Seems like a funny title for a story but many people say to me Ignazio is different from Gianluca and Piero! Well, of course, they are all different from one another. In any event, I decided I would take a closer look to see what these differences are. To do this, we need to go back to the beginning! No not to when he was born but when they were born! Il Volo!
When Ignazio stepped on that stage13 years ago, he did a duet with some very famous entertainers, and he was singing their songs.
Let’s listen to a song from Ti Lascio una Canzone!
I always loved when Massimo Ranieri sang “Quando l’amore diventa poesia.” But when Ignazio sang it with him, I could see the amazement on Ranieri’s face. I think he knew that Ignazio would own this song! Ranieri was in total awe of Ignazio. I love you Massimo, but Ignazio does own this song! No one sings it like him!
Let’s listen to another song!
When Ignazio sang “A Chi,” I understood who Ignazio was. There was no song he couldn’t sing. I can’t even express the feeling I got when he sang that song. The depth of his voice! The expression! Just amazing! Fausto Leali was, also, in awe of this teenager. I just fell in love with this performance!
So that was some of his performances on Ti Lascio una Canzone but that isn’t what makes him different! Let’s listen to another song! When Ignazio sings Memory he brings out another feeling in us! A feeling that we can hear a song a hundred times and love it but never appreciate it until the right person sings it!
How does Ignazio stand out as one of the three? Let’s talk about his voice! I call Ignazio the bridge. He is a lyrical tenor. He can sing from the lowest to the highest note in the tenor range. And God knows he can, easily, hit the high C. Waiting for it and knowing it’s going to happen is so exciting! His voice brings all voices together!
A lyrical tenor has a warm graceful voice which is bright and strong but not heavy and it can be heard over an orchestra. Ignazio’s voice is smooth, clean and clear, with an acute extension. His voice has the ability to increase the baritone voice of Gianluca while softening the spinto tenor voice of Piero.
Ignazio has many faces. He is very whimsical in many of his songs as in “Libiamo ne’ lieti calici” from La Traviata.
In the aria “Una Furtiva Lagrima” from L’elisir D’amore, Ignazio makes you feel the innocents of Nemorino’s love for Adina.
In his dedication to Pino Daniele, you hear an interpretation that is so emotional and a delivery that is so amazing that you get the sense that Daniele wrote his songs for Ignazio.
These are the different voices of Ignazio but to understand Ignazio better, we need to go to another video. One that I use from time to time and one of my favorite videos of the guys when they were starting out!
This video of the guys recording “Tous le visages de l’ amour” tells me so much about their beginnings. They were phenomenal. They barely knew one another and yet they showed how professional they were. From the very beginning they knew what was expected of them and what they needed to do. Amazing to think they were only 16 – 17 years old.
But let’s take a closer look at the video and a closer look at Ignazio.
The first thing we notice of course is Ignazio’s voice! How can you miss it! It rings out and takes over the song! Powerful! But let’s look further. You will notice Ignazio is already getting into the production end of the recording. He’s already following the music. He’s on top of what is happening around him, in the studio, not just his part in it, but everyone’s part. But what I want you to see is how serious and responsible he is. After the recording, he begins to tell us how the recording went that night. Piero, jokingly, interrupts! At first you think he’s going to get angry, but he doesn’t he plays right along with Piero. Even knowing this moment called for a serious discussion, he immediately took control and went along with Piero. Always in control!
So, we see Ignazio coming from a different direction. He understands the moment! He understands what is expected of him and, he understands that great sacrifices were made so that he could do this. He knows when it’s important to be serious and when it’s important to be funny!
No one understands music better than Ignazio does. I’m sure Piero and Gianluca will tell you that. They will also tell you that no one knows the stage or the production better than Ignazio. That’s why he is the technical person, the hands-on man. He always knows what needs to be done and when it needs to happen. So, I will show you another video for you to understand what I’m talking about!
This happened in Dubrovnik. Ignazio steps on the stage and immediately recognizes that Gianluca is having a problem. So, he sings his part and then immediately begins to fix Gianluca’s problem. You will notice Ignazio already has things under control and has already started changing out equipment while they are still getting things together behind the scenes! They are just arriving with the equipment but, too late, Ignazio has already taken his own equipment and exchanged it with Gianluca and then he walks away, and the performance goes on. He is really hands on. He always knows what’s going on and what needs to be done! He has a very precise quick mind!
Look at him on stage!
Ignazio is the ultimate entertainer. He is the production. His presence is there in every aspect of the production. He is a prolific entertainer! He sees music! He feels music! He breathes music! Follow him around the stage. The little gestures aren’t just for our entertainment they are real movements within each song. Ignazio is the means by which the production moves on. We know these guys have amazing voices but, what if they got on the stage and for two hours, they did nothing but sing. I don’t think it would work. A performance needs the ability to move on. There’s no change of scenery and no intermission so how do you move the performance along? Ignazio! The joking he brings into the performance provides the levity to relive the seriousness of the performance. He brings a certain ease and suspense to the performance. The audience is always wondering, what will he do next?
Let me tell you what you are looking at. Ignazio is following every note that is sung or played on that stage. His mind is in motion. He is sensitive and passionate with music. He has the ability to see the music as it is happening. He knows where every instrument should come in and out. That’s why you notice little things like him smiling, nodding, pointing towards the musicians, Gianluca or Piero.
You call Ignazio funny I call him brilliant! I’ve said this before, but I will say it again! I am making a prediction here! Ignazio will compose a great opera one day. And probably write the libretto! Remember I said that Ignazio!
But we also know Ignazio loves plays. So, there could be a great production, a Broadway play in his future. They say, “Nothing is impossible with God.” I will say “God had a great plan here and maybe this is part of it!”
Ignazio proved to us during the pandemic that being in quarantine doesn’t quarantine your mind. No, it opens your mind to different ways of producing! This video showed just how brilliant this man is. He wouldn’t be held back by his circumstances. He felt a need to produce and even though the moment didn’t allow it, he found a way to overcome his confinement and sing out! An absolutely phenomenal performance by Ignazio! And let’s not forget the amazing men who accompanied him. Giampiero Grani, Alessandro Quarta, Bruno Farinelli, Gino de Vita, Pierluigi Mingotti and Andrea Morelli.
Ignazio’s experience and love of the production has led him to take a giant step into his future!
Of the three, Ignazio is the one who has already set his future in motion. I know Piero has a phenomenal plan to become an opera singer and I plan to be there when he sings in his first opera, but Ignazio has already made the first move to pave the way for a future doing the thing he loves most!
At 25 Ignazio started his own production company. Does that surprise you? It doesn’t surprise me. It makes a lot of sense to me. At the beginning of 2020 Ignazio started a production company called, Floki Production and the first person he signed was Nico Arezzo! And the first song he released was Gorilla!
In 2021 Ignazio signed another artist, Giada Luppi. As most of you know Giada is a World Championship Skater. The eighteen-year-old won the Gold Medal in the Junior Category and became the World Champion in Paraguay. Giada sings and skates to her song La Rotta, (The Route) that she and Ignazio wrote together.
I don’t think Ignazio will stop there! Let’s look at Ignazio the lyricist and composer! Who can ever forget Màkari?
When asked about the song, Ignazio explained how he experienced Sicily. He said, “It is a Sicily as told by a twenty-five-year-old who lived Sicily through stories, through images!… It speaks of “a land of sages and a land of fools, made from devils and saints.”
Ignazio invites you to live a new reality through his eyes. He invites us to see a different side of Sicily through his beautiful theme song,Màkari.
This song speaks volumes! Where did the words to this song come from? Ignazio’s heart! There is something very mysterious about the song. Besides the fact that it speaks of a land of sages and fools, it also speaks of truth! The truth as seen through Ignazio’s eyes.
Think about the words of the song! Is Ignazio talking about the writer who leaves his home and returns after a long period of time or the entertainer who travels the world? The similarities in his life and the life of the writer, Saverio, (played by Claudio Gioe) are striking, that’s why he was able to write such an emotional song!
This song is the perfect theme song for the series! I feel like Ignazio wrote the song and then they made the show. His words are very enticing, they pull you into the story. They tell all there is to know and, Ignazio tells us a story, through the imagery of his words!
That’s what’s so amazing about Ignazio. As a composer and lyricist, he can take you to another place, another dimension. I know he will not stop at this song. He will continue to write!
We know there are more Morricone songs to come!
In the industry Ignazio has proven there is no place and no space he can’t occupy! Ignazio is more than just a phenomenal singer! He wears many different hats! Entertainer, Lyricist, Manager, Entrepreneur!”
It takes a certain person to do what Ignazio has done! It starts with a brilliant mind that keeps opening to new and exciting things every day. It takes a person who sees a certain reality in a world that addresses a new beginning every day. But above all it takes a dreamer to reach for the future and achieve it at such a young age. Ignazio is a dreamer! Only a dreamer could achieve what Ignazio has achieved in only 27 years! Ignazio what will you be like at 50? You’ve already done it all. I wish I will live many more years so I can be a witness to all the amazing things you will do!
What makes Ignazio Different? All of the above and all that will come in the future. My dream! I should live long enough to attend the opera he will compose! I’d certainly be opened to going to his first Broadway play! Ignazio never forget, “Nothing is impossible with God!”
Join me next week as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and open the door to a new adventure!
