On March 19, Il Volo was a guest on RAI1 in the television program STASERA C’È CATTELAN.
Alessandro Cattelan is a young presenter, friend of Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero.
The intervention was nice, the kids were relaxed, dressed casually and even adapted to a nice musical game.
Here’s the translation!
CATTELAN= Let’s start with our first three guests this evening, it’s quite clear who will be…..Ilenia, have you understood? Who will be? I said three, who will they be…
ILENIA= Il Volo!
CATTELAN= Il Volo!!!! However, they deserve a triumphal announcement: 15 years of career, 13 albums, the next one coming out on March 29th will be called AD ASTRA and will be their first album of unreleased songs. They are ready to leave for yet another world tour, they will tell us about it shortly, give a big round of applause to Il Volo!!
(Capolavoro begins and Gianluca Piero and Ignazio enter from outside the studio to the notes of the song.)
CATTELAN= What a masterpiece! Ladies and gentlemen: IL Volo!! Come guys come, take a seat. Il Volo a Stasera is Cattelan, welcome back. (the guys sit but the chairs are high) 😁
GIANLUCA= But you can’t make us do these figures (he doesn’t reach the ground with his feet) 😂🤣
CATTELAN= Too tall?? 😁
PIERO= Could you have put the sofa lower? (he also doesn’t touch the ground with his feet) 🤣😂
CATTELAN= Look how comfortable Ignazio is!! 😂💪
PIERO= Can we take a close-up of our feet??
IGNAZIO= Sorry, I’m too comfortable…
CATTELAN= It’s like when you’re sitting on a plane…
GIANLUCA= How is Ale? (Cattelan’s name is Alessandro)
CATTELAN= Everything is fine and you?
PIERO= Do you know what it looks like? You know that New York photo of the workers (the famous photo eating the sandwich suspended in the air) on the crane, we’re missing the sandwich, the sandwich in our hands.
GIANLUCA= Okay cuts, enough come on.
CATTELAN= Actually he gave me an excellent connection with New York, because the last time we saw each other, it was actually only Piero (the two of them exchanged a clap).
PIERO= Only you and I know (refers to the fact that Piero and Cattelan met at the New York marathon)
IGNAZIO= You don’t know that he invited me…
CATTELAN = That day in New York?
IGNAZIO= Yes, but to do it (the marathon)
PIERO= Look at the wallpaper on my cell phone?
CATTELAN= What are we talking about, oh my, New York, can we show it? What bridge is this?
IGNAZIO= Look at this one (marks a dot on the screen) it’s Piero!
PIERO= Verrazzano Bridge.
CATTELAN= Verrazzano Bridge which is the starting point of the New York marathon, where Piero and I met.
These are the images of Piero at the New York marathon, I must say impeccable style, how far have you come?
PIERO= I did it in 4 hours and 15 minutes instead of 19 thousand, we have a bet…..
CATTELAN= 19 thousand? one step away from the podium 😁, oh well there were a lot of you!
PIERO= 55 thousand participants. We have a bet, one and two gentlemen here (Gianluca and Ignazio) we were in Athens and we made a bet and Ignazio said: “How many participants are there?” and I replied “more than 50 thousand”.
Ignazio said: “If you get under 25 thousand we will offer you dinner.”
Have you ever seen this dinner??🙄😁
CATTELAN= Not us!!
GIANLUCA= But look (Piero) is wasted, he’s dying of hunger..😂
IGNAZIO= You didn’t understand, we were in Athens, when we return to Athens we’ll offer you dinner. 🤣
CATTELAN= Ah, it was only valid there. So, at a certain point I saw a crazy missile go by (Piero), I didn’t have time to understand if it was you, because I was in the audience cheering that day, I was there watching this thing for the first time in my life , I had never seen it, but it is an incredible party, a wonderful atmosphere. .
PIERO= The audience was 2 million people because there are 42 km full of people.
CATTELAN= But when you are there, what emotion do they give you? They help you when… there was a moment when you had visions, you no longer understood anything…
PIERO= No, the greatest emotion was seeing a girl with a poster and it said…..
CATTELAN= The lights came on, but were we in the dark until now? You can see us from home, we’re here! 😁 Tell me…. (to Piero)
PIERO= …a girl with a poster and it said “Jack I’m pregnant”….in my opinion Jack is still running!! 😂
CATTELAN= He crossed the finish line straight ahead! You run (to Ignazio and Gianluca) No?
IGNAZIO= With the ….. I can’t say (he means the motorbike)
GIANLUCA= Like Forrest Gump we run. 😁
CATTELAN= Like Forrest Gump, he was more I’ll reach you later.
IGNAZIO= He invited me and I said that if they let me come on a motorbike, I’ll come. I do it on my motorbike.
CATTELAN= Yes, is it valid?
PIERO= No, it’s not valid.
CATTELAN= You can’t, you can’t! Listen, how did Sanremo go? We are a bit running out of the long queue at Sanremo, all those who came told us about their Sanremo trauma, spontaneously.
IGNAZIO= But this year or in general?
PIERO= We are among the last (to come to his show)
CATTELAN= Yes, maybe someone will still come…
IGNAZIO= The last one missing is Bugo who is still looking for him. 😁 (a Sanremo singer who left the festival a couple of years ago)
CATTELAN= But it was from a few years ago…
GIANLUCA= He stayed a little behind…
CATTELAN= How did it go for you this year?
GIANLUCA= It went well, we are very satisfied. We presented a slightly different piece, let’s say. Always coherent, but we wanted to show our three personalities, so the group is a single entity but with different voices and different personalities and we are satisfied..
PIERO= In fact the title is self-referential (he’s joking) obviously: Capolavoro (Masterpiece) !
GIANLUCA= Obviously.
CATTELAN= Certainly a masterpiece.
IGNAZIO= Talk about us, yes! Talk about Gianluca’s beauty……😂
CATTELAN= …of Ignazio’s friendliness and Piero’s physical prowess.🤣🤣
IGNAZIO= In what sense? 😳
CATTELAN= In the sense that everyone has their own peculiarity: beauty, friendliness and athleticism.
You are among the Italians most accustomed to the big stages around the world, there is still something that excites you, perhaps when you return here to Italy, paradoxically even things that are a little smaller, but that give you an emotion.
IGNAZIO= Good pasta! 😁
CATTELAN= Ah, eat well!!
PIERO= We received the greatest emotion a few days ago, we announced three concerts at the Verona Arena that we will now do in May and now we have opened the fourth date because they were sold out. This is not a compliment we pay ourselves, this is a way to thank the public who allow us to hold concerts, to fill magical places, we have many in Italy, but above all who have allowed us to celebrate 15 years of our careers , because without them, seriously, we couldn’t have done anything.
GIANLUCA= There is a topic that is close to my heart, because it is often known that when you expose yourself and do our job, including you, there was also an episode with Ale (He mean that this thing Cattelan also suffered), like us who said we were separating…
CATTELAN= Ah, yes…
GIANLUCA= Now we know that people need gossip, everyone wants to know but…..
IGNAZIO= But it wasn’t fake that we were together, that we have to continue…
CATTELAN= The only request is if by any chance you really have to split up, can you do it here now, so you can give us a bit of…🤣🤣
GIANLUCA= A shot in popularity.
CATTELAN= Of course, the important thing is that you don’t do it tomorrow by someone else. If you want to do it, it’s now or never! 😂
PIERO= Unfortunately we announce that Il Volo will be together for many years. 🥰🥰🥰
CATTELAN= Okay, you still gave some news!! I must say that it made an impression on me when I was preparing the interview, but even now, when you think about 15 years of career, that’s a long time.
GIANLUCA= There are many, eh!!
CATTELAN= Also because you are young anyway, 15 years is a long time.
You also participated in a charity operation in 2010 where there were some incredible names and you were obviously 14 years younger than you are now.
PIERO= Wait…
GIANLUCA= There are some photos that testify to the embarrassing period of our career but, it was the beginning...(he means embarrassing because they were kids)
PIERO= But we have to tell it…
GIANLUCA= Yes, I was telling…
PIERO= Do you know that now on Netflix, can we say Netflix on Rai2?
CATTELAN= Yes, yes of course, there is also “Salutava Sempre” if you want to see it, a wonderful show. (Cattelan’s program on Netflix). 😁
PIERO= Very beautiful.
CATTELAN= Did you see it?
PIERO= Since February 26th, can you see that I am informed? It came out on February 26th, right?
CATTELAN= March 15th, okay it doesn’t matter, the important thing is that you saw it and that you liked it.
PIERO= However, you know there is the documentary on Netflix.
CATTELAN= On We Are The Word? Yes.
PIERO= About We Are The WorLd, I watched it a few days ago, while I was at home on the sofa, I was moved because those studies, Quincy Jones, Lionel Richie, we lived them, we were there and somehow I had a blast from the past why in 2011????
CATTELAN= 2010
GIANLUCA= When there was the earthquake in Haiti, the second one was organized after the first 25 years of We Are The World, with all the artists, there was Justin Bieber, there was Beyoncé…
CATTELAN= Miley Cyrus??
GIANLUCA= Miley Cyrus was there..
CATTELAN = Celine Dion…
GIANLUCA= Yes, the problem was that we were at the beginning of our career, we were children…
PIERO= ….with scarves bought at the flea market I don’t know where???
CATTELAN= In fact I ask you: “Can I show you the photos?”
PIERO= Nooooo.
GIANLUCA= YES
CATTELAN= Oh well, you were little, guys!
IGNAZIO= They were the embarrassing ones (Piero and Gianluca)
CATTELAN= This route, we have one with Myles Cyrus, who is also very young anyway.
PIERO= But look at the scarf? 😂
CATTELAN= Here they are, Miley Cyrus and Il Volo! Approximately how old were you?
PIERO= 15/16 years (he goes towards the photo) I don’t understand, but these two scarves here….(his and Ignazio’s)
CATTELAN= You can see there was some air..
PIERO= (indicating Gianluca) Look at him with the French scarf….he was already ahead. 🤣
IGNAZIO= You too were in transition between whipped cream and Myles Cyrus, understand?
CATTELAN= Yes, whipped cream.
GIANLUCA= In fact we had to call ourselves “The Miracle” then we thought Il Volo. 😂
CATTELAN= Il Volo is fine. There is also a photo with Celion Dion I saw, really incredible names. Here it is wow!
PIERO= We never left our scarves behind.😁
GIANLUCA= Guys, Celine also wore a scarf.
CATTELAN= Of course because you had launched a trend, no one was immune now!
PIERO= But do you have another one?
CATTELAN= Maybe, wait there’s Will I Am..
PIERO= Ah, the one from the Black Eyed Peas
CATTELAN= Will I Am, oh, there are always scarves.
GIANLUCA= But these were the elegant white scarves in the evening. 😂
IGNAZIO= Guys, I don’t know if you remember where we were here?
PIERO= At Jimmy Iovine’s house
CATTELAN= Jimmy Iovine of course, my goodness!
PIERO= The founder of the beats.
IGNAZIO= It was a crazy party and everyone was there: Cindy Crawford, Lady Gaga, Puff Daddy…everyone!
CATTELAN= As 15-year-old kids, how do you react to an evening like that? That is, were you the ones who stayed in the corner, did you try to interact with the others?
GIANLUCA= In reality we didn’t recognize many of them, we said: “but who is this?” – It’s Puff Daddy….
CATTELAN= You were too young.
GIANLUCA= Yes, too young.
IGNAZIO= At that time Gianluca had a habit (he touches his ear) he looked at everyone like that.😂
CATTELAN= Were you scratching your ears?
GIANLUCA= It was nervousness, I was there watching…. sorry but, forgive me, from school to that one, in five months…
CATTELAN= Madness, it’s madness!
GIANLUCA= …it’s normal for you to stay there, biting your nails….
IGNAZIO= Did you see Gianluca like this. (he scratches his hand with wide eyes) 😂
GIANLUCA= Yes, completely!
CATTELAN= It’s okay, it’s okay.
IGNAZIO= The callus came after some time.
PIERO= Jimmy Iovine organized these parties to introduce Il Volo, who was a new artist who was part of Interscope Records..
CATTELAN= Yes…
PIERO= …..to all these artists..
CATTELAN= Sure.
PIERO= So in some way we were the protagonists of the evening, but we didn’t know anyone, and that nobody is all the artists: Beyoncé etc.
GIANLUCA= Imagine, the first performance of the first album, then the first songs and we also sang IL MONDO, think about you…. and there is a gentleman in his forties, who goes on stage, pats us on the shoulder: “Welcome to our family”….and who was he??? Did you ask Piero who is he? And he told me it was Puff Daddy!
CATTELAN= In short, it went well for you!
GIANLUCA= There is this scene here, which are things that remain indelible, it’s clear.
IGNAZIO= Well, that was the period of fireplaces, wasn’t it? At first we did all the showcases, which was this five song intro show and coincidentally they were all in front of the fireplace.
CATTELAN= Ah, why was it cold?
IGNAZIO= In the fireplaces at home…incredible.
CATTELAN= Beautiful, intimate… you were very young there, but over the years you have taken on a bit of a star attitude, I always read about crazy requests from artists in the dressing rooms. When I presented Eurovision, there was a legend that I asked for strawberries in the dressing room.
PIERO= Who, us?
CATTELAN= No, no me.
PIERO= Oh you?
CATTELAN= I don’t even know if I like strawberries!
PIERO= So, there is a truth that Il Volo in the quick change, which is that cubicle behind the stage….but you have never asked yourself: “But will someone who sings for two hours pee or not?”😂😂😂
CATTELAN= I’ve actually never asked myself that.
PIERO= One day a promoter friend of ours comes to us and asks: “Guys, I’m curious, but why are you asking for cat sand? Who has a cat?” None of the three have cats! 😂🐈⬛
GIANLUCA= We are the cats! I swear. 🤣🤣🤣
CATTELAN= I don’t want to know!
PIERO= It’s us, because this thing is intelligent, this request was made by Alessio Guerrieri, our back linear, hello Alessio Guerrieri…
IGNAZIO= Besides being a masterpiece, you are also intelligent….
PIERO= Alessio requested cat sand, because we behind the stage, while Ignazio or Gianluca sings, I go behind and pee in the cat sand. 😂
CATTELAN= On the sand for cats! 😳
PIERO= Of course, sorry! 😂
CATTELAN= Then, you don’t do it directly but there will be someone who arrives with a sandbag behind the stage…..😁
GIANLUCA= Obviously there is also the cat bowl.. 😂😂
CATTELAN= To drink if you are thirsty!!! I don’t know if they wanted to know this!!! It was still very beautiful.
PIERO= However when you see Il Volo singing, imagine what happens behind it….
GIANLUCA= We are back there with the sand….😂
IGNAZIO= We are waiting for you…
CATTELAN= I don’t know if I will be able to look at you with the same eyes!!
So, we went through it quickly before, there was this interview on the radio in which you had a bit of an argument and from there it created an avalanche….
IGNAZIO= I wasn’t there!!!🙄
CATTELAN= Weren’t you there????
IGNAZIO= No, I wasn’t there, I had fallen asleep that morning.
CATTELAN= But do you fall asleep every time you go to see someone? You have a problem!
IGNAZIO = Sometimes…
GIANLUCA= But he arrives on time like 8:30 down…. but basically the next day, so you’re there waiting….😂
IGNAZIO= I have my time zone! 😁
CATTELAN= You need to rest.
GIANLUCA= Look, everything was exploited there, then we didn’t immediately deny it.
CATTELAN= But did it have anything to do with the different vision of music?
PIERO= No, no, I said.
GIANLUCA= No, you have to stop, now I’m pissed (he’s re-enacting the scene from then)
PIERO= I only told the truth guys…
GIANLUCA= I simply said that it’s nice to return to Sanremo and sing Queen and show that we can be something else too.
PIERO= And I said: “Excuse me, if you want to be someone else, speak for yourself, I know who I am….”
GIANLUCA= But you can’t answer me like that in front of everyone!
CATTELAN= Stay calm, or beat yourself up.
PIERO= (to Gianluca) But I can tell you..(Piero hugs Gianluca) 🥰
IGNAZIO= I was sleeping. 😁
GIANLUCA= He was sleeping.
CATTELAN= Ah ah ah, certainly!
CATTELAN= However, we thought of exploiting the topic of the discussion….
GIANLUCA= Enough, enough, break away. (to Piero who continues to hold Gianluca)
CATTELAN= ….we wanted to try to make you play a little game. Each of you sings a different song at the same time as the others, three songs in time, but everyone is singing their own.
PIERO= You know you seem more Marzullo than Cattelan. (Marzullo always does complicated things)
CATTELAN= Maybe it stirs something in your conscience, I don’t know.
PIERO= Each of us sings a song together with the others, but isn’t it the same song?
CATTELAN= Put it this way it seems difficult, but now you’ll see what happens, it’s a game we’re about to play called “I understand it on the fly” (it means I understand it immediately) Come, come!
CATTELAN= Ok, each member of Il Volo is about to sing a song. Everyone will sing their own but they will do it at the same time.
The competitor who will play with me and I will have to guess the three songs. The only custodian of the correct answers is our Ilenia, can you confirm that you have them there Ilenia?
ILENIA= Yes.
CATTELAN= Perfect, then you will be the one to give us the right or wrong answer. The competitor who is about to play with us must have particular characteristics, he must be as similar to me as possible, also have blue eyes, support Inter, have a surname that ends in N, give a huge round of applause to Pier Paolo Spollon. (an italian actor)
SPOLLON= Good evening, I see they are looking at me strangely.
GIANLUCA= I want to give a round of applause to the Street Clerks (the band) because without them this program would be a film without a soundtrack.
BAND= Did you see? Other than Coachella, Coachella. 😁😁 Thanks Gianluca!
CATTELAN= It would be a bad film without the soundtrack.
SPOLLON= Can I get out of the embarrassment for a second? I saw them (Il Volo) looking at me and thinking….but who the hell is this?
But you must not know anything about me.. (he means that the game is not on his person)
PIERO= But did I see you in Doc or not? (Italian television series)
SPOLLON= More or less.
CATTELAN= That’s right, yes!
SPOLLON= The only thing you need to know is that I’m the one who works with Luca Argentero (Italian actor), the one over there.
CATTELAN= He’s a fake doctor. (he impersonates a doctor in the TV series)
SPOLLON= Exactly!
CATTELAN= So, the guys from Il Volo are about to sing. I’ll give a quick recap of the rules, they each sing a song, but at the same time, it will be up to us to try to understand the three titles of the songs. We have a small blackboard that we will have to write on.
SPOLLON= And you called this game for me?
CATTELAN= Because I like to win. Are you ready guys?
PIERO= Wait, I’ll fix this (ear microphone)
SPOLLON= And what is this for? (one button)
CATTELAN= They put this but it’s useless, we crush it but it’s useless! Ready, go!
(the three songs start, difficult to recognize them)
CATTELAN= Damn I miss the first one! At that time…
GIANLUCA= But did you in the audience understand? – Yes-
CATTELAN= Really? So I’ll play mine, I’ll show them here. Mine are: LOVE ME TENDER but I didn’t understand it, I just know that Gianluca likes it and so I tried, then SEI BELLISSIMA and UN AMORE COSÌ GRANDE.
PIERO= Wait, who sang “Sei Bellissima”…..
CATTELAN= “Sei Bellissima”: Ignazio, “Un Amore Così Grande”: Piero and Gianluca : “Love me Tender.”
PIERO= Well done!!
SPOLLON= I’d say you did a really good job, congratulations…
CATTELAN= But what did you write?
SPOLLON= You guessed them all, well done, we have a winner…so I wrote in abbreviation: You’re Belliss+++ and that was it, I wrote Presley because I felt it but I’m not convinced it’s Love Me Tender, maybe it’s Falling in Love….
GIANLUCA= Great, he got it! Great!
SPOLLON= I didn’t understand the last one and I wrote: Caruso!
CATTELAN= So, because a Caruso is always good! Ilenia?
ILENIA= You were wrong, you and him too.
CATTELAN= But what is the way to deliver results? Which are the right ones? Read there.
ILENIA= Piero: “Un Amore Così Grande”, Ignazio: “ Sei Bellissima”, Gianluca: “Can’t help falling in love”.
CATTELAN= Damn, but you got it right. Okay, 2 to 1.
SPOLLON= No, I also understood “Sei Bellissima” and Presley.
CATTELAN= Are you ready (to the public) – Yes-
You can also help us if you think of something, we can cheat easily, don’t worry! Guys….Ignazio the headphones…
IGNAZIO= Go…
CATTELAN= Whenever you want….(three more songs begin…difficult to understand some…Gianluca gives help to Spollon)….But come on…
SPOLLON= Is there a jury?
CATTELAN= No, it’s me. So for this round, as far as I’m concerned it is made up of: MERAVIGLIOSA CREATURA ALMENO TU NELL’UNIVERSO ROCKET MAN by Elthon John.
PIERO= Applause, applause!!
SPOLLON= I start from the bottom: ROCKET MAN and I guessed it before you (Gianluca) said Rocket Man, then I wrote DIVERSO (He wanted to write Universo), and then I wrote Nannini. (he means Meravigliosa Creatura)
CATTELAN= It doesn’t apply and I would say that this is mine too…
SPOLLON= Ilenia, can we say that Nannini is fine?
ILENIA= Yes, it’s fine.
IGNAZIO= Sorry, it would be like saying: What show do you like by Alessandro Cattelan? Cattelan! But what does it mean?
CATTELAN= Ignazio is right, it’s not worth saying Nannini. Oh well, last round, whoever wins this one wins it all.
SPOLLON= Are we tied?
CATTELAN= I would be ahead but I’ll leave you tied. Guys, let’s do the last one, whenever you want! (last three songs begin)
So, what did you write?
SPOLLON= You go first, you have a clean face but you continue to spy.
CATTELAN= I have a long eye. 😁
IGNAZIO= Yes, he spied!
SPOLLON= But it’s bad for you, because I was the last one in the class, so if you copy from me….😁
CATTELAN= Go, what did you write?
SPOLLON= I wrote: IL MONDO, I understood it, then I wrote E POI… So, what did you write?
CATTELAN= Me too.
SPOLLON= And then I (Gianluca) didn’t understand.
CATTELAN= I wrote TI PENSO but it was IL MONDO, you’re right, so E POI and then I wrote A WONDERFUL WORLD.
GIANLUCA= Ah, did you hear it?
CATTELAN = Of course! Piero you were disturbed by the other two, that’s how it went. Guys now let’s do the math to see who won, the important thing is that you give a big round of applause for Il Volo!!
Thank you so much for being with us, guys, it’s always a great pleasure to see you, Gianlu, come here (and hug Gianluca). Happy world tour, where are you going now?
GIANLUCA= China, Japan, then the Arena of Verona and we will tour our new album which is AD ASTRA.
PIERO= First album of unreleased songs.
CATTELAN= I’m in China and Japan, I don’t know if I can come, but I’ll see you at the Verona Arena. Best wishes (for Easter).
Best wishes ladies and gentlemen, Il Volo!!
And here are some short videos of the rehearsals for our guys’ entrance.
A special guitarist: Ignazio.
And three songs at the same time!!
Happiness 🥰🥰
This presence from Cattelan is also nice, but these guys are unstoppable, a new date has been announced on their Asian tour which will start soon and therefore SHANGHAI in China has been added.
Also two instore dates have also been given, one in Verona (which I will participate in) and one in Naples!!
But then there will be participation in the program On The Road Verso il Giubileo, and Domenica In da Mara Venier, and then Radio Italia live, so stay with us, there will still be a lot to read.
The Behind the Scenes video of the guys recording “Tous les visages de l’amour” inspired me to write this story. I know you’ve seen it a hundred times but here we go again!
In many of my stories I use this video because this best represents who the guys were when they began their journey. Three teenage boys, 15 – 16 years old! They were so wise, so intelligent, so far ahead of their time. So, so professional! Yes, they were led on this journey, but they were the moving force! They were able to pick up on everything so easily. Why? They had three amazing voices and an innate ability to naturally understand music! What does this mean? It means they had a born predisposition for music. Of course, their musical ability would be nothing without their experiences in very early life that realized that potential. Put another way, a seed is just a seed until it is given the soil, water and sunshine to grow.
And now the result of all the work in the studio!
Each one was discovered at a very early age! 1 – 5 years old. Let’s take a look at how it happened with each guy….
Gianluca’s grandfather was the first to think of bringing him closer to music.
Gianluca said….
They tell me that, when I was three years old, I sang ‘O Sole Mio’ in the town square in front of all the elderly gentlemen friends of my grandfather who, sitting around the bar table, were listening to this little boy with such a particular voice.
This was my first audience but, of course I don’t remember it. My grandfather wanted me to study music, he always told me: ‘Gianluca, study the piano, study an instrument.’ I’ve never done it. It would be a dream to sit down on the piano and start playing and singing. Let’s say it’s one of my next goals: learning to play the piano.
As you know Gianluca has achieved this goal!
Ignazio tells us about his mothers’ recollection of him playing piano at the age of one….
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.
Ignazio said he was mischievous in school but…
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 È 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 È Mobile.’
Piero tells us, his grandfather Pietro, would come out on his terrace every morning and find a cool place to sit. Pietro always had a recorder with him. He has been blind for many years, and he used the recorder to record music, recite poetry and compose songs.
Piero said one morning he was in the backyard on the swing, and, on the terrace, Pietro was preparing to record a song. The song is only two lines, and it is pure Sicilian. E lu suli talia, talia, talia. Sopra ‘sta petra luci ci duna, that is and, (the sun, look, look, look, to this stone gives the light.)
Piero recalls….
I was swinging on the swing, I was about four or five years old, I was really, very, small. I listened to him a little and at a certain point, when he stopped singing, I started: E lu suli, talia, talia, talia. Sopra ‘sta pedra luci ci duna. What can I tell you? It just came out like that.
His grandfather turned off the recorder and called his wife. Rina came out on the terrace, and he asked her, “Unni è Piero?” (Where is Piero?)
She replied, “In Altalena” (He is on the swing)
Pietro asked, “Ma cu cantava? Iddru?” (But who was singing? He?)
She replied, “Eh, si.” (yes)
He told Rina to call Piero.
So, Piero got up and went to his grandfather. Pietro lifted him up and put him on the table next to the recorder and told him to “sing the song again.” Piero sang the song exactly as his grandfather sang it.
After this Pietro took charge of Piero’s early musical education.
All of this was the beginning, the foundation, the groundwork which opened the path to Ti Lascio una Canzone for our guys.
So let me give you a little insight into how things were in the beginning for the guys. Of course, it was all so strange. One day they’re competing on Ti Lascio Una Canzone and, the next day they’re on the road to stardom. Fate put them in the same place at the same time and now they were embarking on, as Gianluca put it, “a professional artistic career.”
After Ti Lascio Una Canzone the guys became one so, when one speaks, all listen and, all have a say in the conversation. We can now listen to their thoughts, their ideas and begin to understand what it meant to go from three to one!
So, we join Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca after Ti lascio Una Canzone!
First stop ~ Miss Italy!
At the end of this video Caterina Balivo spoke to the guys…. The following is a short transcript of what they talked about.
Caterina Balivo (the presenter) greeted the guys and said the names of all the gymnasts who performed on stage, then she congratulated our guys and asked for a well-deserved applause from the whole Palasport of Iesolo (where the Miss Italy contest was being held).
She asks Ignazio how it feels to sing in front of so many people (it was one of their first performances) and Ignazio says that it is always very emotional.
Caterina asks what they do backstage before entering and Ignazio says that they have their own ritual, but they cannot reveal it (it is when they clasp hands and say shit [so I’ve been told]), even Gianluca tries to change the subject by saying that they review and criticize their evidence. As you can see, they did this from the very beginning!
A person in the audience wants to ask them a question but first Caterina says that the school has just ended, and she asks our guys how it went, with what vote they were promoted. Ignazio says 7/8 Gianluca 7 in short with a positive vote but not the maximum
Now to the man in the audience! Before I tell you who he is, let me present his question. He asked the boys at their age were they more excited to sing on stage or to see all the beautiful girls and Ignazio admits that backstage they made evaluations of the various girls.
So, to man that asked the question….
If Italy were still a monarchy, that young gentleman would be the King of Italy. He is Emanuele Filiberto, grandson of the deposed last King of Italy, Umberto II, who was exiled in 1945 when Italy became a republic. His father was Vittorio Emmanuele.
Nice detour let’s continue our journey….
Gianluca: We finally finished Ti Lascio Una Canzone and they invited us to sing on June 27th, 2009, at the nineteenth edition of Miss Italy in the world. The evening was broadcast on Rai Uno.
When we arrived in the dressing rooms, I saw Raf. ‘Oh my God, there’s Raf!’ I said, ‘Let me take a picture.’ I run to him like crazy, ‘Can I take a picture with you?’ We were three children at the park playing. Ignazio, to name one, poured Coca-Cola on the floor in the dressing room and it ended up on Michele’s jacket. Michele turns and says, ‘Barbara look,’ I still remember it, with a face looking like ‘Oh my God’
Piero:And after the Coca-Cola there were plums. Our first meeting with Michele Torpedine ends with plums flying from one dressing room to the other and Michele comes out with white hair, indeed no, because he already had white hair. No, he comes out with straight hair saying, ‘Are you three, crazy?’ In practice we threw plums from the door of our dressing room, to the one next to us, where Raf was and where Gianluca had gone immediately to ask to take the picture of which he spoke. We had a mess that night …
The day began well, calm, and quiet. I was having lunch at the hotel restaurant and a gentleman with a sand-colored raincoat and graying hair arrived. I heard footsteps behind me and a ‘Hello, Piero’ with this deep voice. You recognize Michele’s voice anywhere. You know, when I tell of that meeting, I seem to tell things like I’ve seen in American movies. It was from this that we started, three fifteen-sixteen-year-old idiots, and Torpedine, who had already become an icon for me. So, he sits with us, and we start talking.
After lunch, we got ready for rehearsals. We go to the dressing rooms, and you already know what’s going on between plums and Coca-Cola.
What has changed from that day to today? Nothing. On tour, in the television broadcast rooms and sometimes even in the recording room, one of our favorite activities is the fruit launch. The best are the grapes (but we also use cherries). Ignazio throws them from a distance and, I have to take it on the fly with my mouth. It doesn’t matter if the Pope or Bono is in the dressing room next to us, it doesn’t impress us.
A little impression we had when we started to hear about America. Who knew us, there? Nobody! So, what happened? We discovered what it means to have a manager.
Thanks to an American lawyer, Peter Lopez, a contact from Tony Renis, one of our auditions is at Interscope Records in the United States. It is a label of music production that is part of the Universal Music Group America, the largest record company in the States. To give you an idea, it is the label of Eminem, Sting, Lady Gaga, Nelly Furtado and Gwen Stefani, just to name a few.
Imagine the desk of Jimmy Iovine, the president of Interscope, a large desk in a large American office. They take a laptop, put it in front of Iovine, they start “O Sole Mio” recorded by Ti Lascio Una Canzone. When it arrives at “Ma n’aaaatu sole!” Iovine closes the computer and exclaims: ‘We got it!’ All right, we do it. And we sign a millionaire contract.
Now imagine this: The day before, I’m working in my uncle’s workshop and the next day I sign a millionaire contract with an American label.
At the beginning it was really a dream, even if I do not like repeating it, because you find yourself traveling the world and doing it, from one day to the next. However, I repeat, always without realizing the importance of the thing, without fully understanding what was happening.
Now we will listen to the guys tell us about their experience recording in the studio for the first time.
Ignazio:So, a dream that Piero, in the clouds, has forgotten to say is the most important thing: it was the first time that Italian singers signed a contract directly with an American record company.
In 2009 we recorded our first album. It was not easy.
For us today there are seven takes to sing. At that time there were thirty or forty. What language does he speak, will you say? English, Spanish and also a little Italian. So, a take is the recording of the single phrase that each of us sings when we record a song. We continue to redo it until we get the best version. In 2009, our first recording, took almost two days to record a song, until it was good. I remember that I made the absolute record of takes in ‘Smile’: I repeated my part for fifty-seven times.
We were small and inexperienced and, the English language did not help. Tony Renis along with Humberto Gatica, who was one of the best-known producers and sound technicians in the world, worked with us and if they were not satisfied, they would tell us clearly. They worked with Andrea Bocelli, Eros Ramazzotti, Pino Daniele, Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion.
Gianluca:Piero forgot to mention that ours was the first contract signed directly by Italian singers with an American label, but Ignazio forgot to mention that the first recording studio in which we entered all three together for our great adventure was called Forum and it was in Rome.
I remember, and it is one of the few things that I have very clear in mind of that period, that we have compiled the lineup of the tracks with Tony Renis, and most were the ones we had sung at Ti Lascio Una Canzone, plus five other American songs
But the first time in front of the microphone was still in Rome in the studio where we had done the auditions before the program began. Roberto Cenci had assigned the songs to all the children, he had arranged the arrangements, and we had recorded the compilation that came out in May after the end of the program and immediately entered in the rankings.
But that was the first time alone in front of a microphone, and it was … (to Piero) What are you looking at? Do you want to say something?
Piero…it was nice because it was the first experience. We did not sing well because we had no technique, so it was as Ignazio said. We did a take sixty or seventy times.
At that time, we arrived in the studio, and we found everything ready. The songs to sing, the subdivisions, the arrangement, this and the other things. Now, after the third album, we do everything together, we create everything with Celso Valli, our producer.
Those first times we did not have this freedom, everything was imposed because we did not have the skills to do it.
Now we have them and we share the parts, we know each other better and, in the studio, we help each other. It is also nice to see that each of us now has his way to enter the recording room. Gianluca and I sing with the light on in the recording room. Ignazio, on the other hand, enters and the first thing he does is turn off the light. They are small details, but they mean that we have grown and, we have our own way of working.
Between the three of us, we have split up the roles. If there is a problem with the mixer, Ignazio works on it with the producer to fix it. Gianluca is the one who listens to the songs from morning to night and offers: ‘Guys, I discovered this songwriter. Guys, I discovered this artist, what do you think?’ I like the managerial part, I like managing, I like to contact people, I like to proposenew things to Michele, ‘Why do we not do that? Why do we not try to do that? How can we get to this person?’ I like us to put our heads together and think of how we can improve. We have a complete professional balance. We have grown physically, but also professionally. So even if we get a producer we do not know, we do not have any problems, we know how to talk to him and tell him what we want. This is the most important aspect: being at the same level. This is the reason why for some months now I have this big black leather folder, that I always carry with me. If I have to tell the truth, Torpedine lent it to me and, as it brought good luck, I stole it from him and, as I told you, I always carry it with me, with the pieces we have to do, the notes, the notes of what is lacking to be fixed, what is not lacking, the notes of what we need to do: everything is much more professional.
Now we are working with Celso, one of the most important record producers in Italy. He has collaborated with Vasco Rossi, Lucio Dalla, Eros Ramazzotti, all the big names. He’s really a great person.
We have had great luck. We can afford to deal with the older ones, it is not easy. It’s something that brings to mind the words of Torpedine. ‘You must always invest in your future.’ Celso has agreed to bet with us on our future and we worked together on the last album, ‘L’amore si Muove’ (Love Moves) which came out in September. It is a pleasure working with him because he lets you talk, lets you express your ideas, lets you try, and this is a fundamental thing, the most important thing when you want to improve and grow.
And we always have had the desire to grow, since we were little children. We have since we were baptized and, we were ready to … take flight.
So, we turn to the Baptism of Il Volo which tells how sometimes finding a name is much more complicated than it may seem.
Piero:Do you know that at one point they wanted to call us La Scala?
Until that time, in 2009-2010, during the recording of our first CD, we did not have a ‘real’ name. In the transmission with Antonella Clerici, we were baptized Tre Tenorini, for that thing that we resembled Luciano Pavarotti (Ignazio, for the waistline). Jose Carreras (Gianluca, for the elegance, says Torpedine) and Placido Domingo (me, for the tenor voice). But who could have imagined that one had to find another name? We did not even believe that we would continue to sing, imagine if we thought we needed a name.
Ignazio:Then, at that time when we were looking for it and we could not find it, we were recording We Are the World 25 for Haiti, at the beginning of February 2010, and we called ourselves The Tryo, which we then used as guests at the second evening of the Sanremo Festival, a week later, singing in front of Queen Rania of Jordan, only then we translated it to: Il Trio.
Gianluca:The problem of the name? It was one of those impossible marketing missions: it had to be short and easy to pronounce in practically all the world. For example, there is a group called Il Divo, and they also sing a genre similar to ours, and Il Divo was just the kind of name we wanted: short, easy to pronounce and also very international, because it has a clear meaning to everyone.
And that’s why the name La Scala came out. Elettra Morini, the wife of Tony Renis, had proposed it. Elettra, who was a dancer there, told her husband: ‘Why do you not call them La Scala?’ Surely everyone in the world knows La Scala.
Ignazio:And then, there was the question that they called us the Three Tenorinis, the Lyric, La Scala, La Scala …
We chewed it a little but, they did not convince us.
Piero:But who was looking for the name? All of us: the three of us, Michele, our parents, whoever belonged to our family, or our working group said a name, two or three, and it was written on a list. That list become worse than a telephone list: we got to more than five hundred proposals.
This thing of the name was becoming a joke. We were going to record the album, make a meeting, or engage in anything else, and we ended up talking about this name, but never got the right idea. In the end, one day, out of the blue, a gentleman working for Michele, Stefano, says: ‘Il Volo’.
Ignazio:IL VOLO? What about IL VOLO? IL VOLO? It began to turn in the air (ha ha) and so the birth of Il Volo.
Piero:But then we discovered that there had already been a group by this name in 1974, composed by Mario Lavezzi, Vince Tempera, Alberto Radius, Bob Callero, Gabriele Lorenzi and Gianni Dall’Aglio. It was a collaboration that lasted a year and a half and had gathered all of the best musicians. But now we liked the name, so we decided to keep it. Also, because it immediately seemed to us a good omen to fly, to take flight, get up in the air.
But we risked a little.
Think about it, if this project did not start, if we were not really able to ‘take off,’ could you imagine how they would have made fun of us? ‘The Flight has taken off? No, Il Volo has crashed!’ At that point, we had the CD, the name and we left for the United States.
And so, we end our little Behind the Scenes adventure! We leave the guys with their name, their first album in hand and on their way to America where they will steal the hearts of the American people.
Join me next week as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and open the door to a new adventure!
It’s been a while since I posted a letter from a fan. This is a letter I received from Leena in Finland. Our guy’s touch people in every corner of the world!
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your wonderful website “Il Volo Flight Crew” that I have been following for about 6 months now. I have mostly been reading texts written by Daniela and Susan and felt touched every single time.
My name is Leena De Blasio and I live in Finland. I am married to an Italian man, and we have two children. I have always known about Il Volo but did not really pay attention to them until last October. I happened to watch a long interview with them where they talked about how the pandemic had influenced their career. By the maturity of their answers and their scenic presence on that occasion I immediately fell in love with them. After that I watched the concert at the Arena of Verona from last June four times and oh my God how much I cried watching it. Since then, I have been trying to learn everything about “our guys” looking at old recordings of their concerts, interviews, even ordering their book “Un’avventura straordinaria” which I unfortunately have not yet read because it is not possible to have it sent to Finland.
By profession I am a teacher of Italian, teaching at an institute which offers evening courses to adults. Currently I have 39 students in four different groups. My students are mainly elderly people, about 60-80 years old. Every semester when I get new students, I speak about Il Volo to them and some of my students have fallen in love with the boys too. Just before Easter with one group we listened to “Ave Maria Mater Misericordiae” and one student of mine started crying. I consider that this was the biggest moment of my career and I feel like crying myself too when I think about it.
As we live in Finland, I was convinced I would never be able to go to an Il Volo concert because I am sure that Piero, Gianluca and Ignazio will never come to sing here. Miraculously, last week I realized that this summer they will be having a concert in Ostuni not very far from where we will be on holiday. This was only on the third day of the ticket presale that I realized it. I rushed to the computer to buy the tickets but was totally sure they would have been sold out already. To my amazement I got four tickets to this concert and not bad places at all, the fourth row!!! How can this even be possible? This is unbelievable, I feel like crying, yelling, shouting and running at the same time. I am sure that I will cry through the whole concert. This is a miracle. I would like so badly to have a small chat with the guys before or after the concert… Let’s keep the fingers crossed there will be an occasion to do that.
I wish every reader of this wonderful blog a wonderful springtime and thank you once again to Susan and Daniela for their effort in keeping these fantastic stories going on!
We thank you for your readership, Leena! I hope you will be able to meet the guys. Keep an eye open on www.ilvolomusic.com for Sound Check and Meet & Greet!
Susan
Credit to owners of all photos and videos.
Thank you to Danilea Perani for the translation of the video!
*Excerpts from: Il Volo, Un’avventura Straordinario, La Nostra storia
In the beginning the guys were called “awesome opera singers!” That’s how they described them. No, not in Italy! Here in America!
I love looking back at the beginning of their career and watching how they grew! One of the nice things about living in New York is you get all the interviews and promos firsthand!
In the late summer of 2011, the guys were getting ready for their first North American Tour. This involved a lot of preparation and a lot of appearances on TV talk shows to pave the way! I remember watching them on “Good Morning America” and thinking this is going to be an amazing journey for them. They have so much going for them but above all they had their youth which was an asset! Their voices were enticing and, they were adorable! Every teenage girl was going to fall in love with them. So would their mothers, and above all the grandmothers! It was the beginning of a journey that was going to take them to every corner of the earth. They would steal the hearts of all who came into contact with them. And, given their age, we could count on their music being around for a long time. That was the thing about their music, it came from the past and fit right into the present and would go well into the future. Everyone would come to love it! Yes, there were others who sang the same songs but, they were not Il Volo! Only Il Volo could pierce our hearts with their beautiful voices and leave us memories that would grow with age and expand with every new song!
During the last days of summer in September of 2011, the guys were taping the “Today” show. They were teenagers and they were belting out their favorite song “O Sole Mio” in front of projections of stained-glass windows. Their appearance capped a few months that brought them from “American Idol” to the morning talk shows to the final episode of “Entourage.” The idea was carefully designed to expose them to both mothers and daughters, before their first North American tour, which included theaters like the Beacon Theater in Manhattan.
In the NBC studio at Rockefeller Center, a sleepy-eyed Gianluca, 16, crooned the opening verse, and Piero, 18, and Ignazio, who was turning 17 the following Tuesday, released ringing high notes. Hoda Kotb, “Today’s” co-host, put her hand on her heart and smiled wistfully behind the cameras.
“We are Il Volo,” Ignazio said at the end with a heavy accent and a dimpled grin. “It means ‘flight.’ Thank you for flying with us!
After the taping Hoda said, “Believe me, everyone’s going to come running. They’re going to beat down the door.” How right she was!
The theory, Arias for teenagers, the crossover dream was being masterminded by some of the most savvy executives in the music business: Jimmy Iovine, who helped turn Eminem and Lady Gaga into superstars; Ron Fair, who nurtured the careers of Christina Aguilera and the Black Eyed Peas; and Steve Leber, a management legend who worked with the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and AC/DC and has come out of pop retirement to try to make Il Volo explode. And explode they did!
The group was introducing the same Italian pop standards and power ballads that performers like Bocelli used to rocket to superstardom. The difference, of course, is age: theirs, and that of their potential audience.
“In the beginning all of us thought that because of their kind of music, the audience would be from 35 and up,” said producer Tony Renis. “But now we realize that they can conquer the kids. The younger generation all over the world. The kids are used to rap but they never had the chance to listen to this kind of music. But now Il Volo is spreading a new kind of feeling. They are conquering every age.”
The group caught Mr. Renis’s eye in the spring of 2009, when the three boys were competing individually on “Ti Lascio una Canzone,” an Italian version of “American Idol.” A shrewd producer on the show, Roberto Cenci, suggested they combine forces, and their renditions of modern classics were hits.
“These kids were singing ‘O Sole Mio,’ and I heard such amazing, beautiful voices that I didn’t believe it,” Mr. Renis said. “I thought it was fake. They were singing with such mature voices, like men of 50 or 60 years.”
Mr. Iovine and Mr. Fair signed the guys to Geffen Records after hearing a clip that Mr. Renis played for them. Their debut album, “Il Volo,” a mélange of songs in Italian, English and Spanish calibrated for the widest possible appeal, was assembled over the next year and released in Italy in November 2010.
The label’s connections landed the guys a spot on “American Idol.” They also did a cameo on the final episode of “Entourage,” with their song “Un Amore Così Grande.”
Meanwhile, when Anthony Rugiero heard Il Volo sing, he was struck by the group’s similarity to both opera’s The Three Tenors and the pop music world’s Jonas Brothers.
“I was amazed,” said Rugiero. “It was, like wow! They are treating these kids like the Jonas Brothers in Italy and they’re singing opera, like The Three Tenors. You look at them and it’s like, these guys have it all. It’s too good to be true.”
Rugiero, who heard the group sing in Italy, knew Il Volo could help his charitable endeavors. He had been looking for a way to raise funds for Boys’ Town of Italy, Italian Language Inter-Cultural Alliance and the Volterra-Detroit.
“I was thinking, how can I get a group together that’s big enough that it would reach all age levels? I thought about singing groups and was trying to think of who I could get, when I see these young kids in Italy,” Rugiero recalled. “They take classical music and put a little something into it. These kids are wonderful.”
Rugiero, who also is a board member of the Detroit Opera House, was determined to bring the group to Detroit as a fundraiser for three organizations and began working on a plan to produce the concert himself. After Live Nation bought the group’s North American concert tour, Rugiero suggested a benefit dinner that would be held in conjunction with the show on Sunday, October 16. Concert promoters liked the idea.
This video is the best example of how they were able to steal the hearts of the American people. The video shows them on a simple stage with limit musicians and their voices shine!
“I purchased the first 20 rows, center section, all premium seats,” Rugiero said, describing seats at the Fox Theatre. “We hope to have a great evening.”
Fiat was the sponsor of the event, along with several Italian-American business leaders including Tom Celani and Anthony Soave.
The Volterra-Detroit Foundation supports The University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture and Comune di Volterra, which had formed a partnership to provide a new educational opportunity in the City of Volterra, Italy, for students in metro Detroit. Through the partnership, U.S. students can study in Italy for no additional fee, after paying their regular college tuition.
“I love programs that bridge the gap between Italy and the U.S.,” Rugiero said.
Rugiero didn’t get to produce the concert but he was able to use it as a fundraiser for three worthy organizations.
Back in New York, the “Today Show” was not their only talk-show appearance. They were on “The Tonight Show,” “Good Morning America,” “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and CBS’s “Early Show” in May, when their album was released in the United States. And they were preparing for a PBS special.
In the meantime, their album made its debut on the Billboard 100 chart at No. 10. The Italian and American management teams butted heads about where, when and how to spend the boys’ time. Should they stay in America a full year and play smallish clubs? Make one-off appearances all over the world? Play theaters seating 1,000 or 3,000?
“No one had a real game plan,” said Mr. Leber, who persuaded the families to bring him and his son, Jordan, on to help manage the group as it rolled out. “They need to tour, tour, tour, tour. The kids and the parents were nervous about going on the road. But the most important thing was to go on the road.”
So, on the road they were. Each of the boys was accompanied by one parent, a substantial sacrifice, since all three left their jobs to join their sons, and none are wealthy: Piero’s father is an auto-body mechanic, Gianluca’s a truck driver, and Ignazio’s mother owned a pizzeria that her 25-year-old daughter was running in her absence. None of the three spoke English.
The group had already been to Singapore, New Zealand, Sydney, Miami, jumping on the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival. With the upcoming North American Tour, it was necessary to get a new wardrobe. The guys were taken to Dolce & Gabbana on Madison Avenue to shop for a tour wardrobe. When they arrived at the store, Barbara Vitali told the sales associate, “We have to balance the repertory they are performing with the teenagers that they are.”
The scene in D & G was confusing! A series of slim blazers failed to fit Ignazio, who has lost more than 30 pounds but remains wide in the shoulders. Ignazio sang “All Nylon” to the tune of “All Night Long.” Gianluca emerged from the dressing room in tight black velvet pants and a shiny black blazer. Piero ended up with boots spattered Pollock style.
“They’re very, very different from one another,” Mr. Fair said. “Gianluca’s like a young Tony Curtis or a Mario Lanza, almost a Presley character, handsome and dark and Italian with fabulous hair. Ignazio is a crowd pleaser and a people person, adorable and funny. Piero is more studious, very serious.”
Three hours and well into five figures’ worth of clothing later, the group headed to theBorgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, site of the tour’s first performance of the guys first full concert ever. They allotted two days for preparation.
The following morning’s rehearsal began well. The boys sounded fresh as they warmed up; the echo of one of Ignazio’s high notes stayed in the ice-cold air of the theater for five full seconds. But Gianluca missed an entrance — he had, as usual, been on his cellphone with his girlfriend — and things quickly dissolved into backstage shouting.
The next day was the opening show, and the boys had still not run a single song all the way through. Mr. Leber arrived, doling out hugs. “This is not music,” he said. “This is a happening. This is an event.”
And it was. It got off to a rough start. The lighting careened from darkness to glare. The sound mix, including the vocal track augmenting some of the group’s harmonies, was murky; the video projections — a mixture of slow-motion Italian film clips and animations — were distracting. The boys seemed unsure of exactly where to stand and how to move.
Then they opened their mouths. The first song was “Il Mondo,” a sweeping heart tugger. Like many of the numbers in Il Volo’s playbook, it started quietly, with a verse from Gianluca. It built and built, until Ignazio, oozing delight at being onstage, let loose a startlingly full and mature high note.
A girl literally screamed with delight!
Gianluca glanced at Piero with relief in his eyes. The audience gave standing ovation after standing ovation.
Next stop, Toronto. In contrast to the Borgata show — which, like much of the tour, was organized by the American concert-promotion monolith Live Nation — the Toronto appearance was the work of a local promoter, Mimmo Pellegrino. It was at Roy Thomson Hall, where the Toronto Symphony Orchestra plays and, which is about three times the size of the Borgata theater.
The Borgata show had, as Mr. Leber had predicted, the feel of an event – sold out, electric. In Toronto about a quarter of the seats remained empty. Some odd scenic elements had been added, like three enormous white masks that were revealed at the end to be swivel chairs. The audience response was warm, but it was hard for even the loudest of the recorded string arrangements to fill the big space.
The audience at both shows was mostly older, but there were the seeds of what could become a classic boy-band phenomenon: that girl screaming in the audience at the Borgata, high-pitched shrieks of “We love you!” in Toronto, a high school senior who asked Piero to be her date for homecoming. (He said yes.) And maybe, just maybe, they will inspire young people to try “real” opera. The thought was, if Il Volo can persuade teenagers to notice and care about vocal production in a classical — or at least classic — style, who knows?
“By January they could sell 1.5 million records around the world,” predicted Mr. Fair, who arrived at the theater in Toronto just as the boys were exiting the stage. “Everyone will know who Il Volo is. It’s going to be a gigantic live act. Tickets are going to sell like crazy. And then a song will come along, like a Coldplay-type song, a pop record that’s introspective and beautiful, and everyone on the more pop end of things will know them.”
But before everyone knew them there was a degree of fame and it was pleasant and inviting. There was some discussion after the Borgata show about whether the boys should exit through a back door. They decided instead to greet the public, and as they walked into the lobby, what can only be called a polite mob ensued, just the right size and just the right amount of enthusiasm. The boys thanked everyone graciously as they signed autographs and posed for photos.
Earlier in the day Ignazio was doing a sound check onstage with the band. Steve Leber watched from the seats. As if on cue, Ignazio hit one of his shining high notes. Mr. Leber smiled. “Our game plan is working,” he said.
And it certainly worked well. The crowds grew and, the enthusiasm grew and, it has never stopped working since then. The 2011 North American Tour was just the beginning of their success in America. A success that ten years later continues not just in North American but around the world.
And over the last year the call from our guys and the world was Let the Concerts Begin.
2022 should prove to be the best year yet! Welcome Back guys! You have really given us great pleasure with your Tribute to Ennio Morricone and we look forward to its arrival in North America and around the world!
Join me next week as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and open the door to a new adventure!
Excerpts from an article in the New York Times by Zachary Woolfe on Sept. 29, 2011
Today I would like to share a letter with you from a lady named Marilyn Andrews in Seattle.
In 2020, at the height of the covid pandemic, my husband passed away from a long illness. I had been caring for him for several years prior to his passing. I loved him so deeply, but yet, after many months, I had been unable to grieve for him. Let me describe my husband, and you may be able to make an association with someone else:
Professional singer; glorious baritone voice; a repertoire of thousands of songs; offered a chance at fame on national TV (but turned it down over concerns for impact on the family); opened a show for Tony Bennett; musically inspired by Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Mario Lanza, the Three Tenors, etc.; private in nature but a consummate perfectionist in public performance; intelligent, serious, articulate, a philosopher of the mind; handsome, part time model with a stunning smile; fit and athletic runner and weight lifter; self taught in many things, including guitar and piano; a lover of beautiful clothes (Armani in particular); a lover of all things Italian – culture, art, history, wine. Above all, lover of family. The list could go on….
In the fall of 2020, I happened to hear a televised concert of Il Volo on TV. I loved the music and began to follow the group online and joined the fan club – my first and only one ever. As I read more about Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca individually, I was startled by the many things Gianluca and, my husband had in common. “How odd”, I thought. The more I learned, the more things I found they had in common, the stranger it became, and so the more I followed.
Sometime in the winter of 2020, I viewed and heard Gianluca’s performance of “Mi Mancherai” in Rome on YouTube. At that time, I knew virtually no Italian words, and so had no idea of the song’s meaning. But upon hearing it, something inside me just broke. It was such a jolt that I actually felt it physically. The timbre of the song, the sadness and the passion with which it was delivered instantly touched my soul at such a deep level that I cannot even describe it. I wept, and wept and wept, and realized that I was finally, finally grieving for my lost husband. Two days later, I searched online for an English translation of the song. And the tears came all over again, as I learned that the song is about losing someone so very close to you that you are overwhelmed with the “missing” and the sense of loss. It was quite literally a musical expression of grief – my grief. Without realizing it, I had been led, seemingly step by step, to the music of Il Volo, then to the character of Gianluca, then to his song, then to the expression of my grief. How could this even be possible – that a complete stranger helped me begin to overcome my deepest loss? I have no idea. But I somehow need to thank Il Volo and specifically Gianluca for the gift that he gave me, even without his knowledge of it.
Over time, I am healing. And I have begun the process of reinventing myself. Hesse says that “the true profession of man is finding his way to himself.” That is what I am doing. With my previous background in international business, I am learning Italian, working remotely here in Seattle for an Italian company in Vicenza, and planning a different life for myself. I may not stay in the U.S.; it is possible I may choose – Italy? Spain? Portugal? All of these changes involve a great deal of new thinking, new learning, and a lot of courage, but as I heal, I am becoming a true lioness!
Today the music of Il Volo brings me no tears, only incomparable joy. I have never had the opportunity or pleasure of seeing and hearing Il Volo in concert, but I hope to do so in the future, in Italy or somewhere in the world. It is highly unlikely that I will ever meet Gianluca in person. But if I did, I would shake his hand, thank him, and let him know that he has helped me more than he will ever know. “All things are possible.”
Credit to owners of all photos and videos.
Come in and share the love of life, friends and Il Volo!
