Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca, as announced, left on Sunday February 19 for Mexico, to be able to participate in a television program and hold a press conference.
And here are three videos upon their arrival at the airport in Mexico.
Translation: They came out more handled than market fruit but happy. 💗💗💗
But who wouldn’t have been happy after such a welcome, after 4 years of not returning to Mexico, certainly their fans haven’t forgotten Ignazio, Gianluca and Piero!! 😘
They held a press conference early on Monday morning in the presence of many journalists.
Here is the video. (there are English subtitles)
The words said at the beginning by Gianluca are beautiful, thanking their Mexican fans and saying that it is wonderful to return after 4 years of absence due to the pandemic, in this country that has always welcomed them with so much affection.
Piero also explains that the TRE VOCES UN ALMA project was conceived as a gift for their Latin fans who have not been able to see them for 4 years.
Kindly, Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero also performed IL MONDO a cappella. I think I understand that the journalists were very happy with the interview, in fact there were numerous newspaper articles and tweets that talked about Il Volo!!
IL Volo was also interviewed by Sergio Mejia for the OYE DIGITAL program.
In the place where the press conference was held, Ignazio noticed something 😁, always funny our Ignazio!
But time is running out, and it’s almost time for the first concert, right here in Guatemala.
Piero Ignazio and Gianluca are subjected to a very tough tour with very close dates and many events to attend, but they are holes, and this is what they like to do, so guys….. good luck!!
As the guys start the South American Tour, I want to go back Through the Fields of My Mind to their first South American and Latin American Tour in October 2013.
On September 27, 2013, the guys had achieved their dream to sing at Radio City Music Hall in New York. After a successful, sold out, North American Tour, the guys went to South American for the first time.
A while back I wrote about this tour because in the comments from one of my stories, a woman named Linda wrote: “I wish Il Volo would be a household name in America!” I thought funny she should say that because Il Volo from the beginning was more popular in America than they were in Italy. It took a long time and a great decision for Italy to open their arms to our guys and there were many obstacles along the way. So, I thought maybe a little behind the scenes look at the guys and some of the challenges they had to overcome to get Italy’s attention would make an interesting story. There were some good memories and some not so good but, the story in the end puts the guys On The Threshold of Success in Italy but, I’m getting ahead of myself….
Let’s pick up their story in 2013 with memories of the first South American Tour.
North America, South America and Latin America Tour ~ Memories 2013
One of the first things Gianluca remembered is Ignazio’s birthday in Messio, on the evening of the first concert of the tour. Let’s enter into their conversation to see where this is all going….=
Gianluca:The most special thing about Ignazio’s birthday was that we celebrated with the fans.
Piero: Actually, I remember an important thing about the South America tour. This is when we realized we were really famous. The fans were in front of the hotel waiting for us. But it happened slowly, slowly, relatively slowly, month after month. Because two months before we were in Argentina and there were twenty fans, the next one there were a hundred, the one after there were three hundred, and then a thousand, two thousand. Now the situation is unbelievable if you have not experienced it, you will not believe it because we are with bodyguards twenty-four hours a day. It’s another world.
Ignazio: I only know that when I finished that tour in South America I was nicknamed ‘Ignazio the tank’ by myself: I had done twenty concerts with bronchitis. The worst was in Caracas, Venezuela, six thousand five hundred people, at seven in the evening: soundcheck….
Let’s start with the first song. I try to sing and, the voice does not come out, there is nothing to do, it does not come out. And here comes the most total panic, we stopped the soundcheck, the production calls a doctor and, I was punctured with Bentelan. In short, for a month and half I sang only thanks to the cortisone and breathing technique that our teacher Sergio Bertocchi taught us.
Piero: ‘Our,’ because he is also my teacher. But maybe we should say master. Sergio Bertocchi is the person who helped me most in singing, the one that solves my doubts and my problems. If I enter a lesson with him with a doubt, I go out another Piero, happy and relaxed…. You do not know how important it is to have an experienced person like Sergio Bertocchi to guide you.
Ignazio: I know for sure, that without his breathing exercises I do not know how I would have sung. Without a voice I was completely out of it.
Yes, the boys had challenges! Long periods away from their families, concerts, recording sessions, interviews, just endless. Sometimes it’s just too much to handle and like anyone else they find a crashing point. For the most part they kept it together but there were times when everything would just fall apart. So, Ignazio made it through the tour but, Piero reminds him of something else in the tour that did not affect his voice one bit….
Piero: Igna’, but the voice, you had in that interview! It was March 2013 we were in Argentina at the famous Los 5 edicion broadcast of QMusica TV. What was the problem? We spoke Spanish and sometimes we were wrong, so we stopped the recording and went back. So, Ignazio was already a bit tired out, let’s say. But the worst thing is that in Argentina they do not have the V in Volo, they have the B, they say ‘Il Bolo’. And one, and two, and three, always ‘Il Bolo.’ At that point, Ignazio begins to correct the guy who was in the studio and repeated to us the things to say, and once, and twice, and three: ‘Il Volo, it is said Il Volo, V!’ Until the guy in the studio runs off new ‘Il Bolo’ and Ignazio starts with a string of bad words in precise Sicilian that are immortalized in the off-wave scenes.
Ignazio:However, guys, we are serious people, now…. Where were we? Oh yes. The end of the Latin American tour.
Christmas 2013 was approaching and, the record company wanted to come out with a record of Christmas songs. So Universal decided to complete the EP that came out two years ago with just five Christmas songs. So, after the Latin American tour we started promoting the Christmas album
My house began to fail me. Being four months away, changing cities, hotels and planes almost every day is not easy. From the age of sixteen, finding yourself catapulted into a world completely different to the one I was used to, it was not a simple thing to manage. At first no, actually the first two years I thought ‘What a beautiful life!’ Then I realized that All That Glitters is Not Gold.
To get satisfaction and achieve the goals you have set yourself, you have to give up many things and, work hard. Stay focused on your work. It’s not easy.
Sometimes people say, ‘But these guys never get tired?’ Well, yes, we get tired too, sometimes. Personally, there was a time when I thought only of friends. I wanted to go out, I never answered the phone, the emails, the messages, I was out of this world.
It was thanks to my family, to the boys and to Michele that I realized that I was neglecting what was always important for me: the music.
Gianluca: True, Ignazio is right. It was not easy and, neither is it now.
In those years, in 2012 and 2013, no one knew us in Italy, we were just the three children who came from Ti Lascio Una Canzone.
But in America, in South America, in Europe we were very well known. And not only there. After the release of our first CD we went on tour in places that none of us could have imagined we would go to: Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and New Zealand. In Singapore we also had a gold record with that first CD.
So, before Sanremo, we lived two lives, two completely different lives. Abroad we were stars and, we came to Italy to rest. I took refuge in Montepagano, Piero in Naro, Ignazio in Marsala. It was nice to come back to a ‘normal’ life. But… we felt that something was missing, that it was bad to be so successful outside of our country and not be able to have it in Italy.
The following interview is one of the best interviews the guys did in 2013. It showed how humble they are and that they are living their dream, but their heads are not in the clouds! The interviewer Larry London was so impressed with our guys.
The guys talked about being on the road and how much they miss their lives even though they are living amazing lives.
Ignazio:2014 was not our best year. In fact, along with Eurovision, which is one of those things that I do not like to talk about, but we’re telling the truth, so let’s tell it all. That year the contract with Universal expired, so we started looking for a new record company.
It’s just that finding a new record company is not something you do in two days. We did not sleep at night. We talked with Michele about it until late in the evening to look for solutions.
The first thing that came to mind was to take charge of everything. Not that we could stop because we were looking for a new record company. So, we continued to work on the projects we had, new records and tours. We planned a new tour in Canada and the United States for that summer. We could do it.
You see, being brave brought us luck because, after a few months an email from Sony Latin arrived: they were interested in us. After a few weeks and long negotiations, we went to Miami to sign the contract.
This was unique and emotional because, we were underage when we were signed by Universal, our parents signed for us. This was the first record contract signed by our fist!
In the intermediate stages of negotiations with Sony, when it was not yet official, the final evening of the Billboard Latin Music Award arrived, that is the annual award linked to the American magazine ‘Billboard’.
In 2014 we were competing for the Latin Pop Albums Artist of the Year – Duo or Group, in which we had already received two other nominations, in 2012 and 2013.
The concept is that, even though we are always compared with South American artists, it was really very difficult for us to win.
Gianluca: That year, then, was really special to us with all that was happening.
We arrive at the BankUnited Center in Miami on the evening of April 24th, 2014. the theater is full of people.
When the nominations were announced, the choir starts from the public: ‘Il Volo! Il Volo!’ A moment later Paola Nunez, the Mexican actress who presented the award with her colleague Jorge Graciola, confirmed it: ‘Il Volo!’
I’m standing up, I jumped, I arrived on stage first, I hugged everyone. I could not believe it. I was bursting with happiness.
Piero:And who believed It? It was the first, really, important first prize we received. In Italy they still saw us as the Tre Tenorini (Three Little Tenors) put out by Ti Lascio una Canzone, but in South America we were a recognized musical group.
So, they found a record company to produce their music and they won the Latin American, Latin Pop Albums Artist of the Year for 2014 but, still no recognition from Italy. But soon that would start to change….
Ignazio:However, Italy made us close in 2014 with a flourish. What started out very badly finished very well: with the Christmas concert in the Senate.
Piero:Actually, Igna, first there was Taormina. Our first concert in Italy on July 20th, and then the encore on the 21st. I hold these events very close for many reasons. In the meantime, not only was it the first time in our home but, it was in Sicily, at the Greek Theater of Taormina. If you’ve never seen it, you must go there, it is a ‘place of magic.’
So, it was already emotional plus the fact that there were our relatives and all the friends who until then had never been able to hear us because we were doing concerts in America, in South America and how could they get there? And moreover, among all my relatives was my grandfather.
Since he has become blind, he never leaves home, never. Before Taormina, he had only come out one other time and always for me. When we were in Rome, he took the plane for the first time in his life, to participate in Arena of Massimo Giletti.
In Taormina it was even more beautiful because I dedicated, to my grandfather, Pietro Ognibene, ‘Non ti scordar di me’ and I told everyone that he was the first person to hear me sing, and that if it were not for him, I would never have done this job.
It was the first time he had heard me sing since we became singers by profession, the first time, just goosebumps. A great emotion!
Ignazio:We also want to talk about the thrill of singing in front of the highest offices of state! What twenty-year-old boy has something like that happen? It happened to us, and it seems to me a beautiful result, an honor.
Some how it always seems to come back to the concert at the Senate. A true turning point in their career.
The concert was on December 21st. You cannot imagine the emotional feeling to be called ‘guests of honor’ inside the Senate. We were accompanied by the, fantastic, Filarmonia Orchestra Veneta conducted by Diego Basso. Half the beauty of the song is in the orchestra.
The most exciting moments? Everyone! But the hymn of Mameli was the heart-pounding one, the first song, singing in that place, with everyone singing along with us, including Giorgio Napolitano, (President) and Pietro Grasso (President of the Senate). It is one thing that I cannot explain.
And then, of course, the pleasure of shaking hands with the President of the Republic and of feeling that he knows Marsala, he has been there.
In short, in the end, instead of remembering it as the worst year of our lives together, 2014 brought us well: great changes and an important step towards Italy, towards home.
So now the boys have been recognized in the Senate and by the President of the Republic of Italy but still, no recognition from Italy. But wait, they have an idea….
Piero: Meanwhile, the first thing that comes to mind, after so many years of great success abroad, the greatest successes there has been, one wakes up one morning, indeed, three wake up one morning and decide to go to the Sanremo Festival.
When one is famous all over the world, there comes a moment when he must also be able to say: ‘Wow, they love me even in Italy.’ He must be able to say: ‘They also love me in my country.’
You go abroad and, during the interviews, you hear the fateful question: ‘You are loved even in Italy, right?’ And you have to answer no. No one can understand how much we suffered in those moments.
Also, in meetings with Universal, in the United States, we sometimes tried to say: ‘Why do we have concerts all over the world, except in Italy?’ We wanted the record company to try to support us in this sense too.
I remember that once, during a meeting with the president of Universal, I asked him for the thousandth time. And what does he do? He had a globe on his desk, I’m not joking, he gives it to me and says: ‘Turn it around, then stop it and find Italy at the first shot.’
The problem is that you have to look for it because it is a small country, very small compared to the United States and Latin America or Australia. Then I got mad: ‘Oh, no, it’s my country, and the country where I was born, and the country where we come from, you cannot say it’s not important, do not think about it.’
For us, Sanremo was a decisive opportunity to let us be known to Italians, to say to Italians ‘We exist’. And we are proud and really happy that our music genre was appreciated.
Ignazio:As they say, Piero? A prophet is not recognized in his own land, so we were snubbed, perhaps because they never had the opportunity to really know us and show, once and for all, who we are personally and humanly, as well as being singers..
Then, after a few months of night phone calls with Michele, towards the end of 2014, we finally decided: ‘new year, new life: we go to the Sanremo Festival’.
In the beginning the guys were living in a dream world but then came the reality that sometimes all that glitters is not gold and so you need to turn to one another, support one another and learn to take chances. The decisions they made led to their finding their own way in 2013. A way that led them to some of the most important decisions of their lives, decisions which led them to The Threshold of Success in Italy!
As I’m finishing this article, the guy’s plane has just arrived in Mexico City.
The Tour has begun! Here come the fans!
This past week the guys surprised us with a new album, “Tres Voces un Alma.” (Three Voices One Soul) On the new album we hear songs that are very romantic and very beautiful! They bring us to a place where we can dream of love and romance, love lost, and love found and love that will never return. “Tres Voces un Alma,” is available on Spotify, Amazon and Amazon Music.
Songs
1 PERDONAME 2 ABRAZAME 3 TAN ENAMORADOS (feat Ricardo Montaner) 4 QUE SERA’ DE TI 5 LA INCONDICIONAL 6 NO ME DIGAS QUE TE VAS 7 OTRAS VIDAS 8 ELLA/SI NOS DEJAN 9 COMO VAI VOCE 10 TAN ENAMORADOS
For our friends in Latin America, if you haven’t bought your tickets yet, it time to buy them!
And finally, for your listening pleasure, the concert in Argentina Teatro Gran Rex November 2013
Join me next week as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and open the door to a new adventure!
If you would like to share a story with me, please email: susan.flightcrew@yahoo.com
Always looking for something interesting to offer you, while I finished the translation of the Bosky TV video for you, I found this beautiful and interesting interview that Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca had before the American tour.
It was written by Umberto Mucci and published by WETHEITALIANS.
Maybe not all of you have read it and so here it is.
Enjoy the reading. ☺
TWO FLAGS, THREE HEARTS 💗💗💗
In 2015 I attended my first National Italian American Foundation Gala in Washington, DC. Somewhat intimidated by the size of the venue, the 2,000 hosts in tuxedos or evening gowns, and the importance of those in attendance, I discovered that at my table were CEOs and managers of the highest caliber, with their respective spouses.
My surprise, was great, when the time came for the musical performance, I saw them snapping to their feet and dancing enthusiastically. Driving them crazy with joy and Italian pride were three young very talented Italian boys, Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero: Il Volo. I will never forget it, which is also why I am happy and proud to welcome them on “We the Italians”, on the eve of their new prestigious fall tour in the United States.
Ciao ragazzi! Thanks for being on We the Italians. How did you meet and how did you start singing together?
We met in 2009 on a RAI television show called “Ti Lascio Una Canzone” (I Leave You a Song). The producer of this television show heard these three boys with adult voices and decided to put our three voices together and remember the three tenors in a nice way, asking us to sing “O Sole Mio”. That was the first song that we sang together, and from that Italian program that had great success with the audience and online shares, we were catapulted into the American market, signing a contract with a major American label, Iterscope, part of Universal Music. Ours was 100% the famous American dream. We signed the American contract and recorded our first album, Il Volo. And from there our artistic journey began.
Were you in love with America since you were children?
For sure the greatest curiosity, as children, was to see the cars and the streets, and the yellow taxis, because we had always seen them in films and television: the first that comes to mind is “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.” So the yellow taxis, the immense six-lane roads, and the huge cars are the first memories as children that we have of the curiosity to one day see America: we are from three different parts of Italy, none of which had these things.
We were very small. It was difficult to dream of anything else at that age. Obviously even as a child thinking of going to America was difficult, we wondered how many hours the trip lasted … but when we were children we also listened to Elvis Presley and of course Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, because our parents also passed on to us the passion for American music. Some of us also have some relatives in America, like a large part of the Italians living in Italy. It all seemed so far away then, but instead then in the end we lived it and we continue to live it every day and it’s fantastic.
What names do you give me, if I ask you yourfavorite Italian American singer or group?
The greatest Italian American singers that we admire are Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como, Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett, and also Michael Bublé, who even though is Canadian sings in English and it’s the same continent. Moreover, two of us, Ignazio and Piero, are Sicilian like Frank Sinatra and Lady Gaga, while Gianluca has Abruzzese origins like Perry Como, Dean Martin and Michael Bublé. Instead Tony Bennett is of Calabrese descent.
How many concerts have you put on in the United States up to now? What memory do you have or your past US tours?
We think we have put on about 350/400 concerts in America, in our 13-year career, considering that our first tour had 55/60 dates, and then we did tours of about 20/30 concerts every year. The nicest thing is that obviously the descendants of the Italians who emigrated are, everywhere, our first fans, and they always show us a lot of affection.
The tradition of Italians abroad is exceptional, even subsequent generations retain the Italian blood, the attachment to our country. But it is also true that our type of music, as Pavarotti and Bocelli teach us, manages to conquer not only the Italian abroad but also the real American or the Japanese or Brazilian who have no Italian origins. This is sometimes striking. When we travel the world, of course we find many people who have Italian origins, however most of our audience is not Italian and it is amazing how the strength of this type of music – like when you sing ”Nessun Dorma” – is that it completely breaks through any cultural and linguistic barrier. This is the strength of Italian music, of our vocalism, of the Italian musical genre.
Is there an anecdote, a curiosity, something nice that you want to tell about your musical adventures in America among Italian Americans?
Well, it was exciting to meet Dean Martin’s daughter in New York. Perhaps the best anecdote happened in Los Angeles. We were there on our tour with Barbra Streisand, and we were in this barbershop for men but also hairdresser for women to get our hair cut. Next to us a lady was looking at us from the mirror and at one point she told us: “Ah, tomorrow night you will be performing here in L.A.”. We say yes, not knowing who she is. And the hairdresser, who was cutting our hair, trying to signal us without being seen by the lady, wanted me to understand that this lady was a famous person. We ask the lady if she will come to see us, but she does not answer us. In short, in the end the hairdresser reveals that that was Priscilla Presley, Elvis’s wife. In the end we invited her to the concert and a great friendship was born from there.
Let’s talk about the 2022 tour. Let’s remind our readers the dates and cities of your concerts and how they can purchase tickets if they haven’t already done so.
They can find all the details and can purchase tickets for all the dates on our website. The tour was originally planned for the spring of this year but was postponed to September and October because of Covid.
The tour starts in Canada and arrives in Detroit, MI September 10; Cleveland, OH September 12; Chicago, IL September 13; Indianapolis, IN September 15; Uncasville, CT September 17; Boston, MA September 20; Atlantic City, NJ September 23; Oxon Hill, MD September 25; New York, NY September 27; Bethlehem, PA September 29; Atlanta, GA October 2; Fort Myers, FL October 4; Clearwater, FL October 7; Sunrise, FL October 9; Phoenix, AZ October 13; and finally Los Angeles, CA October 15.
What is your favorite song to sing in your American concerts? Is there one that you do as a tribute to an Italian-American artist?
Perhaps one of the most beautiful moments is when we sing “Smile” by Charlie Chaplin or “Caruso” by Lucio Dalla, and of course also “My Way” by Frank Sinatra. Perhaps the most exciting moment is “Nessun Dorma”. Because now, we are sorry for those who perhaps think differently but we believe we must be realistic, “Nessun Dorma” is now considered a song. When our fans hear “Nessun Dorma” they have been waiting for it from the beginning of the concert, and they know that this is the ending. When we finish singing it there is a great standing ovation. For us it is really a great joy to sing it, always, but we understand that it is the same also for those who came to hear us.
Il Volo sings Morricone: a great success dedicated to an extraordinary and unforgettable Italian master. Can you tell me the emotions you felt in paying homage to such a gigantic Italian?
It is authoritative, elite music, which gives great prestige to our repertoire, brings us a musical level up that expands our repertoire, which is already an elegant and varied repertoire. This further upgrade for us also means a new and greater responsibility and musical maturity, progress. In our repertoire we try to represent Italian music but not only that, we also sing “My Way” by Frank Sinatra and “Smile “by Charlie Chaplin, in addition to ”Nessun Dorma” and “O Sole Mio”. So in addition to representing Italy, we try to represent what it is the bel canto from all points of view. Now let’s add these incredible soundtracks that have been a fundamental and beloved part of the most important films in the history of cinema. For us it is a matter of pride to give a further touch of prestige and elegance to each project.
Would you like to send a greeting to the many Italian-American readers of We the Italians?
Of course. Obviously we are very young to know directly the stories of these people, who are sons and daughters and grandchildren of courageous people who emigrated from Italy to America with a lot of courage, trying to find luck and their way. We have enormous respect for these Italians and their ancestors, and it will certainly be nice to be able to meet them around America at our concerts. We will see them in September or October, depending on which city they live in. We want to thank them for the great support they have always shown us in our 13-year career.
Meanwhile the staff of Il Volo continues to announce new dates for the 2023 tour, here is the ever-increasing list for now…………of course I’m crossing my fingers for some Italian dates!!
Here are the confirmed dates to date:
Furthermore, the date of May 27 in Krakow, Poland has already been confirmed.
It is clear that from the end of March to May, other dates will be added, and will you go to any of these concerts?
Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca are also working on some new projects or music, as Gianluca tells us in this photo:
And then, as already anticipated in December, Il Volo released a song by Roberto Carlos, entitled COMO VAI VOCÊ, available only for Brazil.
Very sweet song!!
And from this video message from Piero, Gianluca and Ignazio announcing the new single, we are waiting for a surprise for February 17th!!! ❤❤❤
Last thing. I found this short piece of “I COLORI DELL’AMORE” sung by our boys, from which the musical base has been removed, and therefore we only hear the voices……..chills…..those wonderful voices!!! 😘😘😘
Really nice interview, I really liked the introduction and the title: “Two Flag, Three hearts”, very apt indeed .😊
Your interpretation of Roberto Carlos’ song is very beautiful. 😊
“Guys, we hope for new music and we are here ready to listen to what you will do and it will surely be well done!!” 😘
Your South American tour will be fantastic, your fans have been waiting for you for three years. 😊
Then there are rumors, for now, that speak of a presence of Il Volo, as guests in an episode of an Italian television program ….. we will keep you updated. 😉
That’s all for now, see you soon:
Daniela🤗
Credit to owners of all photos and videos.
Come in and share the love of life, friends and Il Volo!
