Make way for Il Volo

Move over Jonas Brothers. So should all those other tween idols who cannot sing even if it meant saving their lives. Make way for the trio Il Volo. Now being fondly referred to as Il Tenorini, this barrel of cuteness is captivating parents and grandparents and changing the music tastes of young people all over the world. Thanks to them tweens and lots of oldies as well are all going classical.

Il Volo, which means the flight in Italian is made up of Gianluca Ginoble, 16, from Teramo; Ignazio Boschetto, also 16, from Sicily; and Piero Barone who recently turned 18 from Bologna. Aside from being young, what these three guys have in common is the dark-eyed attractiveness common to Latin gentlemen and a golden voice. If you think that Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti sing like three archangels, then Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero are cherubs whose voices seem to have come from heaven.

Like most new talents nowadays, the boys were discovered when they joined a talent competition on television. This was Ti lascio una canzone on RAI TV that was held in San Remo two years ago. They joined as soloists and it was Gianluca, who won the grand prize with his rendition of Il mare calmo della sera by Andrea Bocelli. But thanks to somebody, something else happened during the contest.

Now whoever that somebody was, he is, unfortunately not getting any credit for what he did. So I’ll do it here and give him the big thumbs up. This is for that somebody in the show’s production staff who thought it would be a good idea to have the three young contestants sing together. The boys sang the Italian standard O Sole Mio. Audience reaction was remarkable and they have been singing together ever since.

Producers Tony Renis and Humberto Gatica, who were themselves pop idols many years ago, herded the boys to the recording studio and got them working on their first album right away. They assembled quite a repertoire of touching melodies set in commercially-appealing arrangements. This is like, even if the boys don’t make it big, the music in the CD will still endure.

Also titled Il Volo, the album is a mix of new works, E’ La Mia Vita and This Time. There are Italian favorites, Il Mondo and Un Amore Cosi’ Grande and its breakthrough song, O Sole Mio. There are the Spanish classic El Reloj, where the boys show off great low notes and the Hollywood standard, Charlie Chaplin’s Smile, which is an easy favorite. It is nice to find hints of Josh Groban, who as a teenager also opened up kids to the beauty of classical singing some years ago. Il Volo sings Groban’s own composition Per Te.

The famous Diane Warren from the U.S. of A. contributed two originals, La Luna Hizo Esto and Painfully Beautiful. One of the best cuts is E Piu’ Ti Penso by Ennio Morricone. This is the theme from Once Upon a Time in America, which if I remember right, was beautifully recorded by Celine Dion as I Knew You Loved Me. I am trying to think of another word to describe Il Volo’s version but that is what it is, beautiful. So is Notte Stellata, with lyrics by Renis set to the famous music of The Swan by Saint-Saens. Okay I’ll give that one, my favorite description when something really moves me, achingly beautiful.

Nothing was left to chance to make the album truly memorable and Il Volo truly deserves the effort. I had already seen them perform on TV but I was still blown away by the album. I hear the trio’s first notes in Il Mondo and I want to scream, they sound like this!!! What tones, what range, what technique. Great. I have one beef though. Without the help of visuals, I often forgot I was listening to three teenagers. They were just three good tenors in a very good album. Some cuteness in the song line-up would have been nice. But I love Il Volo and I hope it comes out with a concert video soon.

Il Volo was released late last year in Italy where it easily went Gold and is now moving to Platinum. It has also charted high in several countries including the U.S. of A. where the two editions of the album, Italian and Spanish are No. 2 and No. 3 in Billboard Magazine’s classical hit list. They might make No. 1 soon but they will have to dislodge Jackie Evancho first. She also sings classical and she is only 13 years old.

Hail to these opera singing teens. Let us have more of them.