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PROMOTION AND GUESTS by Daniela

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Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero are doing a lot of promotion to their latest CD and therefore, there are many appointments and many interviews, unfortunately I cannot keep up with these rhythms, but, as you may well know, many things are repeated and therefore, of each new event, I try to give you a brief summary, translating the interesting parts instead.
The last event where they were guests, which I translated for you, was Radio Italia live, but, again on Radio Italia, they also had another interview entitled “A tu per tu” (Face to Face). Some questions are the same, but they also said some interesting things that I translate for you:
It begins with greetings to the listeners of Radio Italia.
(In the video, from time to time you will see glimpses of Il Volo singing, they are clippings of others hosted at Radio Italia.)
Piero talks about the Morricone project.
Gianluca talks about the tour and says they will sing, in addition to Morricone’s new songs, also the songs of their success over the years.
He says it’s wonderful to travel the world and have the affection of the audience every night, he says they are privileged.
Piero says they are preparing themselves with singing lessons, healthy eating, and body workouts.
Ignazio says that it is not easy to prepare the suitcase for a world tour because in some countries it is hot, in others it is cold, so they will have big suitcases, if it were possible to bring a walk-in closet it would be better.
Gianluca confirmed that they have an archive of unreleased songs and are waiting for the right moment to publish them.
The project of the Three Tenors and this of Morricone, serve to consolidate their career, then, later on, he lets it be understood that they will release an album of their own of unreleased tracks. They are working hard for it.
Piero talks about the collaboration with the various artists on Morricone’s record.
Gianluca says that Piero is single and that he and Ignazio are engaged.
Ignazio admits that it’s good to be in love.

The day after Il Volo was a guest on two other radio stations.
 Let’s start with Radio 2 Social Club. 
(Click on the photo below to view the video.)

It’s a very nice interview, the two radio hosts are Luca Barbarossa (with the blue shirt) and Andrea Perroni, they both are very good friends of our boys.
At the beginning, in the “off the air” Gianluca and Ignazio arrive and say that Piero is in the bathroom!! 😁
Luca then marks Gianluca behind him saying he is engaged! Then they make fun of Ignazio because he has a coat and it is hot in the studio, but Ignazio says that he is an elegant person and always dresses like this!!  😁
Piero says they just got back from Madrid where they promoted the CD.
On stage, they talk about the Morricone project and then sing Se Telefonando.
Luca makes a lot of compliments for the voices of the boys, then says that they are promoting the CD all over the world and therefore they will ask them some technical questions and the first is: “Which one of you is engaged?” 😁😁😁
Then Luca asks how they will do with their distant girlfriends while they are on tour and Gianluca replies that sometimes they will take them with them every now and then. Then Luca says “They are not hand luggage !!” 😁😁
Gianluca apologizes, he could have expressed himself better.
Luca confirms that Gianluca’s girlfriend is Eleonora Storaro and asks Gianluca if he is happy to talk about her and he replies that she is and then tells Luca: “But you like to gossip” 😁
So they talk a little about tennis with Ignazio and Piero and also about football with Gianluca.
Luca asks where they will sing in the US and they also reply RCMH, so Luca remembers that an Italian journalist had said that Il Volo performed in the world but only in pizzerias.😑
Piero replies that they laugh at these criticisms.
PIERO: “A criticism made with intelligence is constructive and important. In these 13 years, those who have written badly about us, those who have offended us, then got to know us and changed their minds, in the end we cannot like everyone.”
Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca perform SE from Nuovo Cinema Paradiso.
Luca asks about their success in Japan and Piero explains that luck would have it that a very famous ice skater performed his exercise on one of their songs: Starry Night and from here many emails of requests from Japan arrived.
Gianluca also explains the collaboration with Vittorio Storaro and Luca, reiterates that Il Volo worked with many famous people, such as Placido Domingo, with whom they recorded a beautiful song: Il Canto which was written by Luca Barbarossa!!! 😁😁
Thanks and final greetings.

On the same day, Il Volo was also on Radio 1.
They are housed in a studio adjacent to that of the two presenters.
They begin by remembering the 13-year career.
They thank Torpedine and talk a lot about the new Morricone project. (They all repeat things that have been said several times).
Ecstasy of Gold is broadcast (while in the video there is silence).
They continue to talk about Morricone and his music, how they chose the songs, how they thought of interpreting them and the responsibility they feel when they start such an important project.
They talk about Bel Canto and the pride they feel carrying this type of music around the world, especially now after the obligatory stop.
Final greetings.

So Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca participated in an online interview, with Marco Montemagno in connection from Brighton, Ignazio from Bologna, Gianluca from Rome and Piero does not say it but I believe from Naro.

Piero says he had to put five books under the PC otherwise the shot was not good and then Ignazio teases him because he says he looks like he is in the office.
They talk about the 100 concerts and Marco says it is a very heavy commitment and asks if they will also go to Brighton.
Gianluca recalls that in this period of Covid, Il Volo was also present at conferences, to give voice to those categories of the show that have had such a long stop.
Marco asks if they will go to England and Gianluca replies that they have tried to enter the English market, have promoted and have also sung at the Palladium and also at the Royal Music All, but then they have given priority to other places and admits that they should return to England.
Piero asks Marco how many years he has lived in Brighton and he replies 9 years old, he married an Englishwoman, so they chose to live in England, but he is very happy.
When asked which are the markets of Il Volo, Ignazio replies that they are America, South America, Eastern Europe, Russia, Japan, it is a musical genre that manages to take more different cultures, fortunately.
Piero explains about their first meeting and the fact that they just didn’t think they had this great success.
At the beginning it was quite easy, even if they were not known in Italy, in 2015 they participate in Sanremo and since then they have also been known in Italy and for them, meeting people on the street who recognize you and smile at you, is the most satisfying thing.
Gianluca confirms that each audience has a different treatment. Each country has a kind of audience, warmer, more attentive, more exaggerated and it is nice to discover different traditions and different attitudes.
Piero says that Europe is complicated, because each state has very different cultures and every night, during the first 3/4 songs, they have to understand what kind of audience they have.
Ignazio confirms that for their type of musical genre, England has always been a little more difficult market than other countries.
Then they talk about the physical preparation for such a long tour and Piero explains that they have to take singing lessons to make sure that the voice is always at the same level throughout the tour and Ignazio explains that the vocal cords are like rubber bands and must always be held trained to avoid breakage.
Marco asks, in addition to the most obvious figures in the tour (management), what is the key figure that is needed for a tour like theirs and the boys answer that he is definitely the person who arrives first in the morning on the stage and who leaves for last in the evening, he is the backliner, he takes care of following all the details, even the water in the backstage, and the bread they need to clear their throat. His name is Alessio Guerrieri and he is in great demand in his field.
Marco says he is a ping pong enthusiast and Ignazio approaches his face, to show a small scar on his left eye and tells that while they were playing ping pong in Turkey where they had gone for a private event, Gianluca with whom he was playing as a couple gave him the ping pong paddle over his eye.
Gianluca is sorry about what happened, he says it looked like a crime scene, with a lot of blood.
Ignazio says that a medical guard comes and says that there is a need to go to the hospital to put stitches but Ignazio refuses, because it was during the Covid period and therefore they made a very noticeable bandage around his head and it is returned to Italy like this. (Remember, Ignazio wore a patch over his eye and we didn’t know why, now we know.) 😘
Gianluca is very sorry, but he says that Ignazio has improved since he received the blow, and therefore perhaps he will give him another one.😁
Then they talk at length about the Morricone project.
Marco asks how they manage personal relationships between them.
Piero says they didn’t know each other, at first there were also tantrums and tensions, then they learned to have tolerance, they don’t argue, they always look for a meeting point. They have three different roles in the management of Il Volo, they have a lot of understanding and they get along very well.
They are aware that when they make mistakes they apologize, and for Piero, apologizing is a noble way of being a man.❤
Ignazio adds that they have also learned to have gratitude, to be aware of being grateful, to something, to someone.❤
Marco asks if their popularity has been strong from the start or if they have had strange moments.
Gianluca admits that it was a slow process, at the first copy-signing there were four people in Rome, immediately after their participation in the Ti Lascio Una Canzone program.😁
Piero laughs, remembering that the people of their team went to them saying: “Excuse me, will you sign the CD?”😁 Gianluca says they made fun of them!!😁
But things change with time, and there was also the risk of being meteors.
For this reason we have always remained humble and our families have been very important to us.
Piero asks Marco what he thought when they asked him to do an interview at Il Volo (which he obviously didn’t know) and he replies that he was happy, because he never followed them directly for their type of music, but he has always admired their great success, in particular he greatly admires those who are successful outside Italy and he has always had admiration for them, because they have shown that they are not a meteor.
Ignazio confirms that what they do is extremely difficult, it is not an immediate musical genre, it does not go on the radio, streaming or in commercials, where you have more chances to make it known. It takes a lot of perseverance, dedication, work and it is very demanding. There have been times where they’ve had to swallow and work hard, but it’s nice when you don’t go the easy way of what others do and keep your personality, and they’ve always been consistent with who they are. They are this and who follows them, follows them for what they do.❤
Gianluca admits that they have a loyal audience. Their fans are very fond of them, because they have seen them grow.
It is like a big family.😘

So they talk about Il Divo which is a musical group similar to Il Volo, they are not Italian but they sing in Italian. In Italy everyone wants to sing in English, while abroad Italian singing is very welcome.
They confirm that The Three Tenors took the opera out of the theaters.
Marco asks how, after the fiftieth concert, they manage to maintain the freshness of the first one and Piero replies that you must love what you do, then you must always be aware that the people in front of you have come for you, and even if they were 10 people they deserve the best from you.
They then confirm that their audience is transversal, from children to grandparents.
Marco asks if they had any unforeseen events during the concerts and Piero says that in Budapest, after the twelfth song (usually 25 songs) his voice went away. They suspended the concert for 20 minutes. Total panic, they called his voice teacher on video and after 20 minutes the voice came back and they finished the concert.
Ignazio also tells a similar story and says that they sing completely live, while they know that other singers also have pre-recorded songs.
Piero confirms that fortunately there are three of them and a glance is enough for them to understand if something is wrong and therefore one of the three plays the part of someone who is not well, there is a great mutual help.❤
Then, laughing, they remember singing the refrain of “Tous le visages de l’ amour” over and over in Switzerland, because they couldn’t remember the words.😁
Piero also remembers when in Taormina during a concert, he teased Ignazio because his favorite football team was losing the game for 4 goal  at that moment and Ignazio was angry😁
Then they say that on stage they move with awareness that they must occupy the whole scene.
Piero explains that before a tour there is a long work of patience, to plan all the trips, everything must be accurate and before, when they were younger, there were people who did it, now even the three of them take part in this.
Marco asks which are the strangest characters they have met and Piero explains that the strangest moments they had in 2010, when their little ones, were invited to Jimmy Iovine’s parties in America where there were so many famous people, an incredible time.
So they talk for a long time about the various television series.
In the end, Gianluca hints that they are thinking of making a documentary, perhaps about their life? Who knows!
Good luck from Marco and final greetings.

Furthermore, on Saturday 4 December Il Volo was a guest on Canale 5 in a new program: UA, conducted by Claudio Baglioni (He presented Sanremo in 2019).
Here is the video of their moment.
(Click on the photo below to view the video.)

I have tried to give you an overview of some of the events in which Il Volo attended, but there are many others.
Some things that I have translated to you are really interesting and some very nice, these young men never cease to amaze us.❤
As I write to you, I am waiting for a television interview with them.
The event that was supposed to take place in Austria has been canceled due to Covid, but on 11 December there will be a short Il Volo concert in Dubai and it will be possible to follow it in streaming at this link:
https://virtualexpodubai.com/
Here’s the announcement:

By popular demand, IL VOLO will give its first concert at the Millennium Amphitheater in Dubai 5 years after their first performance at the 2016 Globe Soccer Awards. “Il Volo Live in Concert” will be a once in a lifetime event where Piero Barone, Gianluca Ginoble and Ignazio Boschetto will rebuild their careers bringing the best of their repertoire to the stage: from the traditional Italian “bel canto” like the iconic song “‘O Sole Mio”, to evergreen American songs like “My Way”, from the single “Grande Amore” with which they won the 2015 edition of the Sanremo Song Festival at the famous Turandot aria “Nessun dorma”. The repertoire will include pieces from their latest album “Il Volo sings Morricone”, a passionate journey into the art of one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. A playlist structured as a “best of” contains the careers of three unique voices who have crossed national borders, selling millions of records and making their way onto the international top hits lists.
(Ministry of Culture Special Project, produced by Cinecittà, supporting partner D&G)
But there is still a little final pearl, what about these beautiful photos of our boys in Times Square in NY?

What can I say: incredible!!!!
But that’s not all, see you next update!
Daniela 

 

Credit to owners of all photos and videos.

 

Through the Fields of My Mind

That was Then ~ This is now!

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I would like to think that somewhere in the back of their minds our guys knew that someday they would be famous but, no that wasn’t the case they never knew that their love of music would bring them around the world and make them superstars!
These are three young men who came from simple families. Very close families. Families who shared everything! And suddenly they were thrown into the spotlight and their whole world, as they knew it, disappeared!

They followed a path that was laid out for them! In the beginning they reveled at the things they saw and the places they went to. They couldn’t believe what they were doing and seeing! And their families came along with them on the journey and were just as amazed with all they saw and did. So, let’s see what the guys had to say about their beginnings before the music became their whole life!
That was Then

Piero
What an effort, you will think, to remember when you were little. In practice, we were young the day before yesterday. The feeling that all three of us have and, I do not say it because I am the oldest and the one who is accused of being the fussiest, is that time has gone by too fast, yesterday we were children and, in a moment, we found ourselves grown up with a great job to carry on.
It’s the most beautiful job in the world, what we dreamed and desired but, the truth is that none of us really imagined what would happen because each one of us was on his own and was busy doing different things. We did not know where it would bring us.
From age one to fourteen, I can tell you in detail the different things I did. I can tell you how many euros of gasoline I put in the motorbike. That would be 10. And, I remember, how much I consumed each day.
Then I remember that in the morning, when I went to work in the workshop during the summer with my uncle Angelo (my mother’s brother) I was impatient for it to be half past ten so I could go to the supermarket to buy a sandwich of ham and provolone.
For a couple of months, when I was nine years old, I worked with my father in the body shop, but being allergic to the powders and paints, I had to stop because I had asthma.
Then I went to the workshop of my uncle and there I had no problem because mechanics had oil and fat, but nothing that made me asthmatic.
These are things that have remained in my head and will not go away.
And there are also sad things that have remained in my head and will not go away, like that morning of 2001 when, at eight o’clock as I was getting ready to go to school, there was a phone call, my grandfather Francesco, my paternal grandfather, had died. I was small, but the pain was great, because I had a wonderful relationship with my paternal grandparents.
And today, in moments of happiness, the thought always goes to my grandfather Ciccio. How many times have I thought of him and how many times have I heard my father say, “What a disappointment that his grandfather did not get to enjoy all the beautiful things that have happened?”
Because when you love a person, that good remains inside you, you cannot forget it anymore.
Instead, what I’ve done in the last five or six years, I tend to forget. Not because I am not happy to have done it, on the contrary, I am very happy. I do not like to say banality but, the life I live is a dream that came true: living with music was all I wanted.

Ignazio
Is it the same if the images that I will never forget are … the memories of my parents? It’s not that I’m crazy or strange, it’s right that my story would never have existed without my parents.
Therefore, their memories are mine too.
Mamma Caterina and my dad Vito left Marsala in 1990, when my sister was four years old, and they moved to Buonconvento, in the province of Siena. I do not remember that city because I did not exist yet. The only thing I know is that they had chosen that city because there was a great friend of my maternal grandfather who was a building contractor, it was he who offered my father a job. In Marsala things were not going well, it was difficult to make the family live, and so my parents decided to try to move.
I imagine them leaving with many hopes but also many fears and having in mind only the thought of how many things they will do to make the family, they have just begun to create, feel good. Of sacrifices they have made many and big for me and for my sister.
I spend every day thinking about how proud I am of them.
Mom has done many jobs and also dad did many jobs. They have always tried to learn any trade, just to earn some extra money.
In Buonconvento, dad started immediately as a mason with that friend of my grandfather and mom had changed a bit of work but has never been with empty hands.
By 1992 they realized that they did not earn enough to keep going.
And that’s why I was born in Bologna: because they decided to leave Buonconvento and move to San Martino in Argine, a fraction of the Municipality of Molinella, just near Bologna.
Even in this case, the move was linked to a knowledge of my parents. My father met, by chance, an old friend during a visit to my grandmother’s cousin house.
In San Martino in Argine my father, being a mason, immediately found a good job.
Mom, who has always been a determined person with a great desire to get busy, has improvised herself as a cook – she’s very good at cooking, I do not know if you understand – and she started working as a chef in a restaurant not far from our home.
Nina grew up and the two of them made sacrifices, but within a few years they managed to achieve a certain economic stability and decided to move into a house, finally all for them, in the hamlet of Guarda di Molinella. Even though the house was very small, it was still my first home, the one in which I was born.

Gianluca
No, I’m not like Ignazio, I was born and raised in Montepagano. I was traveling only with dreams. What made me dream? Music naturally.
I had a radio of those with the knob that turns to find the radio station, and I always looked for someone who would broadcast the songs of Andrea Bocelli, my absolute idol, or Domenico Modugno, or others of this kind.
In the summer, then, I would take the radio when I went with my friends in what we call “la pinetina” (the small pine forest), that is a park equipped with wooden games and tables and with lots of green space.
When I was between eleven and thirteen, I used to go play soccer, make long games with Pokemon cards and listen to music.
With my radio, I was looking for songs that made me dream, even though I knew that my friends, on the other hand, liked the Eiffel 65 (we were in the early 2000s). For a while they agreed to listen to what I chose, but at a certain point the protests started: “Come on, change … What balls! What’s this?”.
I liked those even more modern genres, I always listened to everything, but what I really loved was something else.
In November 2000 my brother Ernesto was born, when I was five and a half years old, so just when I was starting to hum.
A year later I started to get interested in Bocelli and Modugno.
And Ernesto in the cradle, listened to these melodies from me.
But the most beautiful thing I remember – and it is a memory of those that I have just printed in the head – is that when he was big enough to come in the small pine forest too, I made him listen to these songs that my friends did not appreciate, always with my radio with the knob.
We sat close together on the ground and, I kept the radio on my legs, or we sat on the swings with the radio resting on the ground and, while listening to the music so strange for our age….
I told him my dreams!

So, this is where it began. This was the beginning of their lives. For most people, where the guys are today, in their twenties, is when people start to find their way. They choose their careers and, they start thinking about their futures. But, no, not for our guys….
They’ve been there and they’ve done that.
This is Now

I have to tell you that I scrapped the second part of my story because this morning I woke up and found an interview in my messages that captured me. I listened to the first few minutes and said I’ll listen to the rest later but as the day went on, I found myself reading bits and pieces and became so fascinated that I decided to scrap the article as I had it and instead include excerpts from this interview, “4 chiacchiere con il volo” (4 chats with IL Volo) with Marco Montemagno.
I’ll be talking about this interview but, rest assured that Daniela will translate the whole interview for you soon.
A great interview!
Over the last few weeks, we’ve heard a lot about the Morricone project. What I liked in this interview was the guys talked a lot about their relationship. So that is the part of the interview I will be talking about here.
The guys talk about how they’ve grown. What their priorities are and how they got to where they are. This is only a small part of the interview but, I think you will enjoy it.
Piero said that there have been moments of tension and quarreling in the past, but since they have matured, this attitude has disappeared. Indeed, he says, that if he thinks of the last time they disagreed, he must go far back, because lately they no longer argue.
A meeting point and a compromise to move forward, clearly as a group, caused them to create three roles. Each has his own role and, there are those who commit themselves to some other things. It is a fact that all three are a little good, bad and ugly but these days they are happy and, they have become three mature guys who above all have a lot of understanding of each other.
It is clear, they were three soloists put together and when one is small you notice the various facets. They are more instinctive now. The fear of being judged is no longer there. Between them today they get along because they have learned to know you cannot expect to change another person or at least think that you think the same way so, you change so as not to offend the sensitivity of others. They say the most important thing in their relationship is “us three.”
The fundamental thing all three have learned in these years is gratitude. Gratitude and being grateful to someone and, also  grateful to oneself. This is what is important! It is important to recognize what others do for you. This is the thing that made them grow.
Of course, the guys always go back to 2015 when they felt this need to do something in their country because they feel the most beautiful thing for an artist is when you walk down the street and people recognize you. They don’t need to ask for an autograph. You know that look, that smile, they know who you are and, they congratulate you and that look is the most beautiful thing that can happen.
So, all this started from Grande Amore.  As a results, Italy has joined the world tour. The guys always wanted to have some concerts in Italy. After Sanremo they began!
For the guys preparing for the tour is as important as the tour itself! When they start to prepare, they look at the deadline and they say in the last tour you were here, I was there and so now they better understand each other. So, they decide, what is a better way to work. How do you best express the movements?
Everything is based on experience. They know each other now and it is beautiful to share movements. They have a dynamic on stage and clearly there is an artistic director there. Just last week they had a meeting to plan and define the production for the American tour. The whole lineup with the conductor. It takes a lot of patience to arrange everything.
Marco asked the guys, “How do you do a tour and every evening bring it to a level of a fresh performance?” The answer, “Every night you must come to the level that one expects so you must love what you do and prioritize it!”
They have an understanding between them and with a look they can say they are okay. If one feels bad, he can look at the other two and they will know how to help.
The guys explained, what they do is difficult. It takes a lot of perseverance.
The one thing they know for sure is, they have truly faithful audiences that have been following them for 13 years. They grew up with their audiences and it was really a new thing in the world to see three children as a bit reminiscent of the three tenors with the slightly big voices who sang the Neapolitan songs as well as singing Elvis.

They also joked with one another. Remember when Ignazio showed up with that bandage on his left eye. Ignazio pointed out the scar. It seems when they were playing one of their famous ping pong games, they were playing two against two. Gianluca shot a right, incredible, at a certain point he was standing next to Ignazio and Gianluca hit him. It looked like a crime scene in Turkey. Gianluca said he felt so bad watching Ignazio sleeping on the plane.
What I truly loved about the interview was it was very open and very truthful. The guys have truly grown in these last thirteen years. They have presented a united front, a true unity between brothers who love their music and love one another!
And so you have it! That was Then ~ This is Now!
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
To read more Il Volo stories visit us at www.ilvoloflightcrw.com