Two years ago, I wrote a story about the history of music in Naples in order for the fans to understand why the guys sing Opera, in their case Operatic pop or popera and Neapolitan songs and why their Bel Canto worked!
This story was really two stories in one. It was about Il Volo and their music, and it was about where their music came from and the people who made this music famous.
I am going to give you a small portion of that story so that we can follow this journey that will lead us Beyond Bel Canto.
Italy is an emotion and in the center of that emotion is a passion and that passion is Naples. Naples is like no other place in Italy or, for that matter, no other place in the world. Neapolitans are the most diversified people in all of Italy. Naples is a feeling you can never shake but, above all…
Naples is music!
The first Neapolitan songs as we know them, date back to 1835 but the golden age of song, in Naples, was from 1890 – 1910 when immigration to America began. Men left with the dream of a better life but what they found was even harder than what they left. They left their homes and families, and, in some cases, they never went home again. They found themselves alone with nothing but their music.
Many Neapolitan songs were written about these times. Most of these immigrants lived in New York City in lower Manhattan in an area which became known as Little Italy. Small music companies would put on one act plays. Little vignettes. The stories were always the same, they were about home and family. They were about the mother they would never see again.
In 1903, Enrico Caruso made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
Caruso’s debut on November 23, 1903, was in a new production of Rigoletto. A few months later, he began his lifelong association with the Victor Talking Machine Company. He made his first American record on February 1st, 1904, having signed a lucrative financial deal with Victor. Thereafter, his recording career ran in tandem with his Met career, both bolstering each other, until his death in 1921.
Torna A Surriento ~ Not Caruso! Actually, the version I prefer!
Caruso was the first international singer to come to America. He introduced America to Italian Music. He loved to sing Neapolitan songs and they were so popular that when he performed at the MET at the end of the show he would come out and sing these songs. Among these songs were “’O sole Mio,” “Torna Sorrento” and “Santa Lucia.” As a result, Neapolitan songs became a part of an opera singer’s repertoire and every opera singer after Caruso would sing opera and Neapolitan songs.
Music in Naples remained the same until after World War I. At one-point singers were taxed for singing but that’s a story for another time!
With the arrival of US troops in World War II, Naples woke up to a new beat. The US troops introduced them to the buzz and rhythm of jazz and boogie, and Naples immediately liked it. It took little time for performers and songwriters to understand how these new US imports could benefit them.
Now it was time for a new name to appear in Neapolitan music. Enter, Renato Carosone. Carosone introduced Naples to music they could dance to and so Naples got up and danced and never looked back until the late 1970s when a new movement was started in Naples.
I would not do Neapolitan Music or Il Volo justice if I didn’t mention Pino Daniele.
Pino Daniele was an Italian singer-songwriter, and guitarist, whose influences covered a wide number of genres, including pop, blues, jazz, and Italian and Middle Eastern music.
Daniele made his debut in the Italian music world in 1977 with the album Terra mia, which was a successful mix of Neapolitan tradition and Blues. Daniele defined his music with the term “tarumbò”, which indicated a mix of tarantella, blues and rumba.
Daniele’s talent is evident in albums like Pino Daniele (1979) but, he scored his greatest success in 1980, with “Nero a metà,” which was noted by some authorities as the hallmark of the rebirth of Neapolitan song.
Daniele wrote and sang his own music, and this music was known in America.
I started this piece by saying Italy is an emotion and Naples a passion. If Naples is a passion, that passion was Pino Daniele. Songs like Napulè, Quando and Quando Chiove are just a few examples of his songs. Examples I chose because I know you know these songs. They are very deep passionate songs. Many artists have sung Daniele’s songs but in order to do justice to a Pino Daniele song you have to bring passion, emotion and Neapolitan dialect to the song.
Enter Ignazio Boschetto….
Ignazio’s tribute to Daniele is amazing and emotional.
Ignazio’s rendition of Alleria is one of the most beautiful expressions of this song I have ever heard.
Daniele’s songs are very deep and very emotional, and you can feel the depth of the song because of the presentation of the song. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, it’s as if Daniele wrote his songs for Ignazio.
So now let’s move on to 2009 when three Italian teenage boys revolutionized the music industry and brought life back to Opera and Neapolitan music. They were the first Italian artists in history to sign a contract with a major American music label. This was unheard of! No international artist or group ever captured the ear of an American music label before even stepping foot in America! When they came to America, they had a signed Universal Music contract in hand!
They presented Operatic pop or popera to America. What is this movement? It’s singing Opera in a more classical style. While opera is very strict and regimented, popera is more ethereal it has a lighter feeling, and it moves freely. It takes away the hard edges of opera and replaces it with a more ethereal feel while still presenting the drama and the high notes of the opera. It has a more popular appeal. This along with the classical Neapolitan songs become a big draw. Why did it work? One reason is three amazing voices! If the voice wasn’t there the song wasn’t going to sell.
Over the years the guys continue to change and evolve finding new directions and taking lots of risks! With their win at Sanremo, they finally opened the last door, their front door ~ Italy. For Il Volo this was a very important win because it brought their music home!
We stop along this amazing journey to see departure points.
In 2018, it was time to crossover!
The albums keep coming, the success keeps coming and the boys have grown into very attractive young men. And now they’re ready for a new experience. The music evolves and they are ready to crossover.
In 2018 they released one of the most exciting Latin albums to come out in years. I would go so far as to say Amame is the most exciting Latin album that was ever produced. It’s opera, its rock, it’s classical, it’s pop and it never stops giving. The rhythm in songs like Noche Sin Dia is amazing. You have to move with the music. You can’t sit still.
Maldito Amor is a phenomenal experience for your ears. The delivery is smooth and beautiful. It’s one of those songs that stays with you forever.
This album is so exciting that I will not play it while I’m working because from the first note you have to get up and dance. Exciting! Exciting! Exciting!I thought about this album and how I would write about it. These three amazing guys absolutely floored me. The beat is so intense and they are spot on. I think the guys knocked it out of the box with Noche Sin Dia. With Latin music you don’t just sing it, you feel it and if you don’t feel it, you don’t cut it. This album cuts it! Good move!
As if that wasn’t enough, they follow up with Musica!
This is the album that proved that great can get greater. This album is representative of where these young men are now. It’s beautiful, it’s sensitive, it’s romantic. It’s about love. It’s about them being ready for love. It comes from deep within them. All the sweetness and humility of these guys is in this album. It moves your senses. What I am saying is they have evolved, and their voices have evolved. They’ve grown into their voices. Their voices are mature and have expanded in such an amazing way. There’s an intriguing balance in their voices. To experience this amazing evolution in voice and song you need go no further than “Be My Love.” Gianluca’s voice vibrates and expands to realms I’ve never heard before. Ignazio makes your heart stop as you journey along his notes which lead to absolute ecstasy. Piero fills all your senses and brings you to such heights that you have to stop and breathe. This is Musica che resta!
And then it’s time for a new direction! A new risk! Il Volo sings Morricone was that new direction. No, they didn’t leave Bel Canto behind, instead, they moved forward and added Morricone’s music to their repertoire.
This project started with their desire to pay tribute to Ennio Morricone. What better way than to present an album of his Academy Award winning songs.
Morricone died at the beginning of the COVID pandemic and because of this, it gave the guys the opportunity to go through his songs and compile a list of songs that would give a true representation of who Morricone was. In the beginning of their career, the guys sang E Più Ti Penso accompanied by Ennio Morricone.
Most of Morricone songs where movie theme songs like The Ecstasy of Gold from The Good, the Bad and, the Ugly. The guys along with the Morricone’s family and in particular Andrea Morricone put words to music to form an album which has become the theme of their new World Tour, IL Volo Sings Morricone.
There are so many wonderful songs in this album that it is hard to single one out. The Ecstasy of Gold is Gianluca’s favorite. Se from Cinema Paradiso is Piero’s favorite and Here’s to You from Sacco & Venzetti is Ignazio’s favorite.
And so, we move forward.
This year the guys recorded a new album Tres Voce Un Alma. This album like Amame is phenomenal. It includes some very beautiful Spanish songs like Abrazame and Tan Enamorados. And let’s not forget the Portuguese song, Come Vai Voce. The tour that followed in South America proved that they are phenomenal entertainers whether singing in Italian, English or Spanish!
So, I touched on the different directions they’ve gone in over the last 14 years, but now we must look to the future!
A New Direction!
Almost 15 years have passed since they came together and what they’ve done in those years is amazing. When they began they were unique. There was no one else like them. And they began to grow first musically by leaps and bounds. And they were constantly changing. They were always ready to try something new! From Bel Canto they formed relationships and feelings more musically than personally. They started to climb, not to stardom, that they always had, they climbed the ladder of success. Over the years they grew together in their relationship, and they grew apart in their music. They began to feel their music in their bones. They began to understand how their music works together but also how it works apart. In music you need freedom. In Bel Canto they have freedom because they feel it in their blood, and no one can separate them from it. But now they are ready. Each man has found themselves Beyond Bel Canto. They are now expressing who they are in relationship to their music.
It’s the dawn of a new day. It’s the beginning of finding a new way of keeping all that you treasure in place while exploring the road ahead. So, on the dawn of this new day, we find a new idea. An unsual idea. A new approach. Staying together while being apart. And even in this they are successful. Most of the time when a group comes to this awareness they part ways. Buy no not our guys, they are coming together in music, in life and in their relationship with a new approach to concerts. A sharing of ideas and feelings and a sincere support for one another’s music and talent. An amazing feat that only three totally phenomenal guys could accomplish.
They have been together as long as they have been apart.They know only one life, for good or for bad, it’s the life they’ve shared for 15 years. The important thing is it’s been very good for them.
Is it risky? For some yes, but for them no. They’ve taken so many risks in their career and they always succeeded. Ignazio might say but there was “Eurovision.” To me Eurovision was a win. A success. If the rules had changed one year earlier instead of one year later, they would have won.
Anything good is worth fighting for. And fighters they are. Consider how they mulled over Sanremo to go or not to go. That’s who they are. They are risk takers, but they think everything through. They don’t need managers or producers they know how to handle everything. They consider every possibility and then move ahead when they find the right fit.
While they were on tour in South America I was touring South America and I listened to their concerts whenever I was able to get them on board the cruise ship. I was reading everything that everyone was posting and what I noticed was every night after their concerts and on their free days, they were in Ignazio’s room recording. I couldn’t understand why they were doing this while traveling from city to city and concert to concert. What were they recording? New songs? Maybe there was going to be a new album. If so, why not wait until you get home and record it in the studio. But they weren’t recording songs, they were recording sounds. New sounds! Their new sounds! A new way of presenting their voices to us. They took the songs we were familiar with, and they recorded them with their sound. We already know what the voices are about, but they wanted us to hear their personal sound. They were preparing for their new concerts! They wanted us to hear what they hear when they sing! They wanted us to feel what they feel when they sing! They took songs like Grenada, broke it into pieces and presented it in a new way! Classical, Soul and Pop! Suddenly a voice that we know and a song that we know becomes a new song with a new expression.
Right out the gate we have Piero our beautiful spinto tenor singing Granada as we know it as we are used to it but with just a little more feeling and a lot more voice!
Gianluca stuns us with his version of Granada. He brings back visions of Sinatra singing Granada. I’ve included Sinatra’s version here so you can understand what I’m saying. At point 1:00 in the video you can hear Sinatra sing what Gianluca is singing and understand what I’m saying.
Gianluca I know you admire Sinatra and that is well accepted and received but honestly, if Sinatra was alive he would admire you! He never had your range!
And then there is our beautiful lyrical tenor, Ignazio! Ignazio always lets us ride on his notes to ecstasy, but this is different. His voice has that extra punch. His voice is so smooth, so clear, so defined and his range is outrageous! He pierces us with each note and pulls us forward with a rhythm that evades definition! So natural! Such ease! A production in itself. Gianluca said “Ignazio is soulful. He can do anything!” So true! So true!
They’ve taken Bel Canto and turned it into a new sound so you can hear the songs we know and the words we know but with a fresh new approach. In their voices we feel, and we understand who they are and their new direction. They wanted to show us who they are individually. Not that we never heard them sing alone before, but they wanted us to feel the song in a new way.
What does it mean and where are they coming from with this new sound. It is three amazing men showing us they are more than three amazing men, with three phenomenal voices. They show us collectively and individually who they are with an amazing new sound.
I’m sure much of this new direction took shape during Covid when the guys had lots of time to think about their future and where their music would fit in it!
Let’s look at each guys new sound.
Which one of the three has stayed closest to his voice over the years. No doubt, it’s Piero because Piero always had a direction. It was always about his love of opera, and since Covid if anything good came out of it for Piero, it was the opportunity to study more. We find Piero ready to step on the stage of any opera house in the world.
Ignazio spent his time during Covid studying sound, how it works in a recording studio and all the elements of producing a song. This is how he was able to do the recording in his room during the South American Tour. His voice is a new sound in itself! He’s taking all that’s inside him, all that he feels and he’s laying it on the table for us to experience. He opens his heart to us in his music. His expression is from his heart, and he delivers a new sound that is even more phenomenal than before! Very soulful! The sincerity in his music was always there it’s just more apparent now that he has the freedom to express it in his own way!
For Gianluca he was finally able to take piano lessons. We all know that for Gianluca every day is about finding new music. During this time, he found his niche. He wanted to come closer to American music. Elvis and Sinatra. This was always something that was there for Gianluca but now he was really ready to move forward.
What do the guys have to say about all of this. Our Daniela translated the interview from SORRISI E CANZONI TV. In this article the guys talk about where they are and how they got here. I am not including the whole article.
How did the idea of these two evenings come about?
Ignazio: Our personal tastes go beyond what we sing. We are experiencing an evolution in our group.
Gianluca: Il Volo remains the priority, however the lineup of the two evenings has been designed in a coherent way to show who we are.
Piero is the tenor of the group, he studies opera and dreams of one day interpreting for it.
I, on the other hand, love American music like Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, John Mayer with his guitars, but also Italian songwriting like Fabrizio De André.
Ignazio has a soulful voice and can do anything.
You will sing both alone and with other artists. Can you give us some examples?
Gianluca: I will sing Geordie with Madame (Italian singer), because we both love De André, with Irama (Italian singer) La Cura by Battiato (Italian singer-songwriter) and with Annalisa (Italian singer) Shallow by Lady Gaga.
Piero: I will sing Miserere with Mario Biondi, and with Gianna Nannini Meravigliosa Creatura.
Ignazio: I will sing with Francesca Michielin (Italian singer). I know her artistically. She is very good at reaching people with her words. We will talk about love.
And then with Mario Biondi I will sing Natural Woman and Sei Bellissima, alone with the guitar. Ah, I will also duet with Orietta Berti! (long career Italian singer).”
Piero: And we will sing with Pooh (Italian group), we will almost be a soccer team!
Gianluca: We would like to say that we are three singers, not just three tenors. But obviously we will also re-propose our classics.
Piero: We will open the show with Granada, but in different versions: classical, soul and pop, us three, like our personalities.
The last time we met was October 2019, to celebrate the collection of THE BEST OF TEN YEARS. In these four years, three of which due to the pandemic, what has happened in your lives?
Piero: We have dedicated ourselves to ourselves. This stop has helped me a lot to clarify my ideas and -set myself up- for the future. I have deepened my studies of opera.
Gianluca: I rediscovered reading and studied the piano, as well as being with my family.
Ignazio: I too started studying, I fell in love with sound, with how a recording studio works, with how a song is produced. I spent time with my loved ones.
For years we have been in the midst of a storm of commitments, emotions and compromises. It was important to stop and understand what we wanted to do.
Gianluca: We are working on a new album. Then in October we will conclude the dates of the world tour that started in May 2022. After three years of standstill, we are back in a big way, without neglecting any continent. We have been everywhere: Australia, Japan, South America, USA, Europe and now we have added a date in Petra, Jordan. We have done more than 100 concerts. It is our longest tour ever. We had so much fun. We returned to the stage with a new awareness, enjoying every moment.
Piero: The public waited for our return for four years, they didn’t abandon us. This is a further confirmation of the people’s affection.
So, the guys have told us what their new direction is. Now, I must change direction and follow a new idea with three amazing guys who are always changing yet always remaining the same. Bel Canto will always be their MO but from here on in, they will also share their personal musical journey with us. Their unique voices will now be unique new sounds that will draw us in in a whole new way! Next week I will present the new concerts and the new sound Beyond Bel Canto.
For you listening pleasure….
The Concert at Verona Arena
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.
On May 16th, the weekly SORRISI E CANZONI TV was released in Italy on newsstands, publishing a beautiful interview with Il Volo, and what a thrill to see the faces of Ignazio, Gianluca and Piero on the front page!!! I translate for you:
It’s May 1st, Labor Day (in Italy). But not for everyone.
The first part of “Tutti per uno”, Il Volo’s gala which will be broadcast on Canale 5 on May 27 and June 3, will be staged at the Arena di Verona.
The next day I meet Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble in their hotel, in the heart of the city, tired, happy and above all amazed by the affection shown by the public, who undauntedly, watched the show in the rain, which lasted over three hours: “Nobody left, despite the water, and we got even more excited seeing that they all remained motionless under umbrellas”, Ignazio says, as he bites into a double chicken club sandwich with a side of fries, under the stern gaze of Gianluca and his seared salmon with white rice.
The Arena is an important place for you. In what state of mind do you go up on this stage?
GIANLUCA= “We are three leaders, but very different. With this project we felt the need to show our different personalities and vocalities”.
PIERO= “The Arena allows you to make your every wish come true, both artistically and in terms of production. Then it is a place that attracts the public and for this project we wanted a safe, already baptized place.” (means a place that already has an important name)
IGNAZIO= “It’s not just for this though. We could have done it even in a television studio. But our strength is to sing in front of the audience and charge ourselves with its emotions.”
You have just crossed the 14-year career milestone. Do you realize that half of your life you have spent together?”
GIANLUCA= “We are not related by blood, but by passion. We didn’t choose each other, but the intensity of the emotions we share on stage unites us more than anything else. We must learn to put aside ego and presumption, and listen to each other.”
PIERO= “At the beginning we were three teenagers and everyone thought they were right, we didn’t have the maturity to listen to each other. Fortunately our relationship has also matured with the chronological age.”
How did the idea of these two evenings come about?
IGNAZIO= “Our personal tastes go beyond what we sing. We are having an evolution in our group.”
GIANLUCA=“Il Volo remains the priority, however the lineup of the two evenings has been designed in a coherent way to show who we are.
Piero is the tenor of the group, he studies opera and dreams of one day interpreting one.
I, on the other hand, love American music like Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, John Mayer with his guitars, but also Italian songwriting like Fabrizio De André.
Ignazio also has a soulful voice and can do anything.”
You will sing both alone and with other artists. Can you give us some examples?
You will sing both alone and with other artists. Can you give us some examples?
GIANLUCA= I will sing GEORDIE with Madame (Italian singer), because we both love De André, with Irama (Italian singer) LA CURA by Battiato (Italian singer-songwriter) and with Annalisa (Italian singer) SHALLOW by Lady Gaga.”
PIERO=“I will sing MISERERE with Mario Biondi, and with Gianna Nannini MERAVIGLIOSA CREATURA.”
IGNAZIO=“Instead I will sing with Francesca Michielin (Italian singer). I know her artistically, she is very good at reaching people with her words. We will talk about love. And then with Mario Biondi I will sing NATURAL WOMAN and SEI BELLISSIMA, alone with the guitar. Ah, I will also duet with Orietta Berti! (long career Italian singer).”
PIERO= “And we will sing with Pooh (Italian group), we will almost be a soccer team!”
GIANLUCA= “We would like to say that we are three singers, not just three tenors. But obviously we will also re-propose our classics.”
PIERO= “We will open the show with GRANADA, but in different versions: classical, soul and pop, three like our personalities.”
Federica Panicucci will be on stage with you.
PIERO= “When we created this gala, we thought of a female figure who would help us show small features of our character. We couldn’t ask each other questions or celebrate ourselves. When her name came up, we all agreed. It is correct and balanced. It is the first time that we work together with her.”
Did she put you in line?
PIERO= “We don’t use the hunchback and we don’t follow a script, but the authors give us small inputs to bond with. Then maybe we change the subject and improvise, but Federica is very well prepared, a great professional.”
GIANLUCA= “While they were trying on the lights, she called me to ask me for advice on the dress. I told her that ours would have glitter and so she too chose a long sparkling dress. She put us at ease, we talked about the most and at the very least, it was like we were at home singing with friends. Federica was a nice surprise.”
ALL FOR ONE was the motto of the three musketeers. What’s yours?
PIERO= “We don’t have one, but just before going on stage we always shake hands and look into each other’s eyes. The nice thing is that we encourage each other, especially if one of us is less excited, or has a moment of discouragement, as happened to me yesterday evening: when I reached the last four songs I was mentally tired. Between the rain and humidity, I saw the audience suffer and I felt bad. We sang 32 songs for over three hours in the rain. I couldn’t take it anymore, but Ignazio encouraged me. Unity is our strength.”
What is your routine in Verona?
GIANLUCA= “Even in this we are different. Like Piero, I get up early, I always train and eat healthy, but he loves having everything under control, he is precise and doesn’t rest for a moment. Ignazio, on the other hand, is genius and reckless.”
PIERO= “I get up at 7:30 am, I train (I asked for an exercise bike in the room to pedal 20 minutes before going to bed, because I’m training for the New York marathon), then I have a protein breakfast, rigorously alone and in silence, because I read the news on my computer.
I am very organized and respect the timetables. Before I lived with more anxiety, now I enjoy the journey and arrive on stage serene.”
IGNAZIO= “Before, I too was careful about what I ate and trained constantly. Then my dad passed away within a month. I wasn’t prepared. When these things happen, you change.
Now I try to do what makes me feel good. I’m lucky enough to do what I like and if something goes wrong, patience.
Why do I have to have trouble, or suffer if it rains? We just give our best, tomorrow we don’t know what will happen.
I want to live like this with the sun on my forehead.! (This is a phrase that is part of a song that Piero will perform in the Arena)”
The last time we met was October 2019, to celebrate the collection of THE BEST OF TEN YEARS. In these four years, three of which due to the pandemic, what has happened in your lives?
PIERO= “We have dedicated ourselves to ourselves. This stop has helped me a lot to clarify my ideas and -set myself up- for the future. I have deepened my studies on opera.”
GIANLUCA= “I rediscovered reading and studied the piano, as well as being with my family.”
IGNAZIO= “I too started studying, I fell in love with sound, with how a recording studio works, with how a song is produced. I spent time with my loved ones.
For years we have been in the midst of a storm of commitments, emotions and compromises. It was important to stop and understand what we wanted to do.”
So let’s look to the future, what awaits you after these two evenings?
GIANLUCA= “We are working on a new album. Then in October we will conclude the dates of the world tour that started in May 2022. After three years of standstill, we are back in a big way, without neglecting any continent. We have been everywhere: Australia, Japan, South America, USA, Europe and now we have added a date in Petra, Jordan. We have done more than 100 concerts. It is our longest tour ever. We had so much fun. We returned to the stage with a new awareness, enjoying every moment.”
PIERO= “The public waited for our return for four years, they didn’t abandon us. This is a further confirmation of the people’s affection.”
As usual I’m speechless, but did you read correctly??? Petra in Jordan, wow, wow… but they haven’t said the date yet.
Meanwhile, May 27th is approaching and we will see one of the evenings on Canale 5 and on the same day, Il Volo will be in live concert in Krakow!!
See you soon: Daniela 🤗
Today’s story is about the guys meeting, ironing out the wrinkles, developing a friendship and becoming Brothers!
When these three young men started out, they were 15 and 16 years old. Think of being 15 or 16 years old and you have a dream, and someone tells you that that dream, needs to be shared. To fulfill that dream you have to leave your family, your friends, your home, you have to go to another country and, you have to share this journey with two people who you really know nothing about except that they had the same dream you did. You have to trust that the decision that was made by you and your family, was the right decision. If not, it’s back to square one! You’re going to be lonely and, you have to learn to survive without the people you love. So, you learn to lean on one another. That dependence turns into a friendship and that friendship into a brotherhood. It enabled them to trust enough to collaborate and perfect something truly amazing. Something that revolutionized the music industry. Let me go further by showing you a collaboration by these three amazing, very, very talented, young men that is so unreal that it boggles your mind. This is a collaboration of love. You will notice that the whole Orchestra is in awe and Giampiero Grani can’t stop smiling. Stop and listen to this performance of “Por Una Cabeza”.
Look at how they smile at one another during the performance. A smile that says yes that’s it! Their faces are ablaze! Their expressions let one another know that it works. And, finally, when it’s over, they are so excited they can hardly contain themselves. Look at how their faces are lit up! Their joy is shown in their amazing, smiles and their embraces! This says it all! They are brothers who love one another!
To help you understand this relationship better, I am including an article from October 10, 2019, which was translated by Daniela and, explains in the guys’ own words how they grew together.
The well-known Italian magazine SORRISI E CANZONI TV, dedicated the cover photo and presented a beautiful interview of Il Volo by Solange Savagnone. But before we begin, let’s see what the guys were up to!
Budapest! The stained-glass window of the room overlooks a square in the historic center. Inside, in a secluded area, a group of people are in tears from laughing. Ignazio has just hit the center, on the third attempt, throwing a cap with his thumb into a mug of beer on the opposite side of the table.
Gianluca, between a miso soup and shrimp in tempura, interrupts the jokes to greet a young Greek tourist who approaches to ask for a selfie. And while Ignazio sings the tune of a robiola commercial and Piero chats with his friend Priscilla Presley, Michele Torpedine uses his chopsticks from his Japanese dinner to present his first career in life, that of a drummer.
The scene seems crazy to us but it’s perfectly normal for the guys.
“We like to say that it is ten years of friendship! Music and loyalty are the most important thing,” explains Gianluca. “We are three leaders and sometimes it is not easy to live together, but we have grown together and, we have helped each other, both professionally and humanly. We are like brothers.” And that sums it up but it’s only the beginning of my article.
The exact day in which their partnership was born was April 25th, 2009, the third episode of Ti Lascio Una Canzone. But of course, this is the part of the story that everyone knows. So, without delay let us go to the interview.
How have you changed since then?
Ignazio: In addition to changing physically, we have grown professionally. On stage, however, we feel the same adrenaline of the early days. Singing for us is not a job, but a passion, a fun, a way to feel complete.
The first time you met, what did you think of each other?
Piero: Ignazio was unpleasant to me. I remember him on the bus he was singing, but he was also the first one I tied with. Gianluca, instead, was in the group of dudes ……
Ignazio: I never thought about this, Gianluca was on the sidelines, but then it was natural to be together.
Gianluca: When you’re small and you’re on Rai1, you do everything they tell you. The program lasted nine weeks and we were rivals, a bit of envy was created and, in those days we exchanged only a few words. But the success we received was incredible.
What’s left of those kids?
Piero: Everything. We are always us and we have fun at every concert. We have the same passion and spontaneity of those times. Before going on stage, we laugh about everything. We do not follow a script. We help each other and we get excited a little. We are not spoiled. We have certain needs, just because we need them to stay healthy and do concerts well. The responsibility we have towards those who work with us, and the public, is enormous. If one of us gets sick and misses two or three concerts, it’s a disaster. So, to avoid the risk, maybe we avoid going to the disco.
Ignazio: Also, because we always sing live. This summer, for example, after the concert in Palermo, I didn’t go out with friends, because the next day we had another concert in Taormina.
Gianluca: Musically speaking, we are always in search of perfection, and we strive to grow and make people understand who we are.
How can you grow as brothers without being brothers?
Piero: It was difficult, but lately our relationship has improved. Before, we were spiteful, now we openly say to each other, what is wrong. There is no grudge between us.
Gianluca: There is a difference between being together for work, or by choice. In the first case there is a little tension, when instead we are together to have fun, it is another thing, indeed we should do it more often.
You have very different characters. What is your way of living love, family, friendship and social media?
Ignazio: I am the least social of the three. I know it’s important to keep my private for myself. A little privacy, it takes. My character is particular, I am sensitive, but very strong and hard. I do everything, but you must respect me.
Gianluca: I am a little narcissistic because I need confirmation. In kindergarten, I always asked the teacher twice if I was good. And this insecurity, I brought it with me, until today.
Every day I speak to my parents, my dearest ones, my girlfriend. I vent with them, as well as with Piero and Ignazio. We love each other. On social media, if I put lots of photos, the fans are happy, the haters are a little less, but I continue to be myself.
Piero: We can’t hide anything between us. If I lie, they notice it. With the people I know and choose, I am very generous, open, sunny. But I only trust my best friend, my brother and my sister. I have a big flaw: for me, either it’s white or it’s black, I give you my heart, but if you do me a wrong, you’re dead.
Gianluca: I have learned that we must try to understand why a person behaves in a certain way. I never hold a grudge. Piero instead gets angry, for the criticisms and the free offenses.
Piero: In fact, before I used social media so much, now only for work things.
The secrets of your success?
Piero: The first is that we study a lot. The second is our manager, Torpedine, who has been following us for years. The third is the music we sing.
Gianluca: But talent and work alone are not enough, sometimes timing counts. To be recognized, you have to be special, and we were the first to perform at a very young age, in bel canto: this struck people’s hearts.
Who are the hottest fans?
Gianluca: Perhaps the South Americans. (Torpedine told us that in Mexico, fans broke through the window of the hotel where they were staying.)
Piero: But even in Bulgaria, they showed us unexpected affection. And the Japanese, apparently so rigid, go wild during the concerts and come to the front of the stage.
Gianluca: Let’s say that with our performances, we help the public to free themselves. We tend to make a very engaging event, not a serious concert.
How can you not let this go to your head?
Gianluca: With intelligence you cannot get carried away by the wave of success, but the people who follow you and the support of the family matter a lot. Staying attached to the origins is the most important thing. If you let it go to your head, then people will notice it.
What are you missing when you’re on tour?
Gianluca: Normal life.
Ignazio: Waking up at home, carrying the dog around, everyday life.
Piero: After the concert at the Arena di Verona, I went home one day and enjoyed that moment, like never before. I felt an immense pleasure in going to the laundry and to the yogurt shop: it was how I did it for the first time.
Do you want to try your hand at some other musical genre?
Gianluca: If we changed genre, we would no longer be us and people would no longer recognize our music.
In ten years, how do you see yourself?
Ignazio: Ten years ago, they asked us the same thing and we didn’t know what to answer. Our way of thinking has changed: so, I would have answered married, with children, today not. Situations change.
Piero: I don’t know, new artists are born every day, the future is a question mark. We hope not to disappoint the fans.
Who do you want to thank for what you are now?
Piero: If today we celebrate ten years of career it is thanks to the fans, we have grown together and we hope to celebrate with them 50 years of career!
Gianluca: We thank the musical heritage we have, the bel canto, which has allowed us to travel around the world.
Ignazio: Words are not enough to thank all those who deserve it. I say thanks to those who believed in us, Michele Torpedine, our manager, and those who work closely with us. And thanks to life, for what he has given us: voice and luck (words that are tattooed on Ignazio’s arm).
Piero: And thanks to Sorrisi for this cover and for having always supported us.
How about when you are on tour or in your hotel rooms etc.
Piero: In the room I always ask that they cover the carpet with sheets, because I am allergic and, I must preserve the voice. I always have two suitcases, a big one with all the clothes and things I need (including Sicilian vacuum-packed almonds and natural tuna in a can) and an emergency trolley, with a second dress for the concert, for safety. And an agenda on which I record the commitments. Including this interview for Sorrisi.
Ignazio: When I’m on tour, in Italy, I always carry my guitar with me, abroad, unfortunately not. I go to the gym in fact we only choose hotels with a fitness area. In the room I relax as much as possible, maybe watching a soccer game on my mobile (I support Juventus). I also play football, as an offensive midfielder, and I’m pretty good. In fact, when I’m at home, every Wednesday, I go to play with friends. And when I can, I make two tennis matches with Piero.
Gianluca: I have no special requests and I adapt easily. I am very tidy, almost maniacal, I keep everything perfectly folded and, I even line up my slippers. I am lactose intolerant and pay attention to what I eat: rice, fish, vegetables, protein snacks and for breakfast pancakes with egg whites and peanut butter. Once a week we “go” with a pizza. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink and, I have never been drunk in my life, because I don’t like losing control. I train early in the morning and go for a run. Sport has changed my character. I have become more willing and disciplined.
In the final chapter of their book,Un’avventura straordinario, La nostra storia(An Extraordinary Adventure, Our Story)the guys sum of their life story. I can’t think of a better way to sum up my story than by having them sum up their story as they did in their book where….
…. the true and only secret of the success of our three lives is told.
When they asked us to write this book, our first thought was, “Finally,” finally we can tell the truth.” In a three-minute interview you cannot tell a life, but in a book yes. And that’s what we tried to do in these pages: tell our true story.
Which is a normal story, of three guys like many who had a great passion and were lucky enough to be able to transform that passion into what today makes them live and makes them famous.
Being successful is beautiful, it would be stupid to say no after we have so dreamed and desired, but you need to quickly understand something, and that is, that it is not only our merit.
The people who follow us have a large part of that merit.
And knowing it is what gratifies us the most.
It is wonderful to know that we have shared our emotions with those who listen to us.
That’s why we work, and that’s why we try to give everything when we sing, we live in a concert or recording studio. And that’s why we do our work always with the maximum of passion, so that we can create what for us is magic, the magic of emotion that passes from our voices to people.
Fans are the reason, the only real explanation of what happened to us from 2009 till today, the records, the tours around the world, the victory at Sanremo, what we are finally living in Italy.
During a concert we would like to embrace all the people before us, one by one, we would like to be able to say: “Thank you!” with our voices to all. And we want to thank them if we are in the studio to record, if we fill the halls in concerts, if we are in the charts, if we go around the world.
Our “fans” are everything!
…. for all we have done so far, let’s say thanks to those who have followed us. And we will continue our great adventure together!
I think their interview and the book have come together to show How Strangers Became Brothers!
Join me next week as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and open the door to a new adventure!
Staying in Hungry, today I would like to share with you a letter from Adrienn Gyorffy who lives in Hungry.
Dear Ladies, Il Volo Flight Crew!
I have been reading your newsletter for a few months now, and first of all I would like to thank you for all the news and information you share. I am a new fan of the guys, and thanks to Il Volo Flight Crew I have learnt a lot from them.
I am not an extroverted person so, I have not commented on the articles, news. But now I have felt an urge to share my story with you and to start a little diary of my last and next couple of days, just for fun, for myself. So, I share my story with you. It might be interesting for you. A small piece from the other end of the world, from Hungary 🙂
Good to have you, hope you will enjoy my story.
Love, Adrienn
My journey to the land of Il Volo ~ Love at first sight
It happened sometime during the pandemic, when people lost their hope, and the well-known world of ours turned upside down. I was looking for something which is stable, predictable, comforting. And it was my childhood, the lovely memories of my first holiday in Italy…
I was about 8 in 1982, when for the first time, I stepped into the land of the “Poisonous WEST” over the Iron Curtain. To a child brought up in communist Hungary, it was like the Garden of Eden. The sun, the sea, oranges straight from the tree (we could get oranges and bananas only a few times of the year if my mom was lucky enough to get a few after hours of queuing, strictly for us, for the children. Even if she was yearning for a bite, she would never eat one as it was a great treasure), and of course Italian music.
So going back to my original story when I started losing my hope during the pandemic, I started listening to the music of my childhood, the music that my parents were listening to, Al Bano and Romina Power, Toto Cutugno, Ricchi e Poveri etc. It brought back all the lovely memories. I was searching on the web for all the old and new appearances of them, when I encountered this:
I was enchanted by the voice of the young guy. He was so cute, still his voice was a miracle. I could feel goose bumps all over my arms. So, I wrote a name into my browser: Ignazio Boschetto…… and I was lost or saved forever!
As I learned, he was not a little boy anymore, but a handsome young man, with two other remarkable young artists, Piero Barone, Gianluca Ginoble – Il Volo.
I have never been a fan type of girl. I learnt musical instruments and loved music and was listening to music all the time, when I was younger, but never had anybody I was rajong (crazy about). But now at the age of 47 it struck me, and specially the impact of their music on me. It brought back the energy, the hope, the love of life, the dreams one tends to lose as time goes by. It pulled me out from the egyszínű (solid) weekdays when I was operating as Mom only. I found my ego and have my dreams and desires back again. Their music has filled me up with vitality and it still does. When I am tired, feeling down or just lost, I listen to Il Volo and I am back to normal, or when I am feeling gracious for my life I also listen to the guys and, I get even closer to the One I have to say thank you for my wonderful life.
So here I was the new fan of Il Volo, reading all the news I could find about them, especially Il Volo Flight Crew, where I learnt their history as well. I was listening to all the interviews. Luckily the English ones were not a problem, but the Italian interviews shows their real personalities, so I decided to start learning Italian to understand them J And I also started to look for the concert venues to be able to see them live. You can imagine how furious I was when I found out at the spring of 2021 that they were in Hungary in 2019. But as a real fan (sometimes I feel like a teenager, they should be fans, not Moms with two children) I didn’t give up. Then the next obstacle was, that during Covid you cannot travel and besides all the concerts were cancelled, but miracles DO happen…
I was at Lake Balaton with my 10-year-old when scrolling the social media, I read somewhere that the only European concert which is not postponed is the one in Croatia. It is 5 hours driving from here…
I am not a spontaneous woman, especially not since I have had my children, but it struck me. I called my husband, saying that I have to go, sorted out the children with the help of my mom and bought the ticket 2 days before the concert. And YES, here I am, I am going to Il Volo concert to Opatija tomorrow!!! Whish me luck and will come back with the details of the concert soon.
