What do foreigners like about us Italians? Art, natural landscapes, pasta and “bel canto”.
Our ancestors left us a great amount of works of art as a legacy and everything is beautiful.
The Mediterranean with its currents and winds, also thanks to the volcanic subsoil, has created a unique and wonderful nature.
We are envied around the world for the way we know how to prepare, present, and eat pasta.
And good music? It is the wonderful young voices of the trio “Il Volo” master performers of the pop-lyrical genre who take care of it.
But who are these guys?
Pietro barone
He was born on June 24, 1993 in Naro, a town in the province of Agrigento. Sweet, friendly and kind to everyone. He comes from a modest family, his mother Eleonora is a housewife and his father Gaetano is a mechanic. But it was thanks to his grandfather Pietro, to whom he was particularly attached, that he began to take a singing lesson. His remarkable qualities as a singer lead him to the famous Rai 1 talent show “Ti lascio una canzone”. Despite his various commitments, he kept his promise to his parents in 2018 and graduated in administration, finance and marketing.
Ignazio Boschetto
He was born on October 4, 1994 in Bologna to Sicilian parents. Mother is Caterina (chef in a pizzeria) and father Vito (former mason) died on February 28, 2021. At 10 he left Bologna for Sicily, but a few years ago he returned to his hometown. His father who heard him sing “La donna è mobile” made him take singing lessons. Pleasant and upbeat, he is a huge Juventus fan and loves to cook.
Gianluca Ginoble
On Saturday February 11, 1995, Gianluca, eldest son of Eleonora and Ercole, was born in Atri, in the province of Teramo. At just 3 years old, his grandfather Ernesto, for whom he had a deep love, made him listen to the first cassettes of groups, Andrea Bocelli and others. At 10, he began to sing in a choir and took part in a few local competitions. He is a simple and humble boy with a strong character and at the same time sensitive and responsible. Nicknamed “Maradona”, he loves sports and especially football.
When they were only teenagers, in 2009, they conquered success during the second edition of the talent show “Ti lascio una canzone”. Director Roberto Cenci recognizes the potential of the three soloists and therefore decides to form a trio by uniting their performances: Piero Barone (16 years old), Ignazio Boschetto (14 years old) and Gianluca Ginoble (14 years old).
The three boys arouse the interest of the record producer Michele Torpedine who, hearing them sing in Antonella Clerici’s program at the Ariston in Sanremo, saw in them the projection of the three tenors Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras. So he talked about it to Tony Renis, a well-known record producer. Thus, also thanks to the involvement of Jimmy Iovine, president of the American label Geffen Records, the three boys signed their first major contract. With orchestration and arrangements in a modern tonality, the trio performed classic songs from the melodic repertoire in various foreign languages, gaining international success in a short time. Under the name of “The Tryo”, they asserted themselves with “O ‘sole mio”, “Torna a Surriento” and “Funiculì Funiculà” and participated in the recording of the song “We are the world 25 for Haiti” in order to raise funds for the Haitian people who were victims of an earthquake. After the first album released in 2010 entitled “Il Volo”, they decidde, after much indecision, to adopt this title as the final name of the group: “a good omen the idea of flying, of taking off, of s’ raising in flight. ”(taken from Un’avventura straordinaria). They appeared in various television shows around the world and in 2011 conquered the American and European markets, topping the rankings of countries such as France, Belgium, Austria. The release of the album in Spanish allowed them to conquer the Latin American market (Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Puerto Rico). The same year, they also conquered the Asian market (Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore) until Australia and New Zealand.
After winning numerous awards, gold and platinum records, and two Latin Grammy nominations as “Best New Artist” and “Best New Pop Album”, Barbra Streisand wished to have them as “special guests” on her “Back to Brooklyn” tour. A few months later, the second album “We are love” was released which, unlike the first, also contained unreleased songs. Next come participations in the lighting of the tree at Rockefeller Center in New York, the annual Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union, the Billboard Latin Music Award nomination, where the Spanish version of ” We are love “(Mas que amor) allows them to reach the first and second place of the Billboard Latin Music Award. So it marked the start of a series of concerts in North America, Central America and South America, which sold out and received good reviews in the opera world. Some concerts are even broadcast by different broadcasters around the world.
They spent the year 2014 in Italy to prepare the release of the new album scheduled for the following year and at the same time to make themselves known in their country of origin. This is how they presented themselves at the Sanremo Festival 2015 with the song “Grande Amore” which won the event. This victory then led them to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna where they finished third.
At the end of the same year, the fourth album “Love moves” was released with the live single of the same name recorded in Pompeii.
The tribute to the three tenors presented as part of the “Magic Night” project which sees numerous concerts in Italy, Europe and Latin America is of considerable importance. In 2019, they returned to the Sanremo Festival and came third with the song “Musica che resta”. On November 8 of the same year, Sonic Music’s “10 Years”, the “best of” for the group’s 10-year international career, was released worldwide. After various concerts in 2019 in Japan, Europe and South America, the three “golden uvula” left early 2020 and until mid-March for North America, skipping only 3 concerts because of the emergence of COVID-19.
During these 10 years of career the question: what have the fans left you?
They replied: “These 10 years have passed at full speed, it has been 10 wonderful years of great emotions, but above all we can say that we have grown and that our fans have grown with us. We are like a big family. There are those who know us and follow us since we were 14-15 years old. They have really seen our growth not only as professionals and artists, but also as people. They saw us as children and now as men. They give us great emotions which we see in their eyes when we sing at concerts. It really is the most beautiful of things! “
Here is “IL VOLO“. Three children today adults who, starting from simple village realities, thanks to their incredible singing talents, fill theaters and concert halls all over the world and give strong emotions. By offering the melody of the Italian “Bel Canto” in an original and unique pop-rock version, they easily conquer the international market of all ages.
Their fantastic voices and the vigorous and massive timbre convey a mixture of emotion, passion and excitement, ingredients of their great international success. To all this is added a natural and casual interpretation, perfected by the harmony and the fusion of the voices of the two tenors Piero and Ignazio with the baritone Gianluca.
Together or individually, they manage to give the singing performance a more harmonious, romantic and above all enveloping version, thus breaking the canons of rigidity typical of opera singing. The ability of producers and managers Michele Torpedine rounds it off by choosing songs with the right melody and arrangements for the performing skills and extraordinary abilities of the group that receives standing ovations at every concert.
The pursuit of perfection is common to all three. They are currently studying piano and their intention is to be able to present their own pieces in the future.
I have been following this fantastic group for three years and I owe my approach to my daughter Annalisa, who has been studying pop opera and piano for a few years. Her in-depth knowledge of the group helped me gather and select information.
“You are the national pride everywhere in the world and one of your successes which is – Musica che resta (music that remains) -, and it really is! You are doing very well; she stays with us! Congratulations guys! “
