Il Volo

Il Volo
L-R standing: Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble perfoming in Bogotá
Background information
Origin	Italy
Genres	Operatic pop
Years active	2009–present
Labels	Geffen, Universal/Interscope
Website	ilvolomusic.com
Members	Piero Barone Ignazio Boschetto Gianluca Ginoble

Il Volo (English: The Flight) is an Italian operatic pop trio, consisting of singers: tenors Piero Barone and Ignazio Boschetto, and baritone Gianluca Ginoble.^[1]

Personal

Piero Barone ognibene was born on June 24, 1993, in Naro (pop. 8,700), province of Agrigento, Sicily, in southern Italy.

Ignazio Boschetto licari was born in Bologna, Emilia Romagna, in northern Italy on October 4, 1994, and grew up in Marsala, Sicily.

Gianluca Ginoble di vittorio was born on February 11, 1995, in Roseto degli Abruzzi, in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. He grew up and continues to live in the nearby hilltop town of Montepagano.

Career

Ti Lascio Una Canzone (2009–10)

The three pop-opera singers started their career in 2009, when they met on the second edition of the Italian RAI TV music competition show Ti lascio una canzone, held at the Ariston Theater in Sanremo.

On May 2, 2009, Gianluca Ginoble won the competition, singing Andrea Bocelli's "Il mare calmo della sera".^[2]

During the competition, the three singers were chosen to perform, as a trio, the Neapolitan classic "’O sole mio".^[3] After the competition, they continued to perform together under the names "Tre Tenori", "The Tryo", "Il Trio", and finally in the fall of 2010... "Il Volo" (which translates to "the flight" in Italian).

In 2010 the trio participated in the charity single "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", a remake of the 1985 hit song "We Are the World". In February 2010 they performed the songs "Granada" and "Un Amore Così Grande" during the 60th Sanremo Music Festival.^[4] Also at that festival the trio performed for Queen Rania of Jordan (Regina Rania di Giordania).

Il Volo (2010–present)

Their first self-titled album was recorded in 2010 in the Abbey Road Studios in London and produced by Tony Renis and Humberto Gatica.^[5] It was released in Italy on November 30, 2010,^[5] and peaked at number 6 on the Italian Albums Chart,^[6] receiving the Gold certification by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry.^[7]

The international edition of the album was released on April 12, 2011,^[8] and was promoted in the United States with a performance during the final three results show of American Idol's tenth season.^[9] The group sang "’O sole mio", which was released as a single in the United States in early 2011.^[10] The album debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200 and at number 1 on the Classical Albums, selling 23,000 copies in its first week.^[11][12] The album is also entered in the Top 10 in other countries, such as Belgium, France, and the Netherlands and topped in Austria.^[6]

A Spanish version of the album was released and peaked at number 6 in Mexico,^[6] at number 3 on the Billboard Classical Albums chart, at number 4 on the Top Latin Albums chart, and at number 1 on the Latin Pop Albums chart.^[13][14][15] This version was certified Gold in Mexico by AMPROFON for the sale of 30,000 copies^[16] and won an RIAA Latin Gold Award for the sale of 50,000 copies in US.^[17]

The trio performed for the TV show The Talk in February 2011 and on October 13, 2011.

On May 19, 2011, the trio performed "'O Sole Mio" on American Idol. On July 31, 2011, the trio performed "’O sole mio" and "This Time" for the President's Star Charity show in Singapore to help raise funds for the handicapped. On September 4, 2011, the trio performed "’O sole mio" and "Smile" for the MDA Labor Day Telethon. On September 11, 2011, the trio made a cameo appearance on the series finale of Entourage.

Il Volo was nominated for two Latin Grammy Awards in Best Pop Album by a Duo or Group with Vocal for Il Volo (Edicion en espanol) and in Best New Artist.

On October 27, 2011, Il Volo performed live at the Detroit Opera House to tape their first concert DVD titled "Il Volo - Takes Flight - Live from the Detroit Opera House". This concert premiered on December 7, 2011, in Detroit (on PBS Channel WTVS) and 1,000 cities across Canada (that receive Detroit's PBS on their cable system).

On November 21, 2011, Il Volo released, only in digital format, their first EP called Christmas Favorites, which contains a duet with Pia Toscano. On the same date, their debut album was re-released in a special edition that also includes the tracks from Christmas Favorites. On December 22, 2011, Il Volo was the closing guest for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, singing "The Christmas Song".

On February 28, 2012, Il Volo's new CD and DVD, Il Volo - Takes Flight - Live from the Detroit Opera House, was released. This concert was shown on PBS stations across the US and Canada followed by a tour of the countries from August through October.

In October and early November 2012 Il Volo performed in concert with Barbra Streisand. They sang with her the song "Smile", and "Make My Garden Grow", and performed singles "O Sole Mio" and "Un Amore Cosi Grande".

On November 19, 2012 Il Volo released their second album, We Are Love (Billboard 200 number 100)

On December 11, 2012 Il Volo performed at the 2012 Nobel Prize Concert in Oslo Norway, with King Harald V in attendance.

On April 25, 2013, they performed the song "El Triste" at the 2013 Latin Billboard Music Awards as a tribute to singer José José.

Discography

References