We fans like seeing Il Volo very much, it makes us feel good, it puts us in a good mood, it cheers up the evening, and therefore every occasion is excellent.
This time it is the opening event of the operatic year at the Arena di Verona, which turns 100 this year and therefore an appointment that will be broadcast live Instagram worldwide, and the chosen opera will be AIDA from Giuseppe Verdi.
An important event for which many excellent invitations have been made, who are expected on the red carpet for a brief interview, among the guests also Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca, here they are on their arrival on the red carpet.
What can I say …. what a vision, what elegance ….. beautiful, natural, elegant, they advance on the red carpet, they are immediately joined by Gigliola Cinquetti, a well-known singer, now 75 years old, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964 . They are interviewed by Milly Carlucci.
MILLY= But I see some guys that we all know, here they are, they are Il Volo.
PIERO= Good evening.
MILLY= And there is also Gigliola Cinquetti.
MILLY= Here we talk about music, the music that takes our hearts, and then I must say that over the years the Arena has become a symbol of Italian culture in the world, a bit like all our music, let’s say “high” music in the world, it is the one that acts as a forerunner and you have felt the affection of many different countries, when you arrive perhaps bringing Italian romances, you are the example of the crossover between pop and opera.
IGNAZIO= We try to make many understand that music has no limits, and how the Arena has broken down the barriers of opera, it has broken down the barriers of the small audience and has reached the general public, opening the doors of the Arena also to popular music and pop music, we are very happy about this, because it has given the opportunity to make this temple of music known to more people. (Ignazio says this because years ago the Arena was only for opera, now there are also pop shows).
MILLY= You have been here many times for pop reasons, in the sense that you have sung here many times on non-opera occasions, but have you never seen an opera here?
PIERO= Never at the Arena di Verona, this is our first time.
MILLY= Then we have a debut.
PIERO= First opera at the Arena di Verona, we are honored to be present on such an important evening, and to see an opera that has marked the culture of our Italy. We are very happy and honoured.
MILLY= All right, do you have a sheet music with you to follow along? You don’t have it, now we’ll give you the sheet music, but you need the ear, Gigliola is right.
PIERO= But I advise the public to go and look for the curiosities of Aida on the internet, they are 5 beautiful curiosities.
MILLY= Really beautiful. I’ll let you go and take your places.
PIERO= Thank you, thank you very much.
Michele Torpedine was also present at the event.
As for the opera, it started 10 minutes late because a light rain fell at the beginning, but nothing to do with the pouring rain of the Il Volo concert.
The show began with the Frecce Tricolori passing through the Arena and the Italian national anthem sung by a choir wearing long dresses in the three colors of the Italian flag.
Here is the photo posted by Piero.
Very good singers and the whole orchestra, on the representation, the theater director wanted to amaze with a modern effect, very impactful, but let me tell you that I prefer the traditional version, this is obviously my personal opinion.
It was a surprise to see our beloved Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero on television for this event, our eyes widened and what can I say a little vision.
Reserve these beautiful surprises for us again, we are waiting for you.
Daniela 🤗
Credit to owners of all photos and videos.
… and the up-coming…
“THREE TENORS” CONCERT
The boys of Il Volo grew up in a culture that takes singing seriously. That can also be said of their families. Thus, each of them started learning the technique of singing – vowel shaping, breath support, projection, phrasing, etc. – from classically trained people either a grandfather with the same background and/or professional voice teacher. When you learn the art of singing you need something to put that craft and art to work – something to sing and if you are going to do the work right you want the best. That comes in the form of art songs and arias from opera or operetta. This is true here in the USA as well as Italy and all over Europe. In fact, this “Bel Canto” concept is taught all over the world. It is the standard of quality singing.
Here is a very rough idea of these types of music:
Art song is a single song (3 to 7 min, maybe) that conveys the story or feeling of the composer. It stands on its own. “Caruso” is such an art song.
Also and even more so, “En Aranjuez con tu amor” is a very dramatic art song that Gianluca sings with a solo violin as the taunt. This was written by Joaquin Rodrigo back in the 1930’s
Opera is taking a full-length story and acting it completely through music where the actors sing everything. When they are describing action it sometimes the music is called a recitative (reciting the story) but then when they want to share feeling especially love the music gets to be a very beautiful melody and great harmonies and it is called an aria. Even Broadway musicals use that form. The boys have sung “Tonight” and “Maria” from West Side Story. They have sung “Night and Day”, “Memories” and others that come from a musical – each of them can be called an “aria”
Piero took the brave step (and he was a triumph) by doing “ E Lucevan le Stelle” from Tosca of Puccini. Bravo.
The opera world attracts the greatest composers:
Giuseppe Verdi: La Traviata; Aida; Rigoletto and many others
Giacomo Puccini: Madame Butterfly; La Boheme; Turandot; Tosca
Gaetano Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor; L’elisir d’ amore
A few that are not on the list for the boys so far:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Marriage of Figaro; Magic Flute; Don Giovani
Richard Wagner: The flying Dutchman; The Meistersinger
Operetta (very loose definition) is a story being staged where the action parts are actually spoken (thus recitative) but the arias are fully sung as in opera.
We all know the story of how each of our guys progressed on his own, entered into a voice competition and became the first, second and third place winners. They each had experience from youth learning these kinds of music. Even from the first USA concerts they were singing arias such as “No Puede Ser” .
In the Spanish culture there is a type of work called a “Zarzuela” sort of an operetta.
It uses dramatic dance, some spoken parts and arias that are very dramatic. Let’s face it our modern soap operas pale in comparison. Love and sex and death and vendettas all over the place. Everyone has a lot of fun. Extreme drama on steroids. “Ne Puede Ser” is an aria from a zarzuella called : “La Tabernera del Puerto” written by Pablo Sorozabal. Piero loves this song and he comes out on the stage and dies each night for us. Hard work . But he does it so well. He also sings so well. ( I know, bad joke).
2016 and Il Volo in June – my thoughts.
The guys have just finished a concert tour that was very long with almost 100 concerts all over most of the world. They have given wonderful concerts 98% of the time. However, there have been a couple of times when the concerts were too close together and the boys did not get the kind of rest they needed. That usually ends up with a concert that is “good” but not great. I doubt the guys would ever give a bad concert. They are just that good and they will not allow it. But when they are tired and a little out of voice from the heavy schedule like they were in Russia this year then it shows a bit. Those of you who have read my stuff going back 4 years know it is one of my pet peeves when the producers push the guys to do a lot of concerts in short order. When they came to Vegas this year they had traveled by bus from Phoenix through the night and did not have much sleep. It was amazing to me that they still gave one of the best concerts I have ever heard them give. Still I wish the producers would pace it better.
Now they have had a rest and they are preparing to do this THREE TENORS CONCERT . I could not be happier. They are back to basics – working with their voice teachers and voice coach. They are taking on some of the masterpieces of opera repertoire by the greatest composers. Information I have heard says they are singing:
“Nessun Dorma” an aria from “Turandot” by Pucini – one of the most famous songs of any sort in the world. You may not know the title but you will know the melody. Pavarotti and Domingo are famous for this song. They are also doing an aria that is sometimes called “Brindisi” but better known as “ Libiamo” or also known as “ the drinking song “ (hey, it’s a party) from La Traviata by the great Verdi. Through all of this they get to work with Placido Domingo, a mentor of theirs, again. Again, Bravo !
From my standpoint, thinking of the care and nurture of the guys voices which are so precious to all of us, this is the kind of work they should do at least once a year. “Back to basics” I am excited about this program and will buy the cd’s and DVD’s and whatever they come up with. Frankly, I wish they would take this on the road to the USA.
~Myron
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