INTERVIEW: Il Volo singers bring Morricone songbook to United States

Photo: Il Volo features, from left, Ignazio Boschetto, Gianluca Ginoble and Piero Barone. Photo courtesy of the group / Provided by Crossover Media with permission.

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Success was almost instantaneous for the Italian supergroup Il Volo, a singing trio that has brought sweeping melodies and unique interpretations of classic tunes to millions around the world. The latest recording from Ignazio Boschetto, Gianluca Ginoble and Piero Barone is a celebration of the late Italian composer Ennio Morricone. The singers will bring selections from Il Volo Sings Morricone to several East Coast concerts in the United States. They are scheduled for engagements in Atlantic City, New Jersey (Sept. 23); Oxon Hill, Maryland (Sept. 25); New York City (Sept. 27); and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (Sept. 29); among other dates and cities.

“The project came up during our two years of COVID,” Barone said in a recent Zoom interview. “We were forced to stay at home, so at the beginning, we were sharing phone calls and our new ideas for the new project. And then talking about the new project and new melodies, we realized that the three of us admire a lot Maestro Morricone. So we met him in 2010 during our first recording session in Rome, so actually he was one of the first ones who listened to our first album. So when we shared this idea with our management, our label company, everybody agreed, but we needed to call first the family to think what they thought about this project. So we called his son, Andrea Morricone, and also the wife of Maestro Ennio, [Maria Travia], and they said yes. So as soon as we received this answer, yes, from the entire family, we start working on this album, and we are really proud of what we have done.”

The album was recorded in a studio that the Il Volo team knows well: Forum Studios in Rome. That’s actually where the group’s debut album was first recorded.

“We can say that we were born there in that studio,” Boschetto said. “It was such a great feeling seeing the orchestra of Maestro Morricone record his songs there because we had the only one orchestra who played with him in his entire life. … So all the process of the recording session was the most emotional part, touching part of the album, and, of course, going back to record the album there has been something that we will never forget.”

Still, the three singers faced some difficult obstacles trying to put together a series of recorded songs during a time when the global pandemic was greatly impacting the world, especially in Italy. The singers and their producer had to work through Skype for much of the recording process, but Ginoble said that the trio tried their best to stay focused on the positive.

“When negative things happen in life, we have to react in a positive way,” Ginoble said. “That’s why we did our best to focus on the music and our career to have time to record in the best way, to spend time together and find the right inspiration. That’s why Morricone was very important to us, and especially in the last two years, we discovered a beautiful repertoire, many melodies that we never listened to. We are very proud to have the first version, performed in English, of ‘The Ecstasy of Gold’ and the lyrics written by Andrea Morricone, Ennio Morricone’s son. He wrote the lyrics in English of the melody from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It’s probably the most beautiful CD that we’ve recorded in the last 10 years because Morricone is eternal. He’s a flag for Italy, the most famous Italian composer all over the world.”

Morricone’s work is widely known in the cinematic world because his sweeping melodies serve as the soundtrack to so many important films. He is the maestro behind such classics as Once Upon a Time in the West, Teorema, The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, Kill Bill and Django Unchained.

Barone added: “We all know Ennio Morricone’s movies because actually every one of us has his favorite soundtrack and his favorite movie. Personally talking my favorite is the movie Nuovo Cinema Paradiso … because Nuova Cinema Paradiso talks about this Sicilian guy, and I’m from Sicily. So I see myself in that movie.” In the United States, Barone’s favorite film is known as Cinema Paradiso, a classic from the 1980s.

Boschetto added: “All of us know the beautiful melodies that were part of many movies. … We love the career of Ennio Morricone, and this is why we choose to pay tribute to him.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

Il Volo’s new album is Il Volo Sings Morricone. They will perform several East Coast concerts over the next week. Click here for more information and tickets.