In days at the end of April, as you well know, there was the anniversary of the start of Il Volo’s career.
Searching on YouTube for something that documented their beginnings (I have been following them since 2015), I came across many videos with Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca who were really young, in their first interviews, what sweet treasures, they didn’t yet know how to speak English well, and it’s so nice to hear their answers, even though they were really young, their answers are mature and don’t deviate from what they say even now. It’s nice to hear their hesitation about the future and the hope that everything will go well for them. ❤️❤️❤️
What little treasures, they still struggled to understand well and respond in English, but what love!! ❤️❤️❤️
The next interview is in Italian, but you can activate the subtitles. 😉
At the beginning of the next video, Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca talk about what their ideal women should be like! 🥰🥰🥰
In those years, Gianluca had a girlfriend, Jessica, who he also mentions in the video. Jessica Brando is an Italian singer, photo model, at that time they were very much in love. 😍😍
Gianluca and Jessica Brando.
Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca have always said that they went to a school in the US. to learn the language, while they learned Spanish thanks to Humberto Gatica, who spoke Spanish with them.
In the next video, they talk about Il Volo: Tony Renis, Humberto Gatica and also Michele Torpedine.
Gianluca, Piero and Ignazio talk about their tours and missing their family.
The first shows on television: The Talk
Young Hollywood
A nice interview, showing them starting to master the English language.
In this Instagram post above: Il Volo in Rome with Tony Renis, Humberto Gatica and Ennio Morricone.
These videos don’t need many comments, because they speak for themselves, they tell us about the beginnings of three boys who didn’t know each other. Three guys full of talent, but also of enormous values, well anchored to their roots and the education they received, guys with a head on their shoulders despite their young age.
Also full of dreams and paths that came true, but continually evolving, kids who didn’t give up at the first difficulties but made the most of them. They are Il Volo, they are Piero, Ignazio, Gianluca. ❤️❤️❤️
There is less and less time left until Sanremo and every day new interviews and videos are published.
Today I propose this interview to you in the GRAZIA newspaper.
Pay attention to Ignazio’s words. ❤️
LOVE PUSHES US FORWARD
After the victory in 2015, the three singers of Il Volo return to the Festival with the song CAPOLAVORO, which talks about the feeling that changed their lives.
When I meet the three guys from Il Volo, I can’t help but notice all their differences. In their way of telling themselves, of understanding music and the world. But at the same time I feel a unique, consolidated, respectful entity.
Fifteen years after their debut, Gianluca Ginoble, Piero Barone, and Ignazio Boschetto felt the need to focus on themselves. They did this by preparing an album that for the first time will be composed entirely of unreleased songs and in which they promise a new story that they will take on a world tour.
WHAT TIME IS THIS?
GIANLUCA= We realized that we have based our career in the past, on the strong roots of our culture that we have brought around the world. For the first time, however, we now feel connected to the present, with an eye towards the future.
YOU WILL BE COMPETING IN SANREMO WITH CAPOLAVORO. HOW WOULD YOU TELL IT?
IGNAZIO= We understood that this was the perfect song for Sanremo. Talk about love. When you are in a relationship, you stop and say: “This story is a Capolavoro”, I’m getting married next year and for me the masterpiece is exactly what I’m experiencing.
PIERO= It makes me think of that very strong feeling that grows inside you without you knowing it. When you realize you have it you need to externalize it.
GIANLUCA= For me, love is like jumping off Niagara Falls without a life jacket. You know that you rely on a person with the risk of experiencing incredible pain.
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF BREAKING UP YOUR TRIO?
PIERO= Never. We have lived intense years, without ever stopping. There wasn’t time to even think about it.
BUT IT IS NOT OBTAINED.
PIERO= Yes, but there was a lot of effort. Today others only talk about immediate success achieved with the least amount of effort. It’s wrong.
GIANLUCA PARTICIPATED ON BEHALF OF THE TRIO IN THE EVENING OF GRACE FOR THE DAY AGAINST VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN. IT’S AN EMERGENCY?
GIANLUCA= For many men it is difficult to admit that they have weaknesses, there is a virility that is so flaunted and which can lead to violence.
PIERO= Each of us should make our contribution, even in small things, not laughing at squalid jokes and perhaps pointing out to our best friend that he is making a mistake in using certain words.
There was the long-awaited Radio Italia interview (I don’t like Gianluca’s trousers at all, my opinion) 🤪
WOMAN= Let me dream right away. Where have you been lately around the world? You are always around, I watch the stories, I would like to do all the trips you do. Where have you been?
GIANLUCA= We’ve been around, we’ve had the opportunity to tour, travel, but returning to Sanremo is always an emotion, because we were born here artistically.
WOMAN= It’s true, this is what I wanted to tell you, what it’s like to return, after all these trips around the world, to such an important stage for Italy and not only and above all for you who this stage has given you so much.
IGNAZIO= We have realized that we are coming to celebrate our anniversaries, it will be 15 years, we celebrate 15 years this year and it is not easy, it is not easy to be together for 15 years (Piero and Gianluca protest), let me finish, it is not easy to stay together for 15 years always with the same enthusiasm.
GIANLUCA = (to Piero). See, you don’t have to interrupt him.
PIERO= (to the person filming) Can you cut this piece?? (laughs) 😂Is not easy.
WOMAN= So what is it that keeps you tied to this enthusiasm?
PIERO= Enthusiasm keeps us bonded, the desire that unites us to always do new things, never lose that passion for the profession we carry out, we consider ourselves three privileged individuals, because we do what we love, we do it every day, so we don’t there is something more beautiful.
WOMAN= And so we return to Sanremo, the piece is called MASTERPIECE, tell me a little about it, a little spoiler.
GIANLUCA= A small spoiler that can be done….more than anything it explains the feeling that is love, but told in a profound way, because sometimes you realize that you love, only when you look back, and sometimes you realize how special this person is, like how did I do without this person before I met them. Sometimes it’s as if it suddenly falls from the sky, but it can be love for a child, love in general, universal love, how important this feeling really is that moves the world.
PIERO= For us who sing it, each of us sings it in a different way, feels it in a different way, for me CAPOLAVORO speaks in a romantic way about hope, because maybe when you don’t find it in yourself, in the most difficult moments you hope for something outside of yourself.
WOMAN= So you hope something comes…..how you turn it is a nice message.
GIANLUCA= Yes, there are people who can really change your life. Growing up, doing introspection on yourself is important, to be able to understand, to recognize love as a feeling, then there are people who can enrich your life and make it better.
PIERO= It can be dedicated to someone, something, that feeling that literally changed your life, not just people.
WOMAN = Even a little awareness when you feel certain things. Guys, we were immediately a bit philosophical, but the piece requires it, because it actually has a beautiful message. I thank you, see you in Sanremo.
IGNAZIO= Thank you very much.
PIERO= Remember……it’s not easy.
WOMAN= With this enthusiasm, it’s not easy.
IGNAZIO= However you’ve seen, nothing has changed, they won’t let me talk. 😂😂😂
And then there is this which is not an interview, but a long reflection that makes you think a lot, a long tirade made by Luca Maggitti to the administration of the municipality of Montepagano and Roseto degli Abruzzi, read it and try to understand that it’s very ironic. I really liked it, well written Luca Maggitti, sometimes you need these “little digs”.
I remind you that Luca Maggitti is a journalist who lives in Abruzzo and who met Gianluca who was walking with his grandfather and they drank a coffee.
I bring you an old photo of Luca Maggitti and Gianluca.
Gianluca Ginoble – Il Volo THE AMBASSADOR OF ROSETO AND ABRUZZO IN THE WORLD RETURNS TO THE SANREMO FESTIVAL
In short: there is no two without three.
Gianluca Ginoble – from the ancient village of Montepagano in Roseto – will return to the stage of the most important Italian event in terms of occupying television, social media and any other space. Tens of millions of people in Italy will talk about the event (Sanremo Festival) and billions around the world will in some way be involved in the various references to the event.
Every time such a media circus takes place (all the media attention for Sanremo) I think of Gianluca sitting drinking a coffee in Roseto, speaking kindly to anyone who comes to say hello. And I have the image of a Ferrari left in the garage, for some souped-up Vespone to race in competitions where class and speed are needed. (Maggitti compares the kind and polite Gianluca to a beautiful world-class car, a Ferrari that is left in the garage, to race a Vespa, a famous Italian motorbike, remember the film Roman Holidays?)
Yes, because I ask myself: is it possible that Gianluca goes to Sanremo and no one in the Municipality (of Roseto) or Region (of Abruzzo) calls him – eight days before the start of the event – to congratulate him, incite him, encourage him?
Let’s be clear, we talk about politics and government at various levels and I certainly don’t expect the administrators to call him because they truly love the artist or his genre or appreciate this exemplary boy for education and culture, who has remained very polite despite a global success that we even have hard to imagine.
(Maggitti is really scolding the municipal administrators here, because Gianluca should be called not only because he is a great artist, but also because he is an exemplary boy in terms of education and culture, despite his great success)
I don’t expect this. Furthermore, I am biased because I have always respected him.
No, I want to be cynical and wretched to the core!
(Maggitti means that if they had been cynical, the administrators would have had to call Gianluca for at least other reasons, which he will now list)
If I were a public administrator – at various levels in Abruzzo, since Gianluca was appointed, years ago, ambassador of both Abruzzo and Roseto degli Abruzzi in the world – I would call him because Gianluca creates media hype. Because its social profiles generate more interactions than all those of the various municipalities, provinces and regions combined. Not to mention the Volo one.
I see Gianluca who for almost 15 years – in a few months it will be 15 – has spoken well (more: he speaks with love) about Roseto degli Abruzzi and Abruzzo, truly helping these territories to be known.
On the other hand, I don’t see equal interest on the part of those who govern, especially the tourist-cultural part of the territory. And I ask myself: why?
What is the point of this masochism?
A final reflection, remaining in Roseto, in the limited area of via Latini. And talking about tourism and – more generally – territorial promotion.
The part of via Latini that goes towards the sea, the one after via Nazionale, has a system of decorative lights at the top with the words of the famous “Nel blu painted di blu” (Volare) by Domenico Modugno. Good, great.
(He intends to remember that in the town of Roseto some lights have been installed with the words of Volare)
But, I wonder: we have Gianluca Ginoble who won the Sanremo festival at 10 years old, at his first participation, he chose to live in Montepagano di Roseto, where his roots are, he always speaks well of his birthplace and the territory, he is always available when it comes to visiting associations that work for the good of the area… and don’t we put “Grande Amore”?
Is it possible that it is so incredibly difficult to insert the words of “Grande Amore” on the “rambla” of Roseto degli Abruzzi (via Latini, in the part that goes towards the hill), perhaps by having him turn on the lights for the first time and have him sing alone and live a cappella the song?
Is it so difficult to respect an international pop star who lives where she was born and who has the only flaw of not being haughty? Not for him, I repeat.
He (Gianluca) now travels from Rai 1 upwards, from Canale 5 upwards, from Corriere della Sera upwards. (Maggitti means to say that the most important programs talk about Gianluca and Il Volo)
For us, for our struggling territory, for tourism with less than 100,000 visitors in two years… for the fact that no one queues there and that the very expensive VisitRoseto.it gets as many likes or visits as a site set up by a elementary school, to teach children to use the web.
Is it possible that we prefer to keep the Ferrari in the garage and go for challenges with the souped-up Vespone? But what’s the point?
Mayor Mario Nugnes, do you remember when I brought Gianluca Ginoble to the Oratory of the Campo dei Preti at the request of my friend Father Antonio Ghidoni, who wanted to meet him and who defined “Grande Amore” as a prayer, and in the homily invited the faithful to vote Il Volo?
Mayor, do you remember? You had frizzy hair and were tutoring in the afternoon, and Gianluca came to hug you (him, you!), telling me that you had been his afternoon teacher when he attended the Oratory?
If you don’t remember, I’ll put the photo from that day here.
Mayor, can we ask Ferrari for the favor of lending a hand to this little village, which is slipping more and more towards numerical inconsistency and which desperately needs a great recovery plan?
I don’t know if Gianluca Ginoble – who is preparing for yet another world tour on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of Il Volo – has time, but I know for sure that a photo of him, a reel or a thought is worth the sum of all the sites’ efforts, little sites, pages and little pages of our parts.
And if I say this it is because I myself have found my articles about him translated into English, Spanish, Romanian, Portuguese and more, on the web. And I am a poor journalist who would never otherwise have been translated! 😂
I, for the umpteenth time, put these reflections into it. You rulers – at any level – will do what you believe. I only hope that you are illuminated by the beacon of the common good and real progress in your daily work.
Whatever the case, my best wishes to Gianluca Ginoble and Il Volo, remembering the emotions of the 2015 victory, when he turned 20 exactly on the day of his debut as a competitor at the Festival.
Dàje sìmbre fùrte, Gianlù! (Abruzzo expression to say: “Come on, always strong, Gianlù “)
(Another old photo of Luca Maggitti with Gianluca)
Who knows if it was because of the article published by Luca Maggitti that the municipal administration of Roseto woke up??
We want to think that it wasn’t the article, but today, Friday 2 February, there will be an award for our Gianluca in Roseto. 🎉🎉🎉
This is the motivation.
On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the birth of ‘Il Volo’ and in view of its participation in the 74th edition of the Festival of Sanremo, the Municipal Administration of Roseto degli Abruzzi organized a ceremony to pay homage to the Rosetano singer Gianluca Ginoble who was a guest in the Council Room, at 11 am on Friday 2 February. In 2015, Gianluca Ginoble was awarded the title of ‘Ambassador to the World of the City of Roseto degli Abruzzi’ and the other two members of the ‘Il Volo’ trio, Piero Barone and Ignazio Boschetto, were awarded the honorary citizenship of Roseto degli Abruzzi.
The ceremony, conducted by Francesca Martinelli, represented a moment to make the entire Rosetan community feel the affection towards Gianluca Ginoble, to relive his great career with him and to pay homage to him with a gift created for the occasion.
And here is the video of the awards ceremony.
The mayor expresses words of esteem and good wishes and Gianluca thanks everyone and tells little things about life in his town and the emotion he always has when he talks about his city which he will always carry in his heart. ❤️
And another video by a journalist, Luca Maggitti Di Tecco, from Il Messaggero who was at the event.
The administration gives Gianluca a jewel representing a Presentosa Rose and asks him to wear it also on the evening of the festival and Gianluca wears it immediately. Then Gianluca thanks and also wants to remember his brother Ernesto who collaborated with the team. 🥰
Then there was a really nice video by Antonella Clerici (she presented TI LASCIO UNA CANZONE) who wished Il Volo her “good luck”. ❤️
The guys from Il Volo are extraordinary, I met them in the first edition of TI LASCIO UNA CANZONE and they were put together, that is, they introduced themselves alone, Ignazio and Piero are Sicilian, while Gianluca is from Abruzzo. Since they were three “lyricists” even if with different voice tones, we formed this trio and it won all the episodes, it was really very, very strong. So it was clear that they had great talent, then it was Tony Renis who first brought them to the United States, then their manager Michele Torpedine understood their potential and first they had great luck in the United States, and then also in Italy.
I remember when they showed up at their first Sanremo festival with GRANDE AMORE, which was hosted by my friend Carlo Conti, I told him: “Carlo get ready because they will win the Sanremo Festival, I’m sure of it”, because in the televoting they were too much, too strong and also very good, then they were three young guys, people liked them, I knew their potential and in fact it was like that .
And now I wish them a big “good luck” for the next Sanremo festival.
As I have already told you, many newspapers of all kinds are talking about Il Volo.
This is a Gossip magazine, it talks about Il Volo’s girlfriends. I assure you that some are not reliable news, so I don’t waste time translating them.
Even the RAI news programs talk about Sanremo and therefore also about Il Volo.
WOMAN= Sanremo Festival, on the Ariston stage, among the competing artists Il Volo, with the song CAPOLAVORO, and on the cover evening, the homage to Queen. (a video starts)
MAN= Grown up, born on the Ariston stage at TI LASCIO UNA CANZONE, in the end you know Sanremo well.
PIERO= In 2009 we met at the Ariston, then we left and returned in 2015 with GRANDE AMORE, now, after 15 years, we are returning to celebrate this great achievement, which is both professional and personal.
MAN= Who knows what Ignazio was up to at 14 years old in the back stage of the theater.
IGNAZIO= But because I, sorry…..we combined all three. It was a way to grow quickly, because in the end we grew quickly.
MAN= CAPOLAVORO in Sanremo, isn’t it a bit risky to say it right away?
GIANLUCA= In fact we wanted to title it CAPOLAVORO in brackets perhaps…..
PIERO= Let’s hope….
GIANLUCA= Let’s hope. Obviously it’s not about us…
MAN= Queen for duet, this year.
PIERO= It will be a great moment to be able to share the stage with Steff Burns and we would like to thank Vasco Rossi (well-known Italian rock singer) for lending us his guitarist, thank you Vasco!
.……..and this is Vasco Rossi’s response!
Happy to lend my guitarist STEF BURNS to Il Volo in Sanremo…..on the cover evening….he will perform a Queen solo, WHO WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER, I’m proud of him.
This interview on Radio Subasio is also very beautiful. Since at the beginning the questions are the same ones that are repeated several times, I start translating about halfway through the video.😉
RADIO SUBASIO
WOMAN=……do you sometimes argue too? Who is the most rebellious of the three? (Piero marks Ignazio with his hand)
WOMAN= Ignazio?
GIANLUCA= Every now and then it explodes, yes yes. But we have three completely different characters, but thank goodness it’s like this, because if we were the same, that creative spark wouldn’t strike, so everyone brings their own ideas, there are often contrasts but in the end we always manage to find the solution and the best for the group, well, this is important.
WOMAN= Of course, of course. But then in recent years a few things have changed in your life, we used to talk off the air, there are those who have coupled up (Ignazio), those who have exploded (Gianluca), what is the situation like, those who are single among you, do we want to say it?
PIERO= We have always tried to respect our private life and I believe it is also our duty, because we often say that we live two parallel lives, the professional life which takes up ten months of our life every year and our personal life, and we also want this to be the case. keep it.
WOMAN = It seems very right to me….
GIANLUCA= But anyway Ignazio is getting married!!
WOMAN= When Ignazio, when the happy event?
IGNAZIO = Next year.
WOMAN= So next year. Guys I wanted to tell you something else, in recent days we spoke with LA SAD (a punk group with colored hair that will be in Sanremo) and I asked them which artist (from Sanremo) they felt most in tune with and they told us Il Volo.
I even considered a collaboration with them and they said yes, absolutely.
How about? How do you respond to this proposal?
IGNAZIO= Well, they are young guys who…..
GIANLUCA= Young people, they are older than you Ignazio….(it’s true the members of La SAD are older than them)
IGNAZIO= Yes, but they are young kids in the sense of sending the message (Ignazio means that they are listened to more by young kids)
WOMAN= But can something be done?
GIANLUCA= It would be interesting, we recently met in Sanremo during rehearsals, a relationship of great respect was born, because everyone expresses their emotions in their art and it’s nice to see these differences. Everyone has space to demonstrate what they really are and we are all different, there is no right or wrong, better or worse, this is the beauty of music, so it will be wonderful to see these contrasts between Il Volo and La Sad, certainly in Sanremo .
WOMAN= Of course I agree, that’s why we’re very intrigued by this idea, this image of a collaboration between the two of you, have you ever seen it? I want to play a little game with you, to test your memory, if you agree.
PIERO= This worries me. 😁
WOMAN= Remembering the festival of a few years ago, for example Sanremo 2000, concentrate, Sanremo 2000…
PIERO= I was 7 years old….
WOMAN= You remember who won, even from hearsay, I will help you anyway because I give you three options…
IGNAZIO= Jo di Tonno (Italian singer).…
GIANLUCA= No, it was 2006…
WOMAN= I’ll give you the three options…
GIANLUCA = (to Ignazio) Jo di Tonno and I are the only people from Abruzzo to have won the Sanremo festival…
WOMAN= Oh yes, you see it!
PIERO= Do you know that I am the only Sicilian to have won the Sanremo festival?
GIANLUCA= Oh no, boy, he (Ignazio) is Sicilian…
PIERO= He’s from Bologna!
WOMAN= Guys three options for the 2000 festival, be careful: Gigi D’Alessio, Ivana Spagna or Piccola Orchestra Avion Travel? (All Italian singers)
GIANLUCA= Ah yes, “Sentimento” (it is the title of the song by the Piccola Orchestra Avion Travel)
WOMAN= Well done, great Gianluca, see what a memory! Instead, who was presenting the festival? Do you remember it? Who was there in 2000?
GIANLUCA= Fazio (an Italian presenter)
WOMAN= Good, you didn’t even need the help. Oh Gianluca, damn what a memory, well done, congratulations, you haven’t won anything, but thanks for being with us guys.
Good luck for the Sanremo Festival, we’ll meet again to hear about the fresh emotions we just experienced on the Ariston stage.
Thanks Ignazio, thanks Piero, thanks Gianluca.
Il Volo on the Sanremo 2024 stage, bye guys, thanks!
And to the happiness of many fans, this year’s summer concerts have been announced, all in Italy, here they are!! 🥳🥳🎉
But now the most beautiful interview, made by Gianluca Gazzoli for BSMT. There is the automatic translation and I urge you to activate it, because it is truly a beautiful interview, different from the usual ones, and to which our boys responded with sincerity and maturity and also with a lot of spirit.
To turn on captions click the gear button in the lower right corner of the video, then Subtitles. Then choose English from the list that appears.
The comments under this interview suggest that some people, seeing it, have changed their minds about how Il Volo has always been perceived (thanks to the Italian press)
Don’t miss this interview!!!
From school desks to the most prestigious stages in the world. Three boys who, at just 15 years old, have fascinated and conquered everyone with their extraordinary talent. Well yes, Il Volo passed through the BSMT.
An extraordinary career, started as teenagers and built with sacrifice, commitment and a lot of ambition. Ignazio, Gianluca and Piero told us how their lives changed suddenly, transforming them from simple fifteen-year-olds to world stars. Successes, family, friendship, recognition, surreal anecdotes, changes and much more. A chat in which their three very distinct personalities emerged and in which they indulged in confidences like never before.
FROM A WHOLE DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE! IL VOLO passes through the BSMT
Certainly Caterina Boschetto’s words, at the beginning of the interview, contained a lot of truth.
“Know that if I sign your life will change, know that the responsibilities will become more, know that you can play but not like before, know that many things will change.”
I warned you that the media exposure of Sanremo is notable, and what I have reported to you are the best interviews of these days, but at every moment there is something new.
Moving ahead, let’s pick up the story after their parents signed the contract.
Everyone goes home and life goes back to normal! No, throw out the word normal. That will never happen again. From this moment on, the guys will begin their journey to stardom. They step on A Virtual Roller Coaster and the ride of their life begins. They have now entered their own special amusement park where reality goes away, and dreams come to life. It’s a special ride that not many will ever have the opportunity to take. This roller coaster ride comes along with a new world and a new life! Buckle up, the ride is about to begin!
After the parents signed the contract, things began to move so fast that the parents and the boys could hardly keep up with it! Can you imagine how they felt? The parents’ heads had to be spinning and they had to explain it all to the boys and most of it they didn’t even understand themselves. Piero and Ignazio understood some of what was going on but Gianluca, not so much.
Let’s begin with Gianluca summarizing these events….
That is a period that I really cannot remember in general. I was just a child who dreamed. While the other guys who had participated in the broadcast returned home to go to the beach and prepare to start a new school year, the three of us walked towards a professional artistic career.
I really did not realize it. I did not even know what the contracts were like, I did not care. Once I must have told my father something like this: ‘But why, to be a singer, it takes a contract?’ I only remember that at a certain point we started to have some lunch in Rome, at the Rome Cavalieri, with Tony Remis and to talk about music and recorded songs, but the contract had already been signed. I was there with my father, Piero, Ignazio and their parents.
During the period of Ti Lascio una Canzone it was rumored, ‘The three tenorinis after the program will make their way, of the three tenors you will hear talking.’ But as a child what can you understand?
Even when we first met Michele Torpedine and Barbara Vitali – who since then became the fourth member of the group, even if you never see her on stage – I did not understand just how it was possible that Andrea Bocelli’s manager, was interested in us.
It was something that upset me: I want to see Bocelli as my idol and now to work with the manager who had made him famous. A dream, in fact.
We were three funny and awkward children: Ignazio fat, Piero roly-poly too, I was small and plump and with pimples. So, at the first meeting, I look at Torpedine and ask him: ‘But what came in your mind?’
Sometimes even today I look at the photos, the videos of when we were little ones and I still ask myself. He has really seen far away (He saw into the future). And he also had a lot of patience, because in addition to being funny and clumsy, we were very confused and, wherever we went, everyone looked at us in a strange way. Like that evening in Jesolo, when we met Michele.
It was finally finished Ti Lascio Una Canzone and they invited us to sing on June 27th, 2009, at the nineteenth edition of Miss Italy in the world. The evening was broadcast on Rai Uno by the Jesolo Tourist Palace, conducted by Caterina Balivo and Biagio Izzo.
When we arrived in the dressing rooms, I saw Raf. ‘Oh my God, there’s Raf’ I said. ‘Let me take a picture. I run to him like crazy. ‘Can I take a picture with you?’ We were three children at the park playing. Ignazio, to name one, he poured the Coca Cola on the floor in the dressing room, and it ended up on Michele’s jacket. Michele turns and says Barbara, ‘look’ I still remember him, with a face like saying ‘Oh my God.’
Piero picks up the story from Gianluca….
And after the Coca-Cola there were plums! Our first meeting with Michele Torpedine ends with plums that fly from one dressing room to the other and Michele comes out with white hair, indeed no, because already he had the white hair. He goes out with straight hair saying, ‘Are you three crazy?’
In practice we threw plums from the door of our dressing room, to the one next to it, where there was Raf and where Gianluca had gone immediately to ask to take the picture of which he spoke. We had a mess that night!
It all began well, calm and quiet. I was having lunch at the hotel restaurant and a gentleman with a sand-colored raincoat and graying hair arrived. I hear footsteps behind me and a ‘Hello, Piero’ with this deep voice. You recognize Michele’s voice everywhere. You know, when I tell of that meeting, I seem to tell things that I’ve seen in American movies. It was from this that we started, three fifteen-sixteen-year-old idiots, and Torpedine, who had already become an icon for me. So, he sits with us, and we start talking. He had arrived with a white Range Rover, a detail that I remember because it was from there that we began to see the luxury cars.
This is one of my favorite videos. They are so young so sweet. Look at them in that recording studio. Amazing then! Amazing now!
Then, after lunch, we get ready for rehearsals, let’s go to the dressing rooms, and you already know what’s going on between plums and Cola Cola.
What has changed from that day to today? Nothing. On tour, in the television broadcast rooms and sometimes even in the recording room, one of our favorite activities is the fruit launch. The best are the grapes (but we also appreciate the cherries). Ignazio throws them from a distance, and I have to take it on the fly with my mouth. That is the same if in the dressing room next to us is the Pope or Bono or U2 it does not make an impression on us.
Piero tells us how they reacted when they first heard about America….
In short, a little impression we had when we started to hear about America. And who knew us, there? Nobody. So, what happened? That is how we discovered what it means to have a manager.
Thanks to an American lawyer, Peter Lopez, a contact from Tony Renis, one of our auditions arrives at Interscope Records in the United States. It is a label of music production that is part of the Universal Music Group America, the largest record company in the States. To give you an idea, it is the label of Eminem, Sting, Lady Gaga, Nelly Furtado and Gwen Stefani, just to name a few.
Imagine the desk of Jimmy Iovine, the president of Interscope, a large desk in a large American office. They take a laptop, put it in front of him and they start ‘O Sole Mio recorded by Ti Lascio una Canzone. When the song arrives at the ‘Ma n’aaaatu sole!’ Iovine closes the computer and exclaims: ‘We got it! All right, we do it.’ And we sign a millionaire contract.
Now imagine this: The day before, I go to my uncle to work in the workshop and the next day I sign a millionaire contract with an American label.
At the beginning it was really a dream, even if I do not like repeating it, because you find yourself traveling the world and doing it, from one day to the next. However, I repeat, always without realizing the importance of the thing, without fully understanding what was happening.
Ignazio picks up at this point….
So, a dream that Piero, in the clouds, has forgotten to say the most important thing: that it was the first time that Italian singers signed a contract directly with an American record company. But it was not that, we signed the contract, the big thing was done, indeed, it had yet to start.
In 2009 we recorded our first album. It was not easy.
For us today there are seven takes to sing, then there were thirty or forty. What language does he speak, will you say? English, Spanish and also a little Italian. So, a take is the recording of the single phrases that each of us sing when we record a song. We continue to redo until we get to the best version. In 2009, on our first recording, it took almost two days to record a song, until it was good. I remember that I made the absolute record of take in Smile: I repeated my part for fifty-seven times.
We were small and inexperienced, the English language did not help, Tony Renis and Humberto Gatica – one of the best-known producers and sound technicians in the world, who worked with Andrea Bocelli, Eros Ramazzotti, Pino Daniele, Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion – if they were not satisfied, they would tell it to us clearly.
Gianluca interrupts….
Piero forgot to mention that ours was the first contract signed directly by Italian singers with an American label, but Ignazio forgot to mention that the first recording studio in which we entered all three together for our great adventure it was called Forum and it was in Rome.
I remember, and it is one of the few things that I have very clear in mind of that period, that we have compiled the lineup of the tracks with Tony Renis, and most were the ones we had sung at Ti Lascio Una Canzone, plus five other American songs.
But the first time in front of the microphone was still in Rome in the studio where we had done the auditions before the program began. Roberto Cenci had assigned the songs to all the children, he had arranged the arrangements, and we had recorded the compilation that came out in May after the end of the program and immediately entered in the rankings.
But that was the first time alone in front of a microphone, and it was … (Gianluca to Piero) What are you looking at? Do you want to say it?
Piero picks up the conversation….
… it was nice because it was the first experience.
We did not sing well because we had no technique, so it was as Ignazio said: we took a take in sixty, seventy times.
At that time, we arrived in the studio, and we found everything ready: the songs to sing, the subdivisions, the arrangement, this and the other. Now, instead, after the third album, we do everything together, we create everything with Celso Valli, our producer.
Those first times we did not have this freedom to do, everything was imposed because we did not yet have the skills to do it.
Now we have them, and we share the parts, we know each other better and, in the studio, we help each other. It is also nice to see that each of us now has his way to enter the recording room. To say, Gianluca and I sing with the light on in the recording room. Ignazio, on the other hand, enters and the first thing he does is turn off the light. They are small details, but they mean that we have grown and, we have our own way of working.
Between the three of us, we have split up the roles. Ignazio if there is a problem with the mixer, he discusses it with the producer to fix things. Gianluca is the one who listens to the songs from morning to night and offers: ‘Guys, I discovered this songwriter,’ ‘Guys, I discovered this artist, what do you think?’ I like the managerial part, I like managing, I like to contact people, I like to propose new things to Michele, ‘Why do we not do that?’ ‘Why do we not try to do that?’ ‘How can we get to this person?’ I like this: put your head and think how you can improve. And a complete professional balance: we have grown physically, but also professionally. So even if we get a producer we do not know, we do not have any problems, we know how to talk to him and tell him what we want. This is the most important aspect: being at the same level. Which is the reason why for some months now I have this big folder, of black leather, that I always carry with me. If I have to tell the truth, Torpedine lent it to me and, as it brought good luck, I stole it from him and, as I told you, I always carry it with me, with the pieces we have to do, the notes, the notes of what is lacking to be fixed, what is not lacking, the notes to do: everything is much more professional.
Now we are working with Celso, one of the most important record producers we have in Italy, he has collaborated with Vasco Rossi, Lucio Dalla, Eros Ramazzotti, all the biggest ones. And he’s really a great person.
We have had a great luck: we can afford to deal with the older ones, it is not easy. It’s something that put Torpedine in my mind: you must always invest for your future. Celso has agreed to bet with us on our future and we worked together on the last album, Love Moves (L’amore si Muove) which came out in September. It is a pleasure working with him because he lets you talk, lets you express your ideas, lets you try, and this is a fundamental thing, the most important thing when you want to improve, to grow.
And we always have had the desire to grow, since we were little children. We have it since we were baptized, and we were ready to … take flight
So, the guys have settled into working together but before they move on to America, there is some unsettled business. They need a name….
The Baptism of Il Volo
Sometimes finding a name is much more complicated than it may seem.
Piero begins….
Do you know what they wanted to call us at some point? La Scala.
Until that time, we are in 2009-2010, during the recording of our first CD, we did not have a ‘real’ name. In the transmission with Antonella Clerici we were baptized Tre Tenorini, for that thing that we resembled Luciano Pavarotti (Ignazio, for the waistline). Jose Carreras (Gianluca, for the elegance, says Torpedine) and Placido Domingo (me, for the tenor voice). But who imagined that one had to find another name? We did not even believe that we would continue to sing, imagine if we thought we needed a name.
Ignazio continues…
Then, at that time when we were looking for it and we could not find it, we were recording ‘We Are the World 25 for Haiti.’ It is the beginning of February 2010, and we called ourselves The Tryo, which we then used as guests at the second evening of the Sanremo Festival. A week later, singing in front of Queen Rania de Jordan, only then we translated it to: Il Trio.
Gianluca remembers….
The problem of the name? It was one of those impossible marketing missions: it had to be short and easy to pronounce in practically all the world. For example, there is a group called Il Divo, and they also sing a genre similar to ours, and Il Divo was just the kind of name they wanted: short, easy to pronounce and also very international, because it has a clear meaning to everyone.
And that’s why the name La Scala came out. Elettra Morini, the wife of Tony Renis, had proposed it. Elettra, who was a dancer there, told her husband: ‘Why do you not call them La Scala?’ Surely everyone knows in the world what La Scala is.
Ignazio continues….
And then, there was the question that they called us the Three Tenorinis, the lyric, La Scala, La Scala …
We chewed it a little, but we were not convinced.
Piero interrupts….
But who was looking for the name? All of us: the three of us, Michele, our parents, whoever belonged to our family, or our working group said a name, two or three, and it was written on a list. That list had become worse than a telephone list: we got to more than five hundred proposals.
This thing of the name was becoming a joke. We were going to record the album, make a meeting, or engage in anything else, and we ended up talking about this name, but never get the right idea. In the end, one day out of the blue, a gentleman working from Michele, Stefano, says: ‘Il Volo.’
Ignazio continues….
IL VOLO? what about IL VOLO? IL VOLO?
It began to turn in the air (ha ha) and so was born Il Volo.
Piero interrupts….
But then we discovered that there had already been a group by this name in 1974, composed by Mario Lavezzi, Vince Tempera, Alberto Radius, Bob Callero, Gabriele Lorenzi and Gianni Dall’Aglio. It was a collaboration that lasted a year and a half and had gathered all of the best musicians. But now we liked the name, so we decided to keep it. Also, because it immediately seemed to us a good omen to fly, to take flight, get up in the air.
But we risked a little.
Think if this project did not start, if we were not really able to ‘take off,’ do you imagine how they would have made fun of us? ‘The Flight takes off? No, Il Volo has crashed!’ At that point, we had the CD, the name also and we left for the States.
Did you notice that this was not individual stories? The guys are now one and they are conversing with one another. They begin to understand each other’s needs and they can now speak up and say what is on their minds. They are learning to share their thoughts and express to their manger and producers what they would like to do. All of this is happening is a very short period of time. For others who have taken this journey, before and after them, it took many years and many disappointments to get off the ground and just approach what these guys did in a matter of one or two years.
This is what their career has always been about. A constant movement, A Virtual Roller Coaster ride, that makes so many twists and turns it’s impossible to keep up with it. Imagine you are 15 – 16 years old and you are suddenly faced with all of this. The only way to get through it all is to listen to the advice of your parents and your newfound manager and put all your trust in them. You also learn that in order to survive you have to learn how to lean on one another. For it to work, the Three must become One. This is what they begin to understand when they set off for America.
America here we come! Are you ready for us?
Note: Many of the pictures I used today were from Verissimo. The guy’s love doing the show and Silvia Toffanin loves having them on. This interview like all the interviews they do with Silvia, is very interesting. You can always be assured that she will ask all those question that we have on our minds, but I’m going to leave it to Daniela to tell you what they talked about.
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 of this story are from “Un’avventure straordinaria, la nostra storia.”
So, the first album is done, the guys have a name, and they are on their way to America! But wait a minute, we talk about Their Amazing Voices, but we haven’t said what each voice is and how they work together. So, let’s listen to how the voices work.
I could go back to 2010 when they recorded their first album but for this story, I want to go back to March 2020 when the guys cancelled their last three concerts and went home. We were all locked in our houses! One world united in lockdown!
Think about how our lives have changed over the last two years. It’s surreal! During this time, many of us found a pleasant distraction by listening to our guy’s music. And the endless videos! Many of you told me that you got to know the guys better over these last year’s especially the first months when we were all in lockdown.
Remember how the guys would come on Instagram and Facebook and would invite us to listen to their conversations with their friends. And the funny videos of Piero and Ignazio.
In this video Piero is asking Ignazio to do an interview for him and Ignazio says he should ask Gianluca because he is very busy. Piero says Gianluca is not available to do it. Ignazio is surprised because he obviously knows Gianluca is not busy. Then Ignazio notices Piero’s very sunburned face. Ignazio asks did you use cream. Piero says, “no oil.” The video is really self-explanatory, and, in the end, we realize it is all a joke. The look on Ignazio’s face when he realizes this was a joke is priceless!
Ignazio, I have one question for you….
Where’s the payback?
It’s been a long time coming! Time to get even! It’s not like you to not payback!
Moving on….
Let’s not forget all the beautiful songs they sang for us. Especially their songs of prayer when things were really bad. They were with us every step of the way.
Piero’s “Ave Maria”
Ignazio’s “Hallelujah”
Gianluca’s “You Raise Me Up”
During the lockdown, I spent a good part of my days listening to these three amazing young men sing and at one point I said maybe I should do a review of what’s been going on in their lives over the last 10 years. After watching all the video clips including interviews and some full concerts, I was ready to talk about our guys.
But before I begin, let me say, since we are approaching the New World Tour starting in Barcelona on May 15th, this is a good time to revisit the story I wrote on March 29, 2020. A number of the fan pages picked up on the story and some have even used it on their Facebook pages to describe the voices of the guys. One person who read the story was Daniela Perani from Il Volo Flight Crew. After reading it she contacted me and asked if they could post my story on Flight Crew. The story was so popular that Flight Crew invited me to write for them. Now, I write the column Through the Fields of My Mind (www.ilvoloflightcrw.com) which explores the lives of Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca, our guys ~ Il Volo.
So, let’s begin with the story that over two years ago started my collaboration with Flight Crew and my interpretation of the life story of our guys! An Extraordinary Adventure as seen through my eyes!
Let me start off by saying these three young men are extraordinary! They are remarkable, exceptional, men! And, they have revolutionized the music industry. Let’s take a look at each one….
Gianluca is known as the Velvet Voice! I don’t know who coined the phrase, but that is right on. Let’s use our senses to understand what that means. Take a piece of velvet and hold it in your hand. Now take your other hand and gently pass your hand across the velvet. What do you feel? You feel a smooth even surface that is crisp with no breaks in it. The sensation is so good that you automatically go back and do it again. And every time it’s the same. It’s pleasing!
Now take Gianluca’s voice, let the notes pass into your ears, what do you hear? A crisp, smooth, even voice with no breaks in it. The note barely passes into your ears, and you are going back for the next note. It’s always pleasing!
Gianluca is a lyrical baritone. He is exceptional because he can sing from the lowest to the highest note in the baritone range. Most baritones are limited in range. Gianluca’s voice is huge. He has a very rich chest resonance which creates a feeling of depth and drama in his voice.
A baritone’s voice is very romantic, very pleasing to listen to and is always inviting. Most songs are written for baritones. Gianluca starts, almost, every song. Why? In order for a song to be received well you must draw your audience into it. Gianluca’s voice draws you in in a romantic way and you hang on to every note. He can mesmerize you with songs like “Mi Mancherai” where he reaches into the depth of your being. His interpretation of “Surrender” is electrifying. And when Gianluca sings, “She’s Always a Woman,” he takes your breath away. The highs, the lows, the emotion, the expression. His voice expands like nothing I ever heard before. He has total command of the song. You walk away with your senses lifted to another level.
Let’s talk about Ignazio, who I call the bridge. He is a lyrical tenor. He is exceptional because he can sing from the lowest to the highest note in the tenor range. And God knows he can, easily, hit the high C. Waiting for it and knowing it’s going to happen is so exciting! He brings so much to the production, but I’ll talk more about the production later!
A lyrical tenor has a warm graceful voice which is bright and strong but not heavy and it can be heard over an orchestra. Ignazio’s voice is smooth, clean and clear, with an acute extension. His voice has the ability to increase the baritone voice of Gianluca while softening the spinto tenor voice of Piero.
Ignazio is very whimsical in songs like “Libiamo ne’ lieti calici” from La Traviata. In an aria like “Una Furtiva Lagrima” from L’elisir D’amore it is necessary to have a voice that is flawless. Not only is Ignazio’s voice flawless but he has perfect intonation and diction. He can be very dynamic. He has absolute breath control, and he has elegance, agility and dramatic expression.
He’s an exceptional tenor whose voice explodes and expands in unusual ways. You glide along every note to arrive at another dimension in his voice. His articulation is exceptional! Every word is clear and crisp! Listen to the note extensions that form the complex sounds of his voice. Just beautiful!
To address only one side of Ignazio’s voice would be incomplete! In his dedication to Pino Daniele, you hear an interpretation that is emotional and a delivery that is so amazing that you get the sense that Daniele wrote his songs for Ignazio.
And finally, Piero. Piero is a spinto (meaning pushed) tenor. A spinto tenor has the brightness and height of a lyric tenor, but with a heavier vocal weight enabling the voice to be “pushed” to dramatic climaxes with less strain than his lighter-voice counterparts. His voice is warm, graceful, bright, and can be heard over an orchestra. Piero has a powerful voice that easily reaches the higher notes. Every note that comes out of his mouth reaches us with such intensity and remains with us for a long time. It’s the voice that reaches out to you and demands your attention. Think of him singing E Lucevan le Stele from Tosca. Or singing the beautiful Spanish aria No Puede Ser from A Tabernera del Puerto. From the first note Piero pierces your soul! His passion comes through in his music. Arias are very dramatic and, Piero brings all the drama of the aria into his performance. Always a showstopper!
Now let’s put the voices together. Gianluca starts most songs because he is a baritone, and as I said, most songs are written for baritones. He draws you into the song. Gianluca will sing (in most cases) to Ignazio and Ignazio to Piero. This is how the three voices become one. Select one of their songs. Now close your eyes and listen to them sing. What can you say about this song? You can say, that is Gianluca or Ignazio or Piero singing. In the progression of the song, you hear the voices blend to form a symphony for your ears. Their voices are very distinct.
The first time Tony Renis heard the guys sing he said “I could not believe that these three young kids could sing like men of 45 years old. Their voices were huge! I realized they had great potential.” Renis called his producer friend Humberto Gatica and said “…if you are available, I would like to collaborate with you to produce these kids.” When Gatica heard them sing, he couldn’t believe their voices, he thought it was a fake, “They can’t possibly be teenagers.” Renis believed these kids would appeal to kids, mothers, fathers, everybody. He was right! They were the first Italian artists in history to sign a contract with a major American music label. Universal Music signed them immediately.
Most groups sing and you hear just a song but with Il Volo you are surrounded by voices. And the individuality of their voices entices you and it stays with you. Think of what Piero says when he introduces one of the solos, “After we were together a while, we realized we had three different voices.” He wasn’t saying that they suddenly found out they had different voices he was saying we are “three voices and one soul” and, we also need to show you those voices individually.
Let’s look at how they described one another when they first started out. I think Ignazio said Gianluca was the serious one, and Piero was the Intelligent one and Gianluca and Piero said Ignazio was the funny one. So, let’s take a look at that.
Gianluca, in most cases, seemed to be the spokesman for the group. I’m not sure if this is by chance or choice. He seems to always take the lead when they are in interviews. And he is constantly monitoring the conversation.
Piero is the intelligent one perhaps because he thinks everything through. In interviews he thinks before he speaks, and his answers are always intelligent. He’s very serious and you can tell he thought out the answer before he spoke.
And, Ignazio, the funny one. And that he is! But is it really about the joke? Or is it more about the production. Let’s turn to the production.
The stage is simple. One sign that says it all – Il Volo. There’s the orchestra. Guitars, drum, piano, violins and whatever other instruments are needed for the performance. I want you to stop and think about the performance. We know these guys have three amazing voices but, what if they got on the stage and for two hours, they did nothing but sing. I don’t think it would work. A performance needs the ability to move on. There’s no change of scenery and no intermission so how do you move the performance along? Ignazio!!! The joking he brings into the performance provides the levity to relive the seriousness of the performance. He brings a certain ease and suspense to the performance. The audience is always wondering, what will he do next. But is it always about joking? I want you to think about what I’m saying. Ignazio is constantly moving around the stage. He’s dancing and keeping the rhythm. He’s swinging the microphone around and constantly nodding towards the orchestra, Gianluca and Piero. Is that the lead up to a joke? I don’t think so. Let me tell you what you are looking at. Ignazio is following every note that is sung or played on that stage. His mind is in motion. He is sensitive and passionate with the music. He has the ability to see the music as it is happening. He knows where every instrument should come in and out. That’s why you notice little things like him smiling, nodding, pointing towards the musicians, Gianluca or Piero. He also grabs the baton from the conductor, sometimes to joke but more often to conduct.
Think about Ignazio conducting the Asti Symphony Orchestra while Marcello Rota sang his tenor part. He wasn’t joking, he was conducting. And that’s why everyone was watching him in amazement. And when it was over, they were speechless. Look at Michele Torpedine go across the stage to embrace him. He is in awe of this young man. Ignazio is music! You call him funny I call him brilliant!
Let’s go to the beginning. 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. 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 their smiles, their faces are lit up in joy and their embrace says it all! They are brothers who love one another!
So, we listened to Their Amazing Voices, and we find ourselves waiting for the next song or the next album.
We will take a look at all those albums in a future story but for now the guys have just released “You Are My Everything” the English version of Grande Amore. The guys will sing it for the first time at Eurovision on May 12th. Available on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music
This is the gift the guys gave us yesterday! It brought me to tears! They’ve done it again! Phenomenal!
Did you notice something unusual in this video? Pay close attention to the video itself. I was enjoying the song so much that I didn’t notice it at first.
Join me next week as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and open the door to a new adventure!
If this story sounds familiar to you it’s because I had to write a similar story last year about our, Ignazio.
When I go on Instagram or Facebook and I see stories that hurt the guys, it upsets me. These are three of the nicest guys you’re ever going to meet in your life. It’s not just a career for them, it’s their life, their whole life. It’s what they’ve dedicated themselves to since they were teenagers. Everything they do they do for us the Fans. We as you know, aren’t just fans to them, we are family. They grew up with us and they know how important we are and, they do things every day to try to please us. Sometimes it’s a picture, sometimes a song or sometimes just their joking around. Then there are days, not too often, when they are quiet, they just hide themselves in their own lives. Lives that you and, I take for granted every day, they only get to enjoy occasionally. No, they can’t be out there for us 24/7 but they try their best to make themselves visible and available.
Even though we are like family to them, they do have families of their own. Families that they have spent so little time with over the last twelve years. The pandemic has been very hard on all of us. It was also hard for the guys because they had to leave us their fan family. If anything, there was some good that came out of this, the guys got to stay at home with their families. Since they were teenagers, they never had the opportunity to stay at home with their families for a whole year. And I think Ignazio expressed it best in an interview when he said, “if it wasn’t for the pandemic, I wouldn’t have spent those last (precious months) months with my dad.”
I chose to write about Ignazio this week because of some sad things that have been said about him on Instagram. I’ve had to do this on other occasions for Piero and Gianluca. This is a very important time for Ignazio. It’s a time when he needs to be near family and, among other things, to deal with the loss of his father. The purpose of this piece is to show you, those who don’t already know it, how, really, nice Ignazio is and has always been since he was a child!
Let me start by telling you about what Ignazio does for us with his music and what he contributes to the music industry.
If Ignazio did nothing more than sing for the rest of his life, he would be remembered as a singer who captured an audience at a very young age and continues to intrigue them with every passing day.
From the first time he stepped on the stage, he was a star. I remember watching him on PBS and thinking if he’s this good now, what will he be like ten years from now. Along with Gianluca and Piero these three, amazing, men have achieved in ten years what most men could only dream of achieving in a lifetime!
He is the voice that never ends! The voice that intrigues! The voice that takes your breath away! The voice that leads you to ecstasy!
But it doesn’t end there. No, there is so much more to be said about Ignazio and the best place to start is in his performances. He is the ultimate entertainer. He is the production. His presence is there in every aspect of the production. He is a prolific entertainer! He sees music! He feels music! He breathes music! Follow him around the stage. The little gestures aren’t just for our entertainment they are real movements within each song. Let me describe it as I have described it for you in the past:
Ignazio is known as the funny one and that he is! But is it really about the joke? Or is it more about the production.
I want you to think about the performance. We know these guys have amazing voices but, what if they got on the stage and for two hours, they did nothing but sing. I don’t think it would work. A performance needs the ability to move on. There’s no change of scenery and no intermission so how do you move the performance along? Ignazio! The joking he brings into the performance provides the levity to relive the seriousness of the performance. He brings a certain ease and suspense to the performance. The audience is always wondering, what will he do next.
But is it always about joking? I want you to think about what I’m saying. Ignazio is constantly moving around the stage. He’s dancing and keeping the rhythm. He’s swinging the microphone around and constantly nodding towards the orchestra, Gianluca and Piero. Is that the lead up to a joke? I don’t think so. Let me tell you what you are looking at. Ignazio is following every note that is sung or played on that stage. His mind is in motion. He is sensitive and passionate with music. He has the ability to see the music as it is happening. He knows where every instrument should come in and out. That’s why you notice little things like him smiling, nodding, pointing towards the musicians, Gianluca or Piero. He also grabs the baton from the conductor, sometimes to joke but more often to conduct. Think about him conducting the Asti Symphony Orchestra while Marcello Rota sang his tenor part. He wasn’t joking, he was conducting. And that’s why everyone was watching in amazement. And when it was over, they were speechless. Look at Michele Torpedine go across the stage to embrace him. He is in awe of this young man. You call him funny I call him brilliant! I am going to make a prediction here! Remember you heard it here first. Ignazio will compose a great operatic pop opera one day.
In an article by Ilvolovers Romania they commented: “Ignazio, for what he looks like and also for everything he sometimes hides, is an imposing, brave and authentic young man. Sensitive and passionate, his performance creates a hurricane of feelings for anyone who looks at him and listens to him. For him, the phrase “singing with the heart” is not a metaphor, it is a reality expressed in every gesture and makes us wonder what his eyes see when he sings.”
Let’s look at how Ignazio has helped aspiring young artist.
On February 2, 2014, Ignazio collaborated with singer Roberto Amadè in a project that resulted in a wonderful concert, the Amadè-Boschetto concert which was organized through the Cultural and Artistic Center “Ignazio Boschetto,” with the support of The Town Hall of Marsala. The Teatro Impero archipelago hall has long applauded this initiative which brought together several artists from Marsala.
Ignazio has helped many young people in their careers. In February 2014, Katya Pantaleo, a young singer from Marsala, won the Premio della Critica at Sanremo with the song “Come in paradiso” music, lyrics and arrangement by Ignazio.
On August 30, 2014, Chiara Cusumano and Giorgia Vassalo, The Duo Sisters, reached the finals of the Festival di Castrocaro, performing a song composed by Ignazio: “Paura d’Amare”.
And let’s not forget the beautiful song he wrote “Hablando de ti” that he has performed in concert.
And what about the theme song for the Rai Series Makari.
Let me add to this by recognizing Ignazio’s production company, Floki Productions. At 25 he started his own production company. Does this surprise you? It doesn’t surprise me. It makes a lot of sense to me.
Floki Productions I’m sure is Ignazio’s dream. So, where does the dream begin. Nico Arezzo!
In many ways Nico reminds me of Ignazio. He knows what he wants and, he goes after it. Nico was the first artist to sign a contract with Ignazio under Floki Productions.
You will remember that Ignazio released Nico’s song Gorilla on June 30, 2020 (in the middle of the pandemic) in a “Live on Instagram.” Let’s listen to what Ignazio had to say about that:
“On Thursday night we were the first to do a high-quality sound live on Instagram.”
People wouldn’t dream of doing what Ignazio did. What a spectacular show!
While the music world was trying to restart, Ignazio, at age 25, made his debut as a producer. And what a phenomenal production it was!
Ignazio said, “Production has always been my dream. It started with an idea to give a chance to those who deserve a break,” Ignazio reminds us “as it happened 11 years ago to myself, Gianluca and Piero.”
Some of you may remember the interview I did last October with Ignazio’s teacher Ermelinda De Bartoli. (you can read the full interview “Watching Ignazio Take Flight” on www.ilvoloflightcrw.com) Now I want to go back to that interview and pull out some of the questions and answers which will give you some insight as to who Ignazio really is:
Excerpts from the Interview of October 2020….
Susan: Ignazio’s mother said Ignazio was always very serious and responsible! How would you describe him as a teenager?
Ermelinda: I met him when he was only 14 years old. He was at the beginning of adolescence and, he was always joking. He was very attached to his family. He grew up in Bologna because the family moved there for work and, at the age of ten he moved to Marsala when the family decided to return. In Marsala he attended middle school and two years of high school. At school he was playful and sociable, with a very open and modest character. He often told us about his passion for singing which he studied with a teacher. His life as a teenager was not hard, because, as soon as he started his career at the age of 15, his life changed due to the numerous commitments linked to his success and the new path taken with Il Volo.
Susan: Ignazio is very kind and compassionate. Was this something you noticed about him as a teenager?
Ermelinda: He was very generous and affable to everyone. In particular, he was very compassionate towards some pupils with disabilities, with whom he often conversed, holding them in high regard and showing empathy.
I remember an episode one evening after he won Ti Lascio Una Canzone, the whole class with me and another colleague went to the pizzeria. Ignazio was just fifteen and, when it was time to pay the bill, he came to me and said: “Professor, you are my guest.” I understood that in him there was so much kindness in his manner and in his soul, in this case, a kind gesture towards a woman.
Susan: When Ignazio was your student, he was already studying with Lilliana Adreanò. Ignazio said he had a great passion for soccer and, he loved to play every afternoon but, it had been less so after he started taking singing lessons. He said, “I had less free time and then no free time and I realized that singing was more important than all the rest.” How do you think Ignazio saw his future at that time?
Ermelinda: It is true to study singing he began to leave other hobbies. After Ti Lascio Una Canzone despite having been praised by these great Italian singers, who sang with him, I remember that he told all this with great modesty and simplicity and despite the fact that he had won he never spoke of great expectations nor did he delude himself, at least, until the moment in which Michele Torpedine and Tony Renis hired them after a short time, to form Il Volo. I heard the comments on him by experts such as Claudio Cecchetto and Al Bano who, when he told him that he had recently taken singing lessons, were amazed.
Another detail that I noticed is that while he sang, he always kept his eyes closed and he told me that he was doing it because having recently lost his grandfather, who he adored and, it was he who Ignazio thought of while he sang and, he sang with his heart.
Susan: Ignazio went from your classroom to Ti Lascio Una Canzone and immediately became a star. You told me after the Italian program, he just took off. You said you saw him take off! What was it like watching all of this happen before your eyes? Did it seem like it was all happening very fast?
Ermelinda: Of course, having seen him “take flight” in a short time and, see him pass by the school desks, and then on a stage was for me, as for all his companions, a great emotion and a source of great pride.
Susan: Did you see a change in Ignazio during this time?
Ermelinda: Ignazio was still at school, after his first success, and with all of us, he always remained himself … with a modesty and genuineness that still distinguishes him today.
Susan: During the performances Ignazio sang with some really great singers. Massimo Ranieri, Albano, Fausto Leali to name a few. These singers were in awe of him. Do you think that Ignazio understood what was happening to him?
Ermelinda: Yes, these singers were more than in awe of what they heard, they were astonished, something that Ignazio confirmed when we asked him. And, to think that he was still a kid, and had not yet completed the development of the vocal cords.
Yes, Ignazio from the point of view of his singing ability had already understood in comparison with these famous singers that he had what it takes to become even greater.
Susan: How did your other students feel about what was going on in Ignazio’s life?
Ermelinda: His classmates were very happy and excited. Every Saturday night none of us left the house. We all waited to see Ignazio on TV … and on Monday when he returned to school, for the class, it was a riot and bursting questions, and also a source of pride to kids as they were, to have him as a companion … the little big star, their friend.
Susan: Did you every stop to think about how this all happened? How did a young man from a very simple family suddenly become a superstar?
Ermelinda: It often occurred to me that what was happening to Ignazio was a fairy tale … of those things that you think can only happen in fairy tales. He is a boy with a great talent hitherto unknown, from a very modest family but very united and with healthy values, he was able to tread the scenes of half the world … from his cottage in the countryside to a duet with Barbra Streisand and much more that we know.
The way in which all this happened is told by the facts that there was a first revelation of his talent and Ti Lasco Una Canzone, as we know, could remain there as it happens to many without getting anything else; then as he also said he had the luck of an intuition of the director who suggested to the managers Michele Torpedine and Tony Renis to form the trio.
Susan: How did you feel when Il Volo won Sanremo?
Ermelinda: When Il Volo won in Sanremo, that evening, in addition to the great emotion, I retraced the periods of when Ignazio was still young, always talking with humility about his first successes and I also thought that from the beginning I told myself that he was a phenomenon, so seeing him on that stage, the most important in Italy, was for me just as it was for all Marsala people.
Susan: Finally, what would you like to add about Ignazio that we haven’t already covered?
Ermelinda: I think I have said everything about him of what I know and what I have had the opportunity to perceive. When I talk about Ignazio, with others, I always say that he is very humble, modest and always very affectionate with the people who meet him. I still say:Ignazio, is a beautiful soul.
For Ignazio family is important. They are everything to him. So, please understand that he needs to be with his family right now. You like being with your family. How about posting some nice pictures of the Ignazio we love? Soon he will be in the limelight again. Until then, let’s remember, Ignazio is a Beautiful Soul!Respect that soul!
Join me next week as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and open the door to a new adventure!
Gianluca and Jessica Brando.
