting in the front row. Piero, with Andrea Griminelli on flute, No puede ser nueva and Ignazio Listen accompanied by an eight and a half year old boy, Julian Iorio, on saxophone.
The tribute to the maestro therefore also goes through great songs such as Volare, My Way, O sole mio. And there is also Grande Amore, the song with which they won in 2015 at the Sanremo Festival. At the end they thank them, they dedicate an encore to the cameras off to the standing audience, they hope they enjoyed the show «We were very anxious. But we gave everything .
In their future there is now a period of rest. One more day in Verona and then everyone at home, waiting to be able to leave for a tour in 2022 that they hope will keep them busy for at least two years. Before then, however, a new disc for Sony Music, which will be this tribute to the maestro and which will arrive after the summer. “After a year and a half you gave us oxygen,” they tell the audience. And the public too, it is evident, has breathed this evening.
Of course, other newspapers have reported good comments, but they are publications linked to them by friendship, such as Il Resto Del Carlino (newspaper of Bologna) or the newspapers of Abruzzo and Sicily, even the newspaper of the Arena, but there was no doubt that they wrote well of Il Volo.
Mute scene, however on the part of all the television programs, nobody talked about it.
In short, I was satisfied because there were no obvious “attacks” on our boys, but I’m not thrilled with what was written.
I repeat, maybe it is my feeling, but I would have liked more, for so much work, so much art, so much beauty, which Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca have certainly been able to give us.
Let me know your thoughts.
Daniela
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