The auditions and rehearsals are over and finally, we have the guys together at the Ariston Theater and they are about to meet but before they meet, I want to tell you a little more about the journey they took to get here and what this new adventure will be for them but, even more so for their parents.
For Piero and Ignazio, great sacrifices were made.
We know Ignazio’s parents worked hard and gave up all they had to make Ignazio have the opportunity to have singing lessons. In the end, thanks to someone dear to them, Ignazio finds himself on the stage of Ti Lascio Una Canzone.
From a very young age, Piero worked endlessly for a classical education which would lead him to the stage of an opera house. Thanks first to his grandfather, who paid for the piano lessons, and the sacrifices of his parents, Piero found his way to the stage of Ti Lascio Una Canzone.
As we know, Gianluca never had singing lessons and never competed in any singing competition. He was discovered while singing with his choir and that led him to the stage of Ti Lasio Una Canzone. So, there was no sacrifice by his parents but don’t think this is where the story of sacrifice ends.
No, the story just begins on the stage of Ti Lascio Una Canzone. The Big Sacrifice follows.
But let’s begin with the fourth night of Ti Lascio Una Canzone.
With O Sole Mio in hand, the boys set out for night four of Ti Lascio una Canzone.
It’s April 25th, 2009, and these three teenage boys who only met a short time before are getting ready to turn their world upside down. They are one step from stardom!
The first time they sing together everyone is amazed. Who wasn’t amazed, Roberto Cenci! He knew exactly what he was doing. He realized by putting these three voices together he would create an amazing sound! How right he was!
So, let’s turn to Piero who will tell us how the guys first sang together….
I remember Roberto Cenci calling us all three to the center of the stage during the rehearsals.
‘Piero, Gianluca and Ignazio, come here.’
They start ‘O Sole Mio’ and we sing as we had divided the parts. Gianluca begins with the first verse and then it’s my turn, I attack with ‘Ma n’ato sole,’ (but another sun). This ‘Ma n’naaaato’ with the note kept so long and vibrated, as we still sing it today, was born in that first test because I learned, ‘O Sole Mio,’ by listening to the Three Tenors, that is Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Josè Carreras. And Pavarotti made those three words of refrain with a very, fast, but difficult beat. I did not have that technique, so I did it slowly. Then I asked: ‘Roberto, sorry, can I do it my way the ‘ma n’ato sole?’ He answers ‘Yes.’ And I say, ‘Unplug the orchestra when it’s time and come behind me.’
Ignazio tells us about the reaction to their singing it on that Saturday night….
That Saturday night there was a great standing ovation for us, with ‘O Sole Mio.’ I think that that performance marked the real starting point of our career.
When I had agreed to do the auditions, I was aware that it would be a great experience and would last only two months. But I never expected that we could get all this great success.
Gianluca puts the event in the history books…
The theater came down.
Piero on my left, me in the middle, Ignazio on my right. In the history of music no one had ever seen three children of thirteen or fourteen sing these kinds of songs. So, we must also thank Roberto Cenci because, if it wasn’t for him maybe today, we would not be here. It was nice, it was something…. How can I tell you? It was natural. I immediately enjoyed singing together, there was no problem.
But it was also all unexpected.
I thought there were three hundred thousand boys singing like me, and instead that night I discovered that there are only two: Ignazio and Piero.
Before the big night of O Sole Mio, the guys were already being praised by some very famous singers. These singers were in total awe of our guys. It seemed obvious that they were taking over the show! No one else could come close to them.
Piero did a duet with Al Bano.
Ignazio did a duet with Massimo Ranieri.
Gianluca did a duet with Riccardo Cocciante.
Ignazio did a duet with Fausto Leali.
Gianluca did a duet with Sara Pischedda.
Piero did a duet with Simona Collura.
In his book Ricomincio Dai Tre (I Start Again from Three) Michele Torpedine, their manager tells us what happened that night.
Alone in his apartment, Michele Torpedine was sitting on his sofa with the volume off on his TV. The show he was watching was Ti Lascio Una Canzone. He keeps looking at the screen and he suddenly thinks Ignazio reminds him of Luciano Pavaroti, Gianluca seemed similar to Jose Carreras and Piero is similar to Placido Domingo. He still had not heard them sing. Out of curiosity, he raised the volume and Michele says, “Here I am aware of another element, that is even more important than the first. The three casually put together to sing a song of the program possess an incredible vocality for their age.”
At this point Michele’s head is spinning. He’s thinking these guys are good and again repeats it to himself, they’re good! He thinks, “What if I try to put them together seriously? A trio he tells himself. Here’s what I could do….”
Michele says, “The next day I am a volcano. I want to talk to everyone: producers, managers, families.”
They all performed exceptionally well. They all came in first one night during the performance.
Gianluca won the first night with the song “Il Mare Calmo della Sera.”
Ignazio won the second night with “Quando l’amore Diventa Poseia”
Piero won the fourth night with “Un Amore Così Grande.”
And Gianluca won the final episode.
Piero and Ignazio showed great respect for Gianluca who won the final episode. They may have been disappointed, but you would never know it to look at their faces. Their reaction to Gianluca winning was beautiful! Look at the video….
And the biggest win of the night, they walked off the stage, Il Volo! Well maybe they didn’t have the name yet, but they were certainly on the road to stardom!
But this is just the beginning of the story!
We know that the guys got a phenomenal contract with Universal and began an amazing career. They went to America and all the rest is history!
In the beginning I told you that great sacrifices would be made not only by the guys but also by their families.
When I write about the guys I always think about the sacrifice they made when they became Il Volo. They left behind the best years of their lives. Their teenage years. They left their families and there were times when they weren’t home for months.
In the beginning they had a parent with them because they were underage but once they turned eighteen, they were on their own. We all realized that this happened to them, and we all thought this was a great opportunity but what a sacrifice they made. True but what about the sacrifice their families made. When one parent traveled, the other was left at home to care for the other children.
I can’t even imagine how the parent who was left home with the other children felt. Of course, you feel joy for your child but to say goodbye I’ll see you in a few months. That’s got to hurt. And the parent who went with him had to leave his other children at home. That had to hurt too.
This was a big sacrifice that was made by the parents but there were others who probably hurt even more. How about their brothers and sisters? I’m sure some of them didn’t even understand why their brother had to go away!
All around tremendous sacrifices. I remember Ignazio saying in his story that he didn’t see his sister for five months and it really hurt.
Yes, they went around the world and became super stars, but they paid a high price for it. The Big Sacrifice they made is now in the past. But I’m sure that the guys wished they could have back some of those years to spent time with their families. And I’m sure the families wished they had an opportunity to spend more time with them.
On the bright side of the story, they got to spend a year with their families during the pandemic. The Lord certainly had a plan with that pandemic!
One last note before I leave you today. I just started writing a new book and I need to take some time off to do my research. So, for the next few weeks I will post old stories on Wednesdays about the guys.
In the meantime, you can also read some of the old stories in the archives. Just go to www.ilvoloflightcrw.com and you can either go into the search bar and ask for a particular story or a story about a particular guy. Or go into Galleries on the top of the main page and pull up stories by the year.
I promise I will work as fast as I can to get back to you. In the meantime, Daniela will be keeping you up to date with all the latest news including all that is going on in Sanremo. The guys start rehearsals for Sanremo this week!
Be back in a few weeks!
Let me leave you with the first video of O Sole Mio!
Join me next week as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and find some really great old story for you!
*What I have written here are excerpts from the book the guys wrote about their lives. “Il Volo, Un’avventura Straordinario, La Nostra Storia.” (An Extraordinary Adventure, Our Story) This is just a small piece of each mans’ story. The book is written in Italian. If you can read Italian, I would highly recommend that you read it. It’s wonderful! If not, I can only hope that someday it will be translated into English. Or you can use Google Translate to translate it.
I also recommend you read their second book “IL Volo: Quello Che Porto Nel Cuore” (What I Carry in My Heart)
If you would like to share a story with me, please email: susan.flightcrew@yahoo.com
January 12th, as already announced several times, the Il Volo concert which was held in the beautiful Kyoto temple was screened in various Japanese cinemas.
Il Volo itself sent a video message for this event, here it is..
IGNAZIO= Hello friends from Japan, we are Il Volo.
GIANLUCA= The film of the live concert at the UNESCO world heritage site, the Kiyomizu Dera temple in Kyoto, will be released soon.
PIERO= On this occasion we sang for peace in the world. Go to the cinema to see it.
GIANLUCA= We are waiting for you.
PIERO= Bye.
The video was thus commented on by Weekend-Cinema magazine.
“IL VOLO”, a new generation vocal unit inheriting the three lead tenors, performed a live dedication at Kiyomizu-dera, a world heritage site for the first time in Asia as part of the World Heritage Series, and has been praised nationally as “IL VOLO to Kiyomizu-dera ~Kyoto World Heritage Live~” Now open. A video message has arrived from Il Volo to the Japanese fans.
Il Volo formed a vocal unit on a popular Italian audition show and surprised many people with his rich singing voice at the young age of 14 or 15. Their one-night-only live performance at Kiyomizu-dera Temple, the Mount Otowa World Heritage Site, will be shown on screen, making them the first foreign artists to do so. Using 13 cameras, including a drone, the video captures footage that normally can’t be seen, such as a blend of the night view of the city where Kyoto Tower sits and the main temple towering over a cliff.
In commemoration of such a precious version of the live theater, a message came from Il Volo to Japanese fans. With the expectations of the live video of the theater, they said: “We sang with hope for world peace.”
The three wear pure white clothes live, but in the video of the message, we will also see them in a black dress!
“IL VOLO in Kiyomizu-dera ~Kyoto World Heritage Live~” will be held for the first time in the Asian area, and it will be the first time in Kiyomizu-dera’s 1250-year history that a foreign artist will be able to enjoy a – Live show premium evening only on a big screen. It will be held in Shinjuku Piccadilly and other locations nationwide. Now available to the public.
IL VOLO: Today our 2022 show at the Kiyomizu Temple will be screened in 15 Japanese cinemas.
In this photo another article published in a Japanese newspaper.
This is another interview published in Japanese. It is also very beautiful and I’ll give you the translation of it.
“The most intense experience in 15 years of activity” Il Volo’s interview arrives to commemorate the release of “IL VOLO in Kiyomizu-dera ~Kyoto World Heritage Live~”
“IL VOLO”, a new generation vocal group inheriting the three major tenors, held a dedicated live performance at Kiyomizu-dera, a world heritage site for the first time in Asia as part of the World Heritage Series, on January 12 as “IL VOLO in Kiyomizu-dera ~Kyoto World Heritage Live~ “Released nationwide from Sunday (Friday). An interview with Il Volo has arrived. Additionally, additional scene photos have been released, (I’ll share the photos separately -donalee) and special gifts for attendees have been decided.
Il Volo formed a vocal group on a popular Italian TV show, and surprised many people with their rich singing voices at the young age of 14 or 15. Their one-night-only live performance at Kiyomizu-dera Temple, the world heritage site of Mount Otowa, will be shown on the screen, making them the first foreign artists to do so. Utilizing 13 cameras, including a drone, the video captures footage that cannot normally be seen, such as the fusion of the night view of the city where Kyoto Tower stands and the main temple towering over a cliff.
Interviews have arrived from the three members of Il Volo. Regarding the concert at Kiyomizu-dera, they said, “What impressed us the most was the solemnity of Kiyomizu-dera. Also, the warm welcome we received from all the monks left a strong impression on us. It was the most powerful experience in our 15 years of activities to be able to perform bel canto (beautiful resonant voice), which is a musical culture of Japan, at a sacred temple that is a World Heritage Site.” They talked about the warm hospitality of the monks of Kiyomizu-dera Temple, a national treasure, and the solemnity they felt standing on stage.
Also, this Kiyomizudera live performance will be Il Volo’s third visit to Japan since their first visit in 2017. Regarding their impressions of Japanese fans, they said, “We often do various interviews, and we always talk about our Japanese fans. Japanese fans are a role model for fans in terms of how carefully and enthusiastically they listen during concerts. The spring 2024 concert in Japan will be full of wonderful surprises.But before that… We hope that everyone in Japan will enjoy our concert filmed at Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Kyoto last year at the movie theater.’’ We express our gratitude to our enthusiastic Japanese fans and expressed our hopes for our fourth concert in Japan in the spring.
At the end, they addressed the Japanese fans and said, “We talked about the strong impressions we received, but we hope that we can share with the audience the impressions we received during our live performances. I hope that you will be able to experience the feeling of excitement,” they said in the message, wanting to share the excitement they felt on stage.
The newly released photos show various scenes from the live performance, including the scene where the three members of Il Volo perform in beautiful harmony, the way the camera captures them, and Kiyomizu-dera Temple illuminated with colorful lighting.
In addition, special benefits for visitors have been decided. You will receive an original ticket holder with a print of a scene in which the three members of Il Volo are smiling with relief after successfully completing a concert as the first overseas artists in Kiyomizu-dera’s 1250-year history. It’s a useful size that can fit not only live concert tickets, but also movie and stage tickets, travel tickets, etc. Limited quantity.
And this one was published byThe Hollywood Reporter Roma.
You absolutely must read it, it was published in Italian on Christmas day and perhaps you missed it. It was written by Pino Gagliardi who asked very interesting questions about Japan, but also about Sanremo and the habits of Il Volo.
As always, the answers from Gianluca, Piero and Ignazio denote great maturity and also humility.
Il Volo: We will be in cinemas in Japan (and with an exclusive clip on THR Rome) before arriving in Sanremo with Capolavoro.
On January 12 and February 9, the 2022 concert in Kyoto will be broadcast in the cinemas of the Rising Sun, in the Kiyomizu-dera Temple, one of the most famous and evocative monuments in the country. They are the first to do so in 1250 years. “If we are successful in that country we owe it to a skating champion, their Carolina Kostner”
Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble will celebrate 15 years of long friendship and music together on the Ariston stage, where they return to the competition for the third time after triumphing at the Festival in 2015 with Grande Amore – a song that won Il Volo the podium at the Eurovision Song Contest – and after having achieved third place in 2019 with Musica che resta. “The first time we won it, the second time we celebrated ten years and now we celebrate fifteen years” says the trio who will be competing at the 74th edition of the Sanremo Festival with the song Capolavoro.
However, the new year will open for Il Volo with another extraordinary and international event. On January 12 and February 9, the 2022 concert in Kyoto will be broadcast in cinemas across Japan, in the marvelous Kiyomizu-dera Temple, one of the most famous and evocative temples in all of Japan with a history of 1,250 years. It was a unique event in the world as no foreign artist had ever performed before on the stage built in the main hall. The Japanese public was so enthusiastic about the show of the three Italian artists that it decided to propose the experience of the show again in the cinemas of the main cities of Japan, from Tokyo to Osaka via Kyoto.
After Sanremo the trio will return to the Land of the Rising Sun with a series of new concerts in April before embarking on their World Tour around the world. In Italy, however, after the success of the two-evening event on Canale 5 last May at the Verona Arena, with many great guests belonging to different artistic worlds on the Italian and international scene, Il Volo will return to the Scaliger amphitheater with Tutti Per Uno (a project by Michele Torpedine) with three dates in May.
Where are you right now?
Gianluca Ginoble: I’m in Abruzzo.
Ignazio Boschetto: I’m in Bologna.
Piero Barone: I’m also in Bologna.
How did you end up singing at the oldest temple in Kyoto?
Piero Barone: You must know that in Japan everything was born a few years ago, compared to the United States and Latin America where we have been doing concerts since 2009. Five years ago this strong request arrived, because one of their ice skaters, their champion Yuzuru Hanyu – if we had to make a comparison we could say their Carolino Kostner – he won the ice skating Olympics to the tune of Notte stellata, a song sung by us, recorded in 2011 on our first album.
A piece that we have perhaps never sung live, except in the first concerts. We suddenly received many requests for live performances in Japan and also to be hosted on various television programs. From there our journey in Japan was born.
Haven’t you even been there on holiday?
Piero Barone: No, never! A whole new world for us because we didn’t know that culture. It had been described to us in different ways, but if you don’t go and experience it you can never understand what they are like and above all what their way of living life is – respect for everything and everyone.
Do you remember your first time?
Piero Barone: If I’m not mistaken in 2017. We did our first tour and our first guest appearances on Japanese television programs. In August two years ago we received this beautiful request from those who deal with the protection of the temples of the city of Kyoto. the city of a thousand temples.
They renovated and inaugurated, after a year, the oldest temple in the city: the Kiyomizu-dera. To inaugurate it they expressed the desire to have Il Volo singing inside the columns of that temple, but the characteristic of this sanctuary, which differentiates it from all others, is that it is located overlooking a forest. It was very humid. We arrived dressed in white to sing for no one, in the sense that we had no audience in front of us. It was also difficult to take it back, a particular experience.
Have you felt the spirituality of that place? Gianluca Ginoble: Each of us experiences spirituality in a very personal way. We define ourselves as spiritual people, certainly not just children of our culture. Japan is such a different place, totally distant, Buddhism and Shinto are strong there. We have adapted to this culture and made it our own, trying to transmit what are also our musical and cultural traditions.
Because it is paradoxical to interpret a musical genre that is linked to our culture in a Buddhist temple. And that’s where the great contrast was successful. This shows that what we do overcomes the cultural barriers of language and music.
The practice of opera singing officially entered the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity a few days ago. Is it your credit too?
Gianluca Ginoble: We are very proud to bring a piece of our culture. Because then we have seen over time that this type of music is truly what is considered the true Italian spirit, the true tradition, like pizza, spaghetti, Ferrari. It is certainly opera singing that allows us to interpret a certain type of music in such a prestigious place.
What type of repertoire did you choose for the occasion?
Ignazio Boschetto: In Japan we have always sung the most classical repertoire as a tribute to the three tenors. From there we continued in the wake of the most beautiful classic areas. The nice thing though is that at the end of the concert the last songs are Grande amore and L’amore si move and all the Japanese are there singing with us. And it’s great to see how our repertoire can vary from classical to even something more pop even in Japan.
Every year many opera singing students come to our conservatories from those countries.
Piero Barone: There is a strong attraction from the Asian world towards us and I believe it has always been there. Perhaps today many more young people are approaching this world. Clearly they come to study in Italy because perhaps we have one of the best methods for teaching this art and this way of singing.
There are also many of our compatriots who love this musical genre, opera, and who know what it requires and what studying an opera entails. That is, studying every day. Personally, I frequent opera circles, because in parallel with all this, for a personal thing, I am also preparing an opera journey, studying the arias of the operas.
In this musical genre you are the only ones to have broken into the mainstream.
Piero Barone: Perhaps we are one of the few cases in the musical panorama who sing this genre. For this reason we had many difficulties in the first years, from 2009 to 2015, until we arrived at the Sanremo Festival with Grande Amore. At that point we also managed to conquer the Italian market, because before obviously we were seen as those who sing songs like ‘O sole mio’, those of the Italian tradition abroad. Italy required something new from us, and thanks to Grande Amore the Italian market also opened up for us.
Gianluca Ginoble: This is the right interpretation, in the sense that it is a great truth that we have observed over time. If you sing Nessun Dorma, you won’t attract young people. If, however, you acquire prestige before singing Nessun Dorma, then you capture their attention, because you can convey that type of music first through the credibility of an unreleased song, and with that you arrive at the modernization of Bel Canto.
Thanks to an unreleased song you can attract young people and then you also make them listen to the more classic things. But if you don’t get there first with that, the young people unfortunately don’t arrive, and we see it in the audience who comes to see us, singing only the classical repertoire, which obviously only attracts the older audience.
Will you still use the Festival for this purpose?
Ignazio Boschetto: We already did it in 2017. Having won Sanremo with Grande Amore has brought us a lot of young people who find themselves at our concerts to listen, often for the first time, to Nessun Dorma.
Gianluca Ginoble: Exactly, and it’s really the only way, because opera anyway, and Piero can confirm this, requires a lot of sacrifice. How to learn to play an instrument, the piano, the guitar. Opera is the one that uses the instrument of the voice to the maximum. Surely you can’t get better results with little effort, unfortunately people no longer approach sacrifice. But we also want to be an example from this point of view.
Your Japanese concert will soon be broadcast in cinemas in the Land of the Rising Sun, will you go and promote it?
Piero Barone: No, we won’t go because we have already done a lot of promotion in the past few days with interviews via Zoom, we have been very busy here in Europe. We will go on a ten-day tour in April because we have four concerts as well as several hosted on television.
How are you preparing to face these concerts?
Piero Barone: The Japanese tour set is different from all the other concerts we usually do because we will have a significantly superior orchestra. The orchestral staff will be made up of many more musicians who will be trained by our great conductor, Marcello Rota, who knows what our requests are and knows us well.
Ignazio Boschetto: We will arrive two days early to rehearse our repertoire. Clearly the set list changes in each tour, but usually they are all songs that we rehearse in Italy.
Will you also include the new Sanremo song?
Piero Barone: Hoping it gets there too.
Ignazio Boschetto: Maybe we’ll do the symphonic version.
Ready for the Festival?
Gianluca Ginoble: We were born on that stage which for us on an emotional level is home. Coming back there nine years after the victory, five years after third place, doing it now as thirty-year-olds, is like showing a different version of us. A maturity that we want to show to the public, to our fans, and not only that, perhaps to an even wider audience. We will try to give our best, to truly convey a more mature Il Volo.
Piero Barone: We are going with a different spirit this year to Sanremo, with much more awareness, but we are also much more serene, because before we were always anxious. We are going in the spirit of celebrating these fifteen years, because for us it is a huge achievement. Being still here is already an achievement, few realize that being a single artist is different from being a group, where there are different ideas, there are always moments of tension, because the ideas perhaps don’t match one another. ‘other. So even demonstrating this esteem that exists between all three is a good result.
Maturity will also involve a change of look, given that you have been dressed like adults practically since you were born.
Gianluca Ginoble: Do you mean that when we were sixteen we dressed like sixty-year-olds?
Ignazio Boschetto: We dressed like adults because it was Bel Canto that necessarily led us to be elegant and dress in a certain way.
Will you be classic this time too?
Gianluca Ginoble: It’s normal that our strength was initially seeing three kids our age with adult voices. That was the key that allowed us to reach so many people. Today we are thirty years old and there will certainly be an evolution, because always being the same, remaining in a comfort zone, does not lead to growth. A little risk is part of progress.
Ignazio Boschetto: I don’t know if others agree with me, but I think that when we were younger we had to maintain a certain distinction in what we did. Now there won’t necessarily be a change of look other than just showing what our three true personalities are.
Piero Barone: A bit like we did with Tutti Per Uno, which was a forerunner of a work that will lead to a new wave next year. We will always be Il Volo and we will never change. Because when we tried to do something too different it went very badly, because we lost our authenticity. So that will always remain, but we must always try to overcome ourselves.
You are the only ones who have been successful among those who emerged from Ti Lascio Una Canzone, the talent that launched you.
Piero Barone: We wish all people to live by and with music. Clearly this is a demanding job. And the most important thing, perhaps our greatest fortune, I believe was to meet people who still collaborate with us, good people, great professionals, like our manager Michele Torpedine, who work 24 hours a day on this project from first day.
We too have had quite particular, turbulent periods, but with seriousness and dedication, we have always overcome everything. There are those who are luckier and those who are less fortunate in meeting people who really care about your project. We also kept in touch with other contestants, we don’t talk much, but we see that other guys continue to sing too. This is really the most important thing, cultivating your passion. We wish everyone to live with music.
Gianluca Ginoble: We succeeded because there are three of us, because maybe if they hadn’t put us together we would never have made it, or maybe the process towards success would have been much slower.
You have to thank Roberto Cenci who invented the trio (Roberto Cenci was the director of TI LASCIO UNA CANZONE, he had the idea of uniting Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca, who had presented themselves individually for the programme)
Piero Barone: It was he who put us together. He was the producer of TI LASCIO UNA CANZONE. We made the auditions individually with him in November 2008 and chose us. Then we reminded him of the three small tenors and joined us.
Gianluca Ginoble: Let’s say that Roberto Cenci is the one who took the three matches and Michele Torpedine lit them. So they were both important and it is right to thank all the people who precisely made us what we are today.
You took part in the soundtrack of the film Hidden Moon composed by Luis Bacalov with the song Hidden Moon, would you like to continue with cinema?
Gianluca Ginoble: A beautiful memory. We recorded the song in 2013 on the second album where there were many unreleased songs. In Mexico it was a great success, where among other things there is a very beautiful Spanish version. Having one of our songs in a successful Italian film, why not? There are many artists like Laura Pausini who have already won the Golden Globe or Davide Donatello. We are very ambitious and will work hard to make these things happen one day.
Piero Barone: Also because today Italian cinema is highly esteemed abroad and is producing great results.
Do you have any cinematographic preferences?
Gianluca Ginoble: Paola Cortellesi’s latest film is very interesting. I really like Christopher Nolan. I loved Oppenheimer very much but also Interstellar, in short all his films.
Piero Barone: There is always tomorrow. Beautiful! It reminded me a lot of Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful. I am a fan of Quentin Tarantino.
Ignazio Boschetto: I don’t go to the cinema often, I really like Italian cinema. I have a great passion for Edoardo Leo, who I like a lot as an actor. I like cult films like The Green Mile or The Truman Show, for me they are brilliant.
You sing in different languages, Italian aside, which was the easiest and which was the most difficult?
Piero Barone: Perhaps the one we did best is Spanish, we often sing it when we go on tour in South America or Spain. We always record the version of each recording project in Spanish. However, the one that has failed so far is French because during a concert we forgot the lyrics of a song.
Ignazio Barone: But it’s not that it turned out badly, it’s where we had a little more difficulty remembering the words of a French song. German was difficult for me. We recorded Silent Night in German. And for me that was the most difficult, especially for the pronunciation.
Gianluca Ginoble: I like singing in English more than in Italian.
Is it better to sing in Pompeii where you gave a concert in 2015 or in Kyoto?
Gianluca Ginoble: Sorry Italy, but definitely better in Kyoto. I would go and live in Japan. The culture is wonderful.
Ignazio Barone: I remain neutral.
Piero Barone: Pompeii for me! See this is the nice thing about being three.
This last interview was really very long, but I hope you enjoyed it, as I did.
I won’t go on too long, I just want to point out to you in the first video, dedicated to the Japanese public, our young men have a completely different look from what we saw for the communication of the Sanremo song. I want to say and underline that Il Volo will absolutely not lose its identity, but will adapt to the moment and the type of fans. They are multi-faceted chameleon singers, so they can allow this.
In my last story, Gianluca accepted the invitation to Audition for Ti Lascio Una Canzone. We now have all the guys heading to Rome. Is this the day they will meet and start their new lives? We’ll have to wait until the end of the story for that answer. In the meantime, let’s get some idea about what was going on, on their journey to Rome. One thing we know for sure is when the guys set out for the Auditions at Via dei Gracchi there was no way they could have known that they were On a Collision Course with Fate!
Along the way to Rome, the guys had to be thinking about how this will all play out. I think they were thinking, “How do I present myself?” I’m sure they already had their music prepared but, they must have been thinking, “Is this the right song? Does this song really show them who I am….and what my voice is about?” They have to be wondering what will take place. ‘Do I just go into a studio and sing and…. will they ask me to sing other songs too?” Great pressure for such young boys. But they did have many things in their favor. For one their voices. It was certain that beyond the three there would be no voices to compare to theirs.
Gianluca sang with the choir and so this would be his first experience in a competition.
Piero and Ignazio were used to competitions so for them it was just another competition, or was it? I think if anything, Piero and Ignazio had a better feel for what they were up against. It was more realistic because they knew the ups and downs and all the drawbacks.
When they arrive for the audition at Via dei Gracchi in Rome their story begins.
The Auditions
Let’s listen to what Gianluca had to say about his experience….
I’m sorry for Piero and Ignazio, but I did not have to wait for a phone call to know the result of the audition.
Via dei Gracchi in Rome, I remember very well. It is in a fairly central area, in the Prati district and not far from the Vatican, a very long street full of very beautiful buildings. From Montepagano to Rome, the distance is not much, just over an hour. We, calmly, got into the car in the afternoon. There was the complete family: dad at the wheel, mom sitting next to him, I’m in the back seat with the two Ernesto of the house, my grandfather, who was proud and satisfied with that trip even if we did not know yet how it would end, and my brother, who at the time was only seven years old.
‘How much is missing? (Are we there yet?)’ I asked my dad. And after five minutes: ‘And now how much is missing?’ And after another five minutes: ‘And now how much is missing?’
Fortunately, the road was short, or I would have made him mad. I was very anxious I had never done anything so important. Already for me to go to RAI, in short, it is not something that I can explain in words.
When we entered, I realized that I would not be alone to audition. There were many other guys, all with their parents, a long line of people, but I was not worried because I was there just for fun, it was already an adventure.
When they called my name, I entered the registration room. Roberto Cenci was there. It was the first time I saw him. The impact was a bit ‘so’ because he has a very tough character, he did not convey much sympathy at the first meeting. But the essential thing is that I start to sing: ‘I wanted to be a little alone to think, you know …. I chose The Voice of Silence. I remember it perfectly. I was thirteen – the first audition was in November 2008 – and I already had this deep, baritone voice.’
I sang in the recording room and saw the others on the other side of the glass. There was Roberto Cenci, my grandfather with my mother, my brother, and my father, all in the other room. So, I sing and at one point, Roberto stops the music and says: ‘Stop all.’ ‘What happened?’ I thought. From where I was, I did not understand anything, I saw only the faces.
Roberto tells my family, ‘This boy was kissed by the Lord.’ All I could see were the faces of my parents. In my head, I kept asking ‘What’s up?’ And at a certain point I did not make it anymore and I opened the door and went to Roberto and repeated: ‘What’s going on?’ I was small, I could not realize. My father, made a face, I do not forget, he looks at me and says: ‘Nothing, good!’
‘Congratulations’ Roberto tells me, hugs me, makes me sing another song, calls all the others on the staff. ‘Feel this baby, you feel like singing.’ I remember these scenes very well. I see it again. And I was very excited, I was very happy, I could not even sing, at one point I even stuck. Because I did not expect such a positive reaction from Roberto Cenci and all the others, producers, technicians and I do not know who else was there that day, because Roberto had called everyone.
My mother and father never stopped smiling. My grandfather was very happy, if possible, more so than when we left. My brother was small, but it was clear to him that it was a party. In the end, do you know how late we stayed in that hall? Until nine in the evening, because Roberto Cenci called me back even after the audition to make me sing some more songs, to start making me try some duet. In short, when we said goodbye, I was exhausted, but I was bursting with joy.
From that day in Rome, I remember very well Ignazio’s mother. I do not remember seeing either Piero or Ignazio, but Caterina yes. During the audition they made us sing in a recording room, outside in the queue was Ignazio’s mother. Caterina heard the voice of someone singing, and she was listening to me. When I came out, she looked at me and said: ‘Congratulations! Bravo, very good!’ She heard me sing and she thought Andrea Bocelli was in the recording room.
Bravo for Gianluca.
Let’s listen to what Ignazio had to say about it….
But I did not really believe it. I remained as usual with my feet firmly planted on the ground. I must admit it, at first I was a bit perplexed at the idea of going to audition because, I am always the pessimist, but then, we talked about it in the family, as we have always been used to doing, and we said to ourselves: ‘Why not?’ So, in the end I went to do the auditions in Rome, funded by mom and dad, who in the meantime were continuing to make great sacrifices for me.
I arrived in Via dei Gracchi, where the auditions were held, with mom Caterina and dad Vito. There were many guys like me who were hoping for something positive without expecting anything, trying not to have too many illusions.
At the beginning I was quite calm, it could not be much different from singing on stage. Anxiety began to rise as my turn approached. And here they call my name: ‘Boschetto?’ I got up and went into the studio where the boys were singing. There he was waiting for me, Roberto Cenci, who looked at me and asked me: ‘Dear Boschetto, what are you singing for us today?’ I had chosen Ti Cerchero by Gigi Finizio and Melodrama by Andrea Bocelli.
‘Thank you very much’ was the only thing Roberto Cenci told me when I finished singing. All there? But how had I done? Was I okay? I had no idea but, climbing the stairs, Pannocchia, who was the manager who accompanied us, tells me that I have to study a song within thirty minutes. What song? ‘The Winner Takes It All’ by ABBA. To help me there was Luca Pitteri, a vocal coach who collaborated with AMICI and who at that time worked for Ti Lascio Una Canzone.
They gave me a CD player and I started to listen and study the song, and after exactly thirty minutes they called me back, we went down again into the studio and Roberto Cenci was still waiting for me. ‘Please, start’ he said, and the base started. I cannot say if I sang well, I do not remember anything other than the fact that somehow, they let me guess that I was inside the program, I had succeeded, but I tried not to build too many castles in the air as we returned home. What I did not know was that while I was inside singing the Winner Takes It All, outside my mother and Pannocchia spoke and he said: ‘Ignazio is in the program, madam!’ But they did not even tell me. Of course, I had a positive feeling, but how positive is the presentiment of one who is pessimistic. After a few days they called me back telling me that I had to go back to Rome. I did not know why, but already only the phone call, it filled me with joy. Maybe I had to take another test? I know it may sound strange, but I really did not know what to expect. Then in reality the reason for the summons to Rome was to tell me that I had been taken, I was in the cast of Ti Lascio Una Canzone.
Bravo, Ignazio, you’re in!
What does Piero remember about the Audition….
What do I remember from the audition?
I remember that it was in Via dei Gracchi in Rome, that I arrived there with La Voce Del Silenzio and the unfailing Un Amore Così Grande and that with the suits that my father bought me, I felt like a king.
‘Mr. Barone, we’ll let you know’ they told Dad when I finished singing. After five days, the longest of my life, they called and said: ‘Prepare these five pieces for the next audition.’ Those five tracks were:
Sei Nell’Anima of Gianna Nannini,
La Voce Del Silenzio,
Un Amore Così Grande
Voglio Vivere Così
Domenica E’ Sempre Domenica
The aim was to test myself on different genres, of course, to understand which one was the most suitable for me. So, I get to the recording studio in Rome and start singing. Only shortly thereafter, they stop the music. The first so, the second so and I was already demoralized: if a test does not make you even to the refrain is not a good sign. The first thing I thought was that I did not go well. At the third track I attack the refrain, ‘Un Amore Così …….” and they stop the musical base. When I left the recording room and arrived in the mixer room, I found dad with my brother and a friend who had come to Cosenza with us at the Tour Music Fest, all three beautiful smiling, quiet. I died and they are happy. There is something wrong. Roberto Cenci looks at me and tells me: “Bravo, Piero: you are inside the program.” But I really believed it only when they brought me to the seamstress.
Bravo Piero you’re in too. Actually, thinking back, did anyone ever doubt they would get in with those three amazing voices.
So now we know that the guys never met on that day, but Gianluca did meet Ignazio’s mother, Caterina!
So what happens next is like watching a train go by. Everything is moving fast and coming into place. The competition has begun, and people are starting to understand who these three boys are. Not just some kids who came to a competition with hopes, no they were three kids with voices that could knock you out. The producers, directors everyone around them is feeling something special. The next thought is what do we do with amazing voices like theirs?
The Rehearsals
To see where this is all going, let’s return to Piero who will begin by telling us what happened with the Rehearsals….
Ti Lascio Una Canzone was aired in the Ariston Theater in Sanremo, but the first rehearsals for the transmission we made in Rome starting in March.
Upon landing at Fiumicino, there was a coach from the editorial staff waiting for us. We were still just a group of kids who did not know each other, we came from different parts of Italy, and we were different ages. I did not know what to expect.
I get on this bus and the first person I immediately notice is a nuisance who sang (sang from morning to night, in continuation), who screamed, screamed, was never silent, never stopped. It went on all the way, I cannot forget it, especially because from Fiumicino to Rome center it is about an hour’s drive. All that time talking, screaming and singing, damn him.
On arrival at the hotel, it was not difficult to start meeting other guys. But you know how certain things go? It was easy for people in the same room to communicate with each other. But I wanted to get to know the others, so alone, I went down in the hall, and I found Luigi Fronte, who was a little one for me because I was fifteen, Micaela Foti and the guy who was singing on the bus.
‘Hi, pleasure, I’m Piero’, I introduce myself.
‘Hi, I’m Manuela.’
And this other one? ‘I am Ignazio, presents himself.’
With Ignazio from the first moment, a strong relationship developed. What do I mean? We were looking for each other. We were always together: I, him and Luigi. Luigi was the mascot, the little one who was with us. We rehearsed with Ignazio, we talked, we joked. Maybe because he was Sicilian like me. Gianluca, I did not know him right away, there was not a great bond from the beginning, he built himself with time.
From that very first Wednesday of trials, I remember perfectly because I saw the same images of the choir: I and Ignazio sitting on the left and around a lot of females. I sang, ‘Non Ti Scordar Di Me,’ at the first episode and ‘Mamma’ at the second, ‘Granada’ at the third.
We sang on Saturday night and on Sunday I flew back to Sicily. Monday, Denise was preparing all the things to learn, she told me the pages to study, ‘For history, do this. I have stressed the words to remember.’ I arrived at school on Tuesday morning, I did all the interrogations and left the following day.
When I got to the rehearsals, we had to have prepared the pieces that had been assigned to us.
The editorial staff sent them to is onl Monday and we had to study them at home for the next installment.
On Monday, between the end of the third episode and the beginning of the fourth, I get the text of ‘Un Amore Così Grande’ to sing alone – so far, all normal – and of ‘’O Sole Mio’ divided into three parts. What will this thing be?
In which it is said that alone you can go far, but in company even more. And it’s even more fun.
Piero, I think you boggle Ignazio’s mind. Slow down for a minute and let the others tell what happened to them. Ignazio seems to have some other concerns….
How much do you run Piero!
He is already on the fourth installment and I’m still here thinking about how nervous I was that first night. It was April 4, 2009, the evening of the start of the program. Who had ever faced a television experience? It is also true that this agitation of television I only had at the beginning. Yes, we were all aware that this was television, but for the ingenuity we had at that age, for us it was like singing in the home theater. And then, I had already seen theaters and stages. The thing that made me understand that there was something different was seeing all the famous guests. But for the rest, we realized little of the difference.
Even stranger was that until then I had arrived as quiet as usual. Perhaps because in the previous week I had the opportunity to meet my fellow adventurers, and I had immediately linked with Veronica Liberati, Sonia Mosca and Piero Barone, a Sicilian boy like me who did a little the kind that belonged to me. I had also known Gianluca Ginoble but I attended him less because he was part of the group of ‘jocks’ (even today we take it around because some remained so!)
‘La Nostra Favola’ was my debut song on the first episode, I even got the words wrong, but it went very well. On returning to Marsala, I clearly felt that things were changing, people recognized me, but I tried to take everything with great humility. The first rule for me has always been to keep my feet on the ground. The more weeks passed, the more people recognized me, but I tried to remain the same as always.
To get ready for rehearsals, the week before the episode, they gave us the songs to study for the evening. And on the third night I get the songs that I would have to sing the following Saturday, at the fourth episode. There was something strange. There were songs that I would have done alone, but also ‘O Sole Mio’ that I would have to sing with two other guys.
What news was that?
Okay, so it seems Ignazio has it together. He understands the situation and what is expected of him. Actually, not very different from what he was used to in competition except for the special guests and this strange trio thing.
And what did Gianluca think about the rehearsals….
Ignazio, I do not believe you were amazed by that news! In my opinion, the earthquake-Ignazio was not astonished but he did surprise others. At the audition, I told you, I have no memory of having seen either he nor Piero. But once the selections were over, we were all put together in Rome, I do not remember in which hotel, from where we started by coach to go to rehearsals with the RAI orchestra.
Here, from there it was impossible not to notice Ignazio. We were a total of about thirty kids with their parents, and he was screaming, singing, making a mess, he alone seemed to be the choir of the southern corner of Rome (football team) all together. Ignazio has always been like that, even today he is, he will never lose this way even at the age of fifty, and that’s what makes him special.
And Piero? Of him, I’m sorry to admit it, I have no particular memories of that period. We were all in the same hotel, but there were many of us and I tied up with other guys. But there was a nice climate, we all had a lot of fun together.
Of the Ti Lascio Una Canzone period, I also remember another emotion, that of the long journey I made every week by car from Roseto to Sanremo.
My week was organized like this: on Monday and Tuesday I went to school, I was in the eighth grade, and on Wednesday morning between six and seven we went to Sanremo with my father.
We arrived and the tests were announced for three days, until Friday. On Saturday there was the transmission and on Sunday morning we left for Roseto. It was a long journey, a bit long for the many hours in the car and the miles we traveled every week, a bit because I was away from home, in the hotel, away from the rest of my family and all my friends. But I’ve never been sad, I never complained, because I was so happy to sing.
On the first trip to Sanremo I remember the arrival. What do I mean? The first episode of the broadcast would have aired on Saturday April 4th. I arrived at the hotel on Monday, March 30th, while everyone else arrived on Thursday. There was nobody, the desert.
Of the other trips I remember Andrea Bocelli. When we started the rehearsals in Rome, in March, I spent Tuesday afternoons, after doing homework, listening to his (Bocelli) CDs, and I continued to do it also in the car to Sanremo. That’s how I learned all his repertoire. ‘Do you know this?’ They asked me to see how well I knew his songs. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I know all of them by heart:’
Among other things, from mid-January to mid-March of that year, ‘TV Sorrisi e Canzoni’ had published every week a disc of the discography of Bocelli, consisting of ten CDs. Every Monday I went to the newsagent and bought the newspaper with the attachment. Imagine a child of thirteen who goes to the newsstand, punctual and excited because I was very happy to buy a CD of a musical genre that his peers do not even know exists. But I was like that, I was really in love with that music. At that time, we say that it was as if each of us three had a role in transmission.
Piero was the Claudio Villa of the situation, Ignazio was Massimo Ranieri and Albano, and I was Bocelli. It was like having entered a little in one part and I became even more passionate about Bocelli’s music, who had become for me an idol and an inspiration.
My idol, however, was absolutely forbidden on school days, Monday and Tuesday, the only two who were free from the commitments of the TV. Ti Lascio Una Canzone started on April 4, 2009 and ended on May 30th, a period that coincided with the school months in which I had to prepare for the eighth-grade exam. Before that, there had been rehearsals in Rome throughout the month of March.
From March to the end of May, it was impossible to study on the days dedicated to rehearsals. I did homework and school questions on Monday and Tuesday, before returning to Sanremo. I told you, at school I have always been a lazy man, but despite all that year I managed to keep my average, in some matters I had the capacity six and some other seven. At the school interviews with the parents before the exams, my father heard the same thing from all the teachers: ‘All right, he kept the average.’ They were not telling me that I was a genius, I never was, but I managed to do well despite my commitments. So, my dad was satisfied.
From May 30th, when the broadcast ended, I had time to prepare for the eighth-grade exam, which went well.
If I really have to tell it all, what hurt me at the time were the comments of some of my peers in the country, who said that I was promoted only because I was on television. Imagine: I was thirteen, I had lived a dream, I had committed myself to meet all the deadlines at school and then those comments come. Fortunately, that summer took another turn.
It started on Monday before the episode of April 25, 2009, when I got the songs that I had to prepare and I saw that there was one, ‘’O Sole Mio,’ divided into three parts. Of course, a little strange it seemed to me. Almost all of us had made duets in transmission, but no trio had been composed until that moment.
I had no idea what to expect. Maybe I did not even ask. The important thing, I told you, was to sing and have fun.
So, The Audition is over, but the Rehearsals go on. Soon everything will change. No one could even imagine what would happen next.
That was quite a journey from home to Via dei Gracchi and on to Sanremo. The thoughts of how it would be are now in the past. Now it’s time to concentrate on what will happen next. The guys are in place to meet their destiny but are they prepared for what lies ahead. And are their families ready for what will happen in their lives and the lives of all their family members. It’s all moving to fast now. The train has left the station, and it is now in high speed. They are On a Collision Course with Fate! Next stop Stardom. See you there!
Join me next week as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and open the door to a new adventure!
In our next adventure, we watch the guys take a giant step towards their future and we begin to realize the sacrifices that would have to be made by the guys and their families!
*What I have written here are excerpts from the book the guys wrote about their lives. “Il Volo, Un’avventura Straordinario, La Nostra Storia.” (An Extraordinary Adventure, Our Story) This is just a small piece of each mans’ story. The book is written in Italian. If you can read Italian, I would highly recommend that you read it. It’s wonderful! If not, I can only hope that someday it will be translated into English. Or you can use Google Translate to translate it.
I also recommend you read their second book “IL Volo: Quello Che Porto Nel Cuore” (What I Carry in My Heart)
When we last saw Piero he was in the Choir of the Little Singers of the Philharmonic Association – Santa Cecilia of Agrigento. The time came for the change of voice, as happens with teenage boys, and this meant new decisions had to be made. All agreed his voice needed to be preserved so he had to step out of the choir. Rather than remain idle, Piero accepted singing engagements such as weddings where he would sing the Ave Maria and earn one hundred euro. He saved this money and when his mother needed something for the house he would say, “Here mom use this!” He learned the value of the dollar or should I say the euro at a young age and saved all his earnings. Piero’s always been a smart man when it comes to money. Just ask Ignazio and Gianluca. He handles their accounts. Or at least he used to!
Getting back to the story, when the change of voice finally happened, Piero moved on in his life. One way to move forward was to enter competitions. Piero, in fact, participated in many singing competitions and won most.
Piero has a funny way of describing the competitions. Let’s listen to him describe it….
And then there were the cups. In Sicily when you win a festival, they give you huge cups, two meters by four, heavy, bigger than you.
Okay, let’s stop for a minute! If the size is 2 meters by 4 meters, that would mean the trophy was 6 ½ feet by 13 feet. I hope he brought along a truck to carry them home!
Piero continues….
But how did I start to perform at regional festivals? With the school! And here a great chapter opens up. In elementary school there were no music classes. So, I looked forward to middle school where there would be music lessons. On the first day of middle school professor Nisi called everyone in alphabetical order and made everyone sing. Our teacher wasn’t from Naro, so she didn’t know me. She had no idea I was a singer. I really wasn’t looking forward to the first hour of music and getting up and singing. I was the second on the list. The professor calls “Baldacchino” and Baldacchino sings. Then she calls “Barone” and I sing Un Amore Così Grande, my battle horse from that afternoon under the carob tree in the garden of Riolo. In practice, from there I started, and I never stopped: with the schools there were musical reviews, and the music teacher brought me to make them all. I did the first Valledolmo festival singing Un Amore Così Grande again, and I finished third. I remember it like it was yesterday: I with a tuxedo, all classic, pulled. After Valledolmo I went to Vallelunga, I won that festival and from then on, I won them all. Three years of middle school, three years of regional music festivals. Until it has arrived, the change of voice, between thirteen and fourteen and a half years.
So, what happened? When I resumed singing, I was in high school, an accounting school, and there’s no music, no music teacher and no festival. But is it possible that I could quit like that, to participate in festivals? My father took the situation into hand, and I started again. I won them all. One summer I took part in six festivals, and I won all six. I sang La Voce Del Silenzio and Un Amore Così Grande, I arrived and all the guys who saw me already knew that I would ruin their evening. I had a lot of fun, I accumulated cups – always two meters by four – and I was more and more convinced that if there was one thing I wanted to do in life, it was singing, Living For and With Music.
The festivals were wonderful, but Piero needed more. He needed to decide where his future lies. So first he needed to decide where he would go with that magnificent voice. It was already obvious that his voice was an opera singer’s voice but that is a difficult path to take. And the road is usually lined with many disappointments! But decisions had to be made and now was the time to make those decisions. What did Piero do? Let’s get back to his story to learn how he moved forward….
If I have to tell the truth, my project was to become a tenor and a singing teacher. Many opera singers have this double life because, unless you reach certain levels, you cannot live by singing alone.
I always thought I would sing alone for the rest of my life. I imagined myself a tenor divided between theater and teaching. But before I got there the road was very long, and it was in the strict sense of the word. I went from Naro to Vittoria, where there was the master who had advised me to go to the teacher Bavaglio in Palermo. There was a two-hour drive in the first leg and as many in the return.
Having to travel to sing was not new to me, indeed for us, because I always traveled with dad.
Every Saturday my father took me to Agrigento to the rehearsals of the choir of Santa Cecilia, those afternoons were so beautiful. He sacrificed those afternoons he could have spent at the bar playing cards with his friends and he took me to Agrigento, a fifteen – twenty-minute drive from Naro.
I remember that we were following Series B because the time of the matches was the same as the choir rehearsals, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm, so I went to sing, and my father listened to the radio.
On the return of from Agrigento to Naro, we commented on the results and in the meantime we stopped at the Eurospin to do the shopping, at the shopping center ‘The swallows’ of Porto Empedocle, and we did shopping, but not clothes, no! We were buying ham and food for the whole week. We came home with these three-meter receipts, and I was so happy. Going to Vittoria was a different matter. Yet when the teacher told me: ‘You must study in Vittoria,’ my father answered only: ‘Okay’ and changed the car to travel more comfortably.
At the first lesson we get to Vittoria, and I go to this baritone, all excited, and he makes me do the vocalizations and comments: ‘I expected more from you as the master Bavaglio spoke about it.’ I was really demoralized. But the goal was there, I wanted music to become my life and so, despite the disappointment, for four or five months I kept going to him. In the meantime, I continued my piano lessons. My first master Stefano Tesè could no longer come to Naro and had sent me to Canicattì from the master Pietro la Greca. He was young and good, I felt like I was with my contemporary and I was more motivated to study. Sometimes, since my father worked, my cousin Giuseppe took me to the teacher La Greca.
Before the baritone of Vittoria, for about two or three months, I had studied with a soprano from Caltanissetta. It was at that time that Giuseppe had begun to accompany me to singing lessons, when dad could not. So, my cousin took me to the teacher La Greca and on the way back I was given a ride by a boy from Naro who was studying the next hour after me. I waited for him to finish, and we would go home with his father.
So, it seems a plan is in place. Piero is traveling to his singing lessons. And it’s all going well and then one day everything changed….
What happens one day? Usually, as the boy who gave me a passage lived near my paternal grandmother, he always left me with him, where my father came to pick me up when he finished work. Only that evening my father was already at my grandmother’s and was talking on the phone.
“Who was that, dad?” Was the first thing I asked him when he finished speaking.
“Wait, let’s go home and I’ll tell you.”
It was strange that he was so mysterious with me, but I always trusted him blindly and if he said ‘after’ he meant that it was okay. I was curious, for sure, but I waited calmly. We finished dinner, and daddy keeps his promise and tells me: ‘On the phone was a lady, a certain Isabella Abiuso. She is part of the casting of Ti Lascio Una Canzone and she got your name from the Tour Music Fest.’
Now things are about to happen but wait, it was almost a missed chance! Piero almost walked away from his future. He was tired, he wanted to stop the competitions. But let me let Piero explain what happened. He tells it much better than I do….
Stop all and take a step back: what is the Tour Music Fest? It’s a festival that I did not want to do. It’s not that I was undecided, I wanted to think about it. No, I did not want to do it just because I won all these festivals, and I was a little tired. Yet it is a great European festival dedicated to emerging music born in 2003. It has several stages, runs throughout Italy and not just singers, but also bands and musicians participated.
The stage closest to us was that of Cosenza. ‘I have to drive,’ Dad had told me. ‘We have a comfortable car, you sleep, and we go, you do not even notice.’ Twenty-four hours to do Naro-Cosenza, Cosenza-Naro. We arrive there, I sing, and they do not give me more news. And they gave it to someone else.
But it doesn’t end there….
Isabella Abiuso, one of the talent scouts who selected children for the broadcast of Ti Lascio una Canzone, called the editors of the festival and asked for a name to try, someone interesting for that kind of television program. The organizers of the Tour Music Fest tell her, ‘Mrs. Abiuso, here there is nothing that we can give, apart from a certain Piero Barone, which for us has not gone well because it is not the kind of music that we deal with, but he certainly has an innate talent.’ I was not sixteen yet, it was November 2008. ‘Dad’ I immediately said, ‘this Ti Lascio Una Canzone, I’d like to do it. Let’s try, why not?’
The first edition of the show was very successful and the second was aired from April 4th to May 30th, 2009, every Saturday evening for a total of nine episodes. The director would once again be Roberto Cenci, as in the first edition, produced by Ballandi Multimedia, and the management would have always been entrusted to Antonella Clerici. My father thought about it and said: ‘Wait, let’s talk with the maestro to Vittoria.’
‘You are crazy,’ was the teacher’s answer. ‘You ruin him with these things because television takes the boys’ heads, it spoils the future.’
Possible? Before I was not good enough and now I could not do the audition because I could ruin the future? My father did not see this anymore. ‘No, I have to make him do it.’ But if you ask my father what he remembers about that audition, he certainly will not tell you about the master of Vittoria, but the first answer will be a number: 1280. These are the euros that he spent to buy two or three complete clothes in a very nice Naro store, because as a good Sicilian he said, ‘How? I do I bring my son to an audition at RAI, I have to make a good impression, no?’ I felt like a king with those clothes.
One thing we know, Piero can dance!
So, there you have it! Piero dressed like a king is on the road to via dei Gracchi where he will meet his destiny. His desire to Live For and With Music will be fulfilled but first, he must be accepted.
Next time we meet Piero at via dei Gracchi where he will come up against hundreds of young people looking for stardom. We know for sure he will be on a collision course with Ignazio and Gianluca but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We still need to get Ignazio and Gianluca into the mix.
Join me next week as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and open the door to a new adventure!
Next week we witness Ignazio almost miss his opportunity at fame.
*What I have written here are excerpts from the book the guys wrote about their lives. “Il Volo, Un’avventura Straordinario, La Nostra Storia.” (An Extraordinary Adventure, Our Story) This is just a small piece of each mans’ story. The book is written in Italian. If you can read Italian, I would highly recommend that you read it. It’s wonderful! If not, I can only hope that someday it will be translated into English. Or you can use Google Translate to translate it.
I also recommend you read their second book “IL Volo: Quello Che Porto Nel Cuore” (What I Carry in My Heart).
Just in time for Christmas, a new EP release 4Xmas Amazing Grace, O Tannenbaum, Feliz Navidad and Happy Xmas (the War is Over) order yours on Spotify, Amazon, all media.
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 and don’t forget to visit the Archives.
When the guys set out for the Auditions at Via dei Gracchi there was no way they could have known that they were on a Road Trip to Stardom.
Along the way, the guys had to be thinking about how this will all play out. I think they were thinking, “How do I present myself?” I’m sure they already had their music prepared but, they must have been thinking, “Is this the right song? Does this song really show them who I am….and what my voice is about?” They have to be wondering what will take place. “Do I just go into a studio and sing and…. will they ask me to sing other songs too?” Great pressure for such young boys. But they did have many things in their favor. For one their voices. It was certain that beyond the three there would be no voices to compare to theirs. As to Gianluca, he sang with the choir and so this would be his first experience in a competition. As to Piero and Ignazio, they were used to competitions so for them it was just another competition, or was it? I think if anything, Piero and Ignazio had a better feel for what they were up against. It was more realistic because they knew the ups and downs and all the drawbacks.
When they arrive for the audition at Via dei Gracchi in Rome their story and the Audition begins. Let’s listen to what Gianluca had to say about his experience….
I’m sorry for Piero and Ignazio, but I did not have to wait for a phone call to know the result of the audition for Ti Lascio Una Canzone. Via dei Gracchi in Rome, I remember very well. It is in a fairly central area, in the Prati district and not far from the Vatican, a very long street full of very beautiful buildings. From Montepagano to Rome, the distance is not much, just over an hour. We got in the car in the afternoon, calmly. There was the complete family: dad at the wheel, mom sitting next to him, I in the back seat with the two Ernesto of the house, my grandfather, who was proud and satisfied with that trip even if we did not know yet how it would end, and my brother, who at the time was only seven years old.
“How much is missing? (Are we there yet?)” I asked my dad. And after five minutes: “And now how much is missing?”. And after another five minutes: “And now how much is missing?” Fortunately, the road was short, or I would have made him mad. I was very anxious I had never done anything so important. Already for me to go to RAI, in short, it is not something that I can explain in words.
When we entered, I realized that I would not be alone to support that audition. There were many other guys, all with their parents, a long line of people, but I was not worried because I was there just for fun, it was already an adventure.
When they called my name, I entered the registration room. Roberto Cenci was there. It was the first time I saw him. The impact was a bit ‘so, because he has a very tough character, does not convey much sympathy at the first meeting. But the essential thing is that I start to sing: “I wanted to be a little alone to think, you know ….” I had chosen The Voice of Silence. I remember it perfectly. I was thirteen – the first audition was in November 2008 – and I already had this deep, baritone voice.
I sang in the recording room and saw the others on the other side of the glass. There was Roberto Cenci, my grandfather was there with my mother, my brother, and my father, all in the other room. So, I sing and at one point, Roberto stops the music and says: “Stop all”. “What happens?” I thought. From where I was, I did not understand anything, I saw only the faces.
“This boy” continues Roberto, addressing my family, “he was kissed by the Lord”. All I could see were only the faces of my parents and in my head, I kept asking “What’s up?”, And at a certain point I did not make it anymore and I opened the door, I went to Roberto and in the meantime, I repeated: “What’s going on?” I was small, I could not realize. My father, made a face, I do not forget, he looks at me and says: “Nothing, good!”
“Congratulations” Roberto tells me, hugs me, makes me sing another song, calls all the others on the staff. “Feel this baby, you feel like singing.” I remember these scenes very well. I see it again. And I was very excited, I was very happy, I could not even sing, at one point I even stuck. Because I did not expect such a positive reaction from Roberto Cenci and all the others, producers, technicians and I do not know who else there was, that day, because Roberto had called everyone.
My mother and father never stopped smiling. My grandfather was very happy, if possible, more than when we left. My brother was small, but it was clear to him that it was a party. In the end, do you know until how late we stayed in that hall? Until nine in the evening, because Roberto Cenci called me back even after the audition to make me sing some more songs, to start making me try some duet. In short, when we said goodbye, I was exhausted, but I was bursting with joy.
From that day in Rome, I remember very well Ignazio’s mother. I do not remember seeing either Piero or Ignazio, but Caterina yes. During the audition they made us sing in a recording room, outside in the queue was Ignazio’s mother. Caterina heard the voice of someone singing, and she had listened to me. When I came out, she looked at me and said: ‘Congratulations! Bravo, very good!’ She heard me sing and she thought Andrea Bocelli was in the recording room.
Bravo for Gianluca. Let’s see what Ignazio has to say about it….
But I did not really believe it. I remained as usual with my feet firmly planted on the ground. I must admit it: at first it was a bit perplexed at the idea of going to audition because it is so, I am always the pessimist, but then, we talked about it in the family, as we have always been used to doing, and we said to ourselves: “Why not?” So, in the end I went to do the auditions in Rome, funded by mom and dad, who in the meantime were continuing to make great sacrifices for me.
I arrived in Via dei Gracchi, where the auditions were held, with mum Caterina and dad Vito. There were many guys like me who were hoping for something positive without expecting anything, trying not to have too many illusions.
At the beginning I was also quite calm, it could not be much different from singing on stage. Anxiety began to rise as my turn approached. And here they call my name: “Boschetto?”.
I get up and go into the studio where the boys were singing. There he was waiting for me, Roberto Cenci, who looked at me and asked me: “Dear Boschetto, what are you letting us hear today?”: I had chosen ‘Ti Cerchero’ ‘by Gigi Finizio and Melodrama by Andrea Bocelli.
‘Thank you very much’ was the only thing Roberto Cenci told me when I finished singing. All there? But how had I done? Was I okay? I had no idea but, climbing the stairs, Pannocchia, who was the manager who accompanied us, tells me that I have to study a song within thirty minutes. What song? ‘The Winner Takes It All’ of ABBA. To help me there was Luca Pitteri, a vocal coach who collaborated with AMICI and who at that time worked for Ti Lascio Una Canzone.
They gave me a CD player and I started to listen and study the song, and after exactly thirty minutes they called me back, we went down again in the studio and Roberto Cenci was still waiting for me. ‘Please, start’ he said, and the base started. I cannot say if I sang well, I do not remember anything other than the fact that somehow, they let me guess that I was inside the program, I had succeeded, but I tried not to build too many castles in the air as we returned home. What I did not know was that while I was inside singing the Winner Takes It All, outside my mother Caterina and Pannocchia spoke and he said: ‘Ignazio is in the program, madam!’ But they did not even tell me. Of course, I had a positive feeling, but how positive is the presentiment of one who is pessimistic. After a few days they called me back telling me that I had to go back to Rome. I did not know why, but already only the phone call, it filled me with joy. Maybe I had to take another test? I know it may sound strange, but I really did not know what to expect. Then in reality the reason for the summons to Rome was to tell me that I had been taken, I was in the cast of Ti Lascio Una Canzone.
Bravo, Ignazio, you’re in! What does Piero remember about the Audition….
What do I remember from the audition?
I remember that it was in Via dei Gracchi in Rome, that I arrived there with La Voce Del Silenzio and the unfailing Un Amore Così Grande and that with the suits that my father bought me, I felt like a king.
‘Mr. Barone, we’ll let you know’ they told Dad when I finished singing. After five days, the longest of my life, they call and say: ‘Prepare these five pieces for the next audition.’ Those five tracks were:
Sei Nell’Anima of Gianna Nannini,
La Voce Del Silenzio,
Un Amore Così Grande
Voglio Vivere Così
Domenica E’ Sempre Domenica
The aim was to test myself on different genres, of course, to understand which one was the most suitable for me. So, I get to the recording studio in Rome and start singing. Only shortly thereafter, they stop the music. The first so, the second so and I was already demoralized: if a test does not make you even to the refrain is not a good sign. The first thing I thought was that I did not go well. At the third track I attack the refrain, ‘Un Amore Così …….” and they stop the musical base. When I left the recording room and arrived in the mixer room, I found dad with my brother and a friend who had come to Cosenza with us at the Tour Music Fest, all three beautiful smiling, quiet. I died and they are happy. There is something wrong. Roberto Cenci looks at me and tells me: “Bravo, Piero: you are inside the program.” But I really believed it only when they brought me to the seamstress.
Bravo Piero you’re in too. Actually, thinking back, did anyone ever doubt they would get in with those three amazing voices.
So what happens next is like watching a train go by. Everything is moving fast and coming into place. The competition has begun, and people are starting to understand who these three boys are. Not just some kid who came to a competition with hopes, no they were three kids with voices that could knock you out. The producers, directors everyone around them is feeling something special. The next thought is what do we do with amazing voices like theirs?
To see where this is all going, let’s return to Piero who will begin by telling us what happened with the Rehearsals….
Ti Lascio Una Canzone was aired in the Ariston Theater in Sanremo, but the first rehearsals for the transmission we made in Rome starting in March.
Upon landing at Fiumicino, there was a coach from the editorial staff waiting for us. We were still just a group of kids who did not know each other, we came from different parts of Italy, and we were different ages. I did not know what to expect.
I get on this bus and the first person I immediately notice is a nuisance who sang (sang from morning to night, in continuation), who screamed, screamed, was never silent, never stopped. It went on all the way, I cannot forget it, especially because from Fiumicino to Rome center there is about an hour’s drive. All that time talking, screaming and singing, damn him.
Arrival at the hotel it was not difficult to start meeting other guys. But do you know how certain things go? It was easy for people in the same room to communicate with each other. But I wanted to get to know the others, so alone, I went down in the hall, and I found Luigi Fronte, who was a little one for me because I was fifteen, Micaela Foti and the guy who was singing on the bus.
‘Hi, pleasure, I’m Piero’, I introduce myself.
‘Hi, I’m Manuela.’
And this other one? ‘I am Ignazio, presents himself.’
With Ignazio from the first moment, a strong relationship has been established. What do you mean? We were looking for each other. We were always together: I, him and Luigi. Luigi was the mascot, the little one who was with us. We rehearsed with Ignazio, we talked, we joked. Maybe because he was Sicilian like me. Gianluca, I did not know him right away, there was not a great bond from the beginning, he built himself with time.
From that very first Wednesday of trials, I remember perfectly because I seemed to see the same images of the choir: I and Ignazio sitting on the left and around a lot of females. I sang, ‘Non Ti Scordar Di Me,’ at the first episode and ‘Mamma’ at the second, ‘Granada’ at the third.
We sang on Saturday night on Sunday I had the flight back to Sicily. Monday, Denise was preparing all the things to learn, she told me the pages to study, ‘Of history, do this.’ ‘I have stressed the words to remember.’ I arrived at school on Tuesday morning, I did all the interrogations and left the following day.
When I got to the rehearsals, we had to have already prepared the pieces that had been assigned to us. The editorial staff sent us all Monday and we had to study them at home for the next installment.
On Monday, between the end of the third episode and the beginning of the fourth, I get the text of ‘Un Amore Così Grande’ to sing alone – so far, all normal – and of ‘’O Sole Mio’ divided into three parts. What will this thing be?
In which it is said that alone you can go far, but in company even more. And it’s even more fun.
Piero, I think you boggle Ignazio’s mind. Slow down for a minute and let the others tell what happened to them. Ignazio seems to have some other concerns….
How much do you run Piero!
He is already on the fourth installment and I’m still here thinking about how nervous I was that night. It was April 4, 2009, the evening of the start of the program. Who had ever faced a television experience? It is also true that this agitation of television I only had it at the beginning. Yes, we were all aware that this was television, but for the ingenuity we had at that age, for us it was like singing in the home theater. And then, I had already seen theaters and stages. The thing that made me understand that there was something different was to see all the famous guests. But for the rest, we realized little of the difference.
Even stranger was that until then I had arrived as quiet as usual. Perhaps also because in the previous week I had the opportunity to meet my fellow adventurers, and I had immediately linked with Veronica Liberati, Sonia Mosca and Piero Barone, a Sicilian boy like me who did a little the kind that belonged to me. I had also known Gianluca Ginoble but I attended him less because he was part of the group of ‘jocks’ (even today we take it around because some remained so!)
‘La Nostra Favola’ was my debut song on the first episode, I even got the words wrong, but it went very well. On returning to Marsala, I clearly felt that things were changing, people recognized me, but I tried to take everything with great humility. The first rule for me has always been to keep my feet on the ground. The more weeks passed, the more people recognized me, but I tried to remain the same as always.
To get ready for rehearsals, the week before the episode, they gave us the songs to study for the evening. And at the third night I get the songs that I would have to sing the following Saturday, at the fourth episode. There was something strange. There were songs that I would have done alone, but also ‘’O Sole Mio that’ I would have to sing with two other guys.
What news was that?
Okay, so it seems Ignazio has it together. He understands the situation and what is expected of him. Actually, not very different from what he was used to in competition except for the special guests and this strange trio thing. And what did Gianluca think about the rehearsals….
Ignazio, I do not believe you were amazed by that news! In my opinion, the earthquake-Ignazio was not astonished, but he surprised others. At the audition, I told you, I have no memory of having seen neither he nor Piero. But once the selections were over, we were all put together in Rome, I do not remember in which hotel, from where we started by coach to go to rehearsals with the RAI orchestra.
Here, from there it was impossible not to notice Ignatius. We were a total of about thirty kids with their parents, and he was screaming, singing, making a mess, he alone seemed to be the choirs of the southern corner of Rome (football team) all together. Ignazio has always been like that, even today he is, he will never lose this way even at the age of fifty, and that’s what makes him special.
And Piero? Of him, I’m sorry to admit it, I have no particular memories of that period. We were all in the same hotel, but we were many and I tied up with other guys first. But there was a nice climate, we all have a lot of fun together.
Of the Ti Lascio Una Canzone period, I also remember another emotion, that of the long journey I did every week by car from Roseto to Sanremo.
My week was organized like this: on Monday and Tuesday I went to school, I was doing the eighth grade, and on Wednesday morning between six and seven we went to Sanremo with my father. The time to arrive and the tests were announced for three days, until Friday. On Saturday there was the transmission and on Sunday morning we left for Roseto. It was a long journey, a bit for the many hours in the car and the miles we did every week, a bit because I was away from home, in the hotel, away from the rest of my family and all my friends. But I’ve never been sad, I never complained, because I was so happy to sing.
On the first trip to Sanremo I remember the arrival. What do I mean? The first episode of the broadcast would have aired on Saturday 4 April. I arrived at the hotel on Monday, March 30th, while everyone else arrived on Thursday. There was nobody, the desert. Of the other trips I remember Andre Bocelli. When in March we started the rehearsals in Rome, I spent Tuesday afternoons, strictly only after the homework, to listen to his CDs, and I continued to do it also in the car to Sanremo. That’s how I learned all his repertoire. ‘Do you know this?’ they asked me to see how far I could know his songs. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I know all of them by heart:’
Among other things, from mid-January to mid-March of that year, ‘TV Sorrisi e Canzoni’ had published every week a disc of the discography of Bocelli, consisting of ten CDs. Every Monday I went to the newsagent and bought the newspaper with the attachment. Imagine a child of thirteen who goes to the newsstand, punctual and excited because I was very happy, to buy a CD of a musical genre that his peers do not even know exists. But I was like that, I was really in love with that music. At that time, we say that it was as if each of us three had a role in transmission.
Piero was the Claudio Villa of the situation, Ignazio was Massimo Ranieri and Albano, and I was Bocelli. It was like having entered a little in one part and I became even more passionate about Bocelli’s music, which had become for me an idol and an inspiration.
My idol, however, was absolutely forbidden on school days, Monday and Tuesday, the only two who were free from the commitments of the TV. Ti Lascio Una Canzone started on 4 April 2009 and ended on 30 May, a period that coincided with the school months in which I had to prepare for the eighth-grade exam. Before that, there had been rehearsals in Rome throughout the month of March.
From March to the end of May, it was impossible to study on the days dedicated to rehearsals. I did homework and school questions on Monday and Tuesday, before returning to Sanremo. I told you, at school I have always been a lazy man, but despite all that year I managed to keep my average, in some matters I had the capacity six and some other seven. At the school interviews with the parents before the exams, my father heard the same thing from all the teachers: ‘All right, he kept the average.’ They were not telling me that I was a genius, I never was, but I managed to do well despite my commitments. So, my dad was satisfied.
From May 30th, when the broadcast ended, I had time to prepare for the eighth-grade exam, which went well.
If I really have to tell it all, what hurt me at the time were the comments of some of my peers in the country, who said that I was promoted only because I went on television. Imagine: I was thirteen, I had lived a dream, I had committed myself to be able to meet all the deadlines at school and then those comments come. Fortunately, that summer took another turn.
It started taking it on Monday before the episode of April 25, 2009, when I got the songs that I had to prepare and I saw that there was one, ‘’O Sole Mio,’ divided into three parts. Of course, a little strange it seemed to me. Almost all of us had made duets in transmission, but no trio had been composed until that moment.
I had no idea what to expect. Maybe I did not even ask. The important thing, I told you, was to sing and have fun.
So, The Audition is over, but the Rehearsals go on. Soon everything will change. No one could even imagine what would happen next.
That was quite a journey from home to Via dei Gracchi and on to Sanremo. The thoughts of how it would be are now in the past. Now it’s time to concentrate on what will happen next. The guys are in place to meet their destiny but are they prepared for what lies ahead. And are their families ready for what will happen in their lives and the lives of all their family members. It’s all moving to fast now. The train has left the station and it is now in high speed. Next stop Stardom. See you there!
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
*Excerpts from Il Volo, Un’avventura straordinaria, La nostra storia.
Come in and share the love of life, friends and Il Volo!
As we know, Gianluca never had singing lessons and never competed in any singing competition. He was discovered while singing with his choir and that led him to the stage of Ti Lasio Una Canzone. So, there was no sacrifice by his parents but don’t think this is where the story of sacrifice ends.
