Italian Teen Sensation Il Volo Takes ‘Operatic Pop’ on Tour

Watching Il Volo, a trio of teenage opera singers from Italy, perform at New York’s Beacon Theatre was an exercise in cognitive dissonance: three suave teenagers crooning classic opera to an audience of mostly 50 years old and up. Sure, there were some teenage girls running up to the stage to present one of the performers with roses, but for the most part, the crowd was generations older than the performers. During the final five minutes of the concert, the singers belted out, “Let me hear you!” combining a bit of tween-rock persona with the Neapolitan classic, “O Sole Mio.” In the standing ovation, one elderly woman in the audience cupped her hands in the shape of a heart, Taylor Swift styles.
Il Volo will soon perform as guests of Barbra Streisand’s in concert, and they will release their next album in November with new, original songs and duets with special guests.
After the show, Speakeasy caught up with the singers – who seem as fun-loving off stage as they are on — individually. Watch a video below of Il Volo performing “O Sole Mio.”
Piero Barone, 19 years old, born in Sicily.

You seemed to be having a great time up there.
The American audience, everyday that we change the theater, everyday it’s bigger. In our audience you can find old people and young generation. You can see girls screaming, and girls crying. Our goal is to bring our kind of music, operatic pop, to the young generation. We thought it was really difficult but now we are understanding that we are doing that great. Because every day that we change theaters, we see always more younger generation. I think that if all the young guys discover this kind of music, they are going to fall in love with it. The first time that I listened to this kind of music, I fell in love with it.

How old were you?
I was six, seven.
Do you also listen to pop music?
I listen to all kinds of music. You know, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Elvis, Britney Spears, Madonna. I listen to everyone because if you like music, you listen to all kinds of music.
Why do you wear glasses on stage?
I always wear the glasses. My passions are music, cars, girls, and glasses. That’s my life. My favorite ones are the red ones, but I have like 45, 50 glasses. My house is full of glasses. I don’t need [them] really, I can see without glasses. Thanks to my [optometrist], he’s Luxottica Minio, this is the store that gave me the glasses. When I go home, I always change glasses.
You love cars, too?
My first car is a sports car. I got the driver’s license before I came here to America. But I bought the car before I had the driver’s license. Keep it for you! I didn’t drive it! It’s a sports car. It’s really fast. It’s really dangerous but it’s okay I’m going to be careful.
How do you all get along on tour?
They are like my brothers. I am so proud of them because we live everyday, we share everything — not the girls. It’s like a family because I’m really sad when I leave my real family in Sicily. But I’m so excited because I go around the world with my second family, Il Volo. When we have some problem, you know, we don’t fight. We decide so, what’s the way to figure out?
Do you and Ignazio speak Sicilian so Gianluca doesn’t understand?
We speak Sicilian, our dialect, so Gianluca, he didn’t understand before. Now, he’s going to speak Sicilian like us. Because me and Ignazio we always talk in Sicilian.
Ignazio Boschetto, 17 years old, born in Sicily.
How do you enjoy performing in New York compared with elsewhere?
It was incredible. Performing in the Beacon Theatre, [there’s] big emotion. We know that the people that have been here so we are so, so honored to be singing here. We hope to come back soon. We try to give our best energy everywhere, but New York is New York. It’s magic.
What’s different about your new album?
It’s going to be a beautiful album with special duets and new songs. We want to update Il Volo. For example, we did a new version of “Beautiful Day” [by] U2.
Are you interested in crossing more over into pop?
Our kind of music is a mix of pop and classical music. I think we can call this crossover, right? The people like this kind of music.
Are you excited to perform with Barbra Streisand?
It’s going to be a real dream come true. Three years ago, I was in my room playing PlayStation with my friend. Now I’m here in America, doing a great tour with Barbra Streisand, the monument, a big legend. We are so happy.
Gianluca Ginoble, 17 years old, born in Abruzzo.
Do you feel a different energy when you perform here than in other cities?
Yes. New York is one of my favorite cities. The people, the fans, everything is amazing. I feel in my body, I feel everything.
You were singing tonight in four different languages – Italian, English, Spanish and French.
Are you trying to do more of this?
We sing in German as well. We did, last Christmas, the German version of “Silent Night.” It was very hard because German is very difficult. I think the pronunciation is like the music. It’s the sound.
How is Il Volo evolving?
Now, we have eight concerts with Barbra Streisand, we’re like special guests. This is unbelievable. November is going to be our new album with new songs. We have a new repertoire. We have our songs. The first album was our songs but more covers. But now everything is new. I can’t wait. We will come back here for the promotion in the U.S.
When you look into the crowd, is it a mix of young and old?
Yes, this is a beautiful thing. This was always our goal. Our music is for all the ages, you know, [breaks into song] “To kids from 1 to 92,” this Christmas song.
Do you see opera and classical music appealing to younger people?
Yeah, it’s a mix of pop and opera. It’s crossover, like operatic pop. We have a lot of fans in South America. We did a concert like 7,000 people in a concert in Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil. It was an amazing tour. This is our dream come true. Maybe it’s because this is the first time teenagers sing this kind of music.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com