Susan Boyle would be amazing to work with, say opera stars Il Divo
Mar 30 2012 By John Dingwall


OPERA stars Il Divo have revealed they would love to record with Susan Boyle.
Both owe their fame to Simon Cowell and are signed to his Syco record label.
The music mogul formed Il Divo in 2004 after he auditioned for a pop opera four piece, while Susan Boyle found fame on 2009’s Britain’s Got Talent, where she was runner-up.
Since the start of their careers Il Divo and the Scots singer have both sold in their millions and are in demand worldwide.
And French pop singer Sébastien Izambard, Spanish baritone Carlos Marín, American tenor David Miller, and Swiss tenor Urs Bühler say Susan Boyle  would be the perfect match for a collaboration, provided they can find the right song.
“If we can find the right song, we would definitely love to work with her,” Seb said.
“I have never met her but she has a beautiful story.
“I think she is very talented and I saw the show with Piers Morgan where she was talking about her life.
“I was very surprised that her life has been so difficult.
“The little that I know is very positive. If we were ever to find the right song we could absolutely collaborate. If we find the song and it is magical and it works. It all depends on that.”
Il Divo bring their brand of bombastic pop operatics to Scotland this weekend, with a show at Glasgow’s SECC & Clyde Auditorium.
But Seb’s recollection of playing here is a little suspect.
“We played all the castles around the UK and I remember playing Glasgow Castle.
“It was beautiful. Amazing,” he said.
And while Seb admits he can’t wait to head here, he will also be homesick for his wife Renne, four-year-old twins, Luca and Rose, and one-year-old Jude.
He said: “It is very exciting and it has been a long time since we played Scotland.
“The last visit was too quick. We arrived by bus and I can still remember how beautiful Scotland is.
“Maybe I will get an extra couple of hours this time. Most of the time, my family stay in London where we live and I travel back there on days off.
“The children have nursery and swimming classes. They’re still too young to travel around. But they will be based in LA when I go to America.
He added: “I do get homesick. It is really difficult and I can’t pretend it’s easy. I love being in my slippers and pyjamas at home, but Il Divo is magical too so I try to find a balance between the two.
“We travel the world and recently played a stadium in Paraguay, for example.
“It was to celebrate a bicentennial and we played to 50,000 people, which was unexpected.
“People were crazy about our music, which was surprising because it was a place we’d never been. That was mind-blowing and a real surprise.”
The band will be performing hits from their albums, which have notched up 26     million sales.
But Seb admits they struggled to find their form during the making of their most recent album, Wicked Game.
He said: “We were working on our album and it was just not good enough. We wanted to do something much better than what we had.
“That took time and effort. We decided not to release the album.
“People thought we were finished and hated each other. But we just wanted a really good album.
“It was a risk and we worried that people would forget about us. But we came back with a fantastic album. So there is nothing to complain about.”
“We see Simon Cowell once a year. We sit down with him and agree on songs then try them in the studio.
“He still has an eye on what we do, but everyone does their own things. It’s a partnership.”

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Wicked wanderers circle the globe

Il Divo

By David Dunn
Published on Thursday 29 March 2012 09:09

IT must be a hard life travelling the world wowing ears and eyes alike from Singapore to Sheffield.

But somehow classical multinational male vocal phenomenon Il Divo, pictured, seem to make it work.
“We have grown to know each other so well over the course of the last eight years that we are like four brothers,” explains Swiss-born Urs Buhler, shortly after finishing a show in Taipai. “That comes closest to describe our bond.
“We are like a family with ups and downs, individually as well as collectively, but nobody else in the world shares all the intense experiences we have lived through together since we started with Il Divo.
“That makes our friendship unique and irreplaceable. And I’m sure some of it shimmers through in our performances. We often get asked if we really have as much fun together on stage as it looks. The answer is: Much more than that even. There’s so much going on on-stage between us that the audience doesn’t see. We’re always having a ball performing together, because we love it so much.”

Il Divo, owners of more than 150 gold and platinum awards from 33 countries, are currently midway through a six continent tour with fifth album Wicked Game, a record fuelled by clever re-workings of some very familiar songs.
While the idea of tackling covers may seem an easy one to some, Sebastien Izambard says the process wasn’t as straightforward as it could have been.
“It took us two years to put these songs together,” confirms the Frenchman. “The A&R at the very beginning of the song choice stage was wrong and predictable, but we knew we had to experiment again and try some new songs to move forward. Finally, after four months, it began to take shape after these few attempts of recording.”
In fact, Seb’s wife Renee had an input into the content when she heard Rebecca Del Rio’s version of Roy Orbison’s Crying on TV drama Prison Break.

“We are open to anything,” he says. “In all fairness we were talking about how great it would be to do something with Jessie J or Eminem or Bjork. It would be fab to do something out of the ordinary.
“We try as much as possible to not be predictable but Il Divo is Il Divo. I think the next record we have in mind you are going to be very surprised. It keeps us all on our toes with excitement.”
Either way, the formula – re-imagining other folk’s songs with an opera/classical makeover - has worked well from day one and just about everywhere, no matter the language.
“We are definitely entertainers, we love putting a smile on our audience faces,” says Seb, simply. “They come to have a special time and we are at that time the luckiest men in the world to do what we love doing.
“Music is so powerful, it recalls in people’s heart a moment, like a perfume does. It brings you back to a good or bad moment. Music is a necessity. People will not live happily without music.
“We all have to listen to music and love a musical song in our lives. This is why music matters so much, because it helps us to live.
“For instance in Japan when the horrible tragedy occurred a year ago, our music was played in the street and the journalist who told me says it helps them to move forward and rebuild some positivity. The power of music is limitless.”
Surely there is some connection also made by the fact Il Divo comprises different nationalities, rather than men from one country or culture?
“I don’t necessarily think it makes it easier for the group or for our music to get accepted,” says Urs.
“However, I am convinced it makes for a colourful configuration which has not been replicated, and that is surely one of our great strengths. The concept seems so obvious and easy, and yet...”
“This is how music is intended to work, to reach people everywhere without boundaries of language or culture.
“It is music’s great power that it can be understood by anyone without needing any special training or formation or knowledge, as long as it reaches you on some level, be it emotionally or intellectually.
“There are even deaf people who come to our concerts and enjoy our music because they can feel the vibrations.
“We are the fortunate ones who can serve the music, create and transmit it to so many people.”
By the time Il Divo reach the Motorpoint Arena on April 7 they will have clocked up more Air Miles on this tour than most of us do in a lifetime. Such extreme travelling can take its toll on the healthiest of us, let alone four voices that need to be at their peak every other night.
Not much room for partying with fans, then?
“You have got a great responsibility, so you have to be very careful how you pace yourself,” confirms Urs.
“But as with everything the golden way lies in the middle. If you get paranoid about everything you very soon don’t have a life any more, and you probably get sick or depressed much easier.
“I love a big after-show party, but not if I have three more shows to sing on the following three nights. That would be not taking your job seriously. You have to get very good at listening to your body and mind and feel when they need rest, just as when they need to step off the treadmill and gather some new inspiration and energy – hey, we’re only human.”
As for what follows the current bout of globe-trotting? Seb knows how to spin a finish to an interview. “The great thing about the four of us is we do not sit on our laurels. We always look for the next big thing,” he concludes.
“Looking back is great. It makes you look to improve but now and tomorrow is really what is important.
“Maybe a duet with Beyonce one day?”

Interview: We catch up with Urs Buhler from Ill Divo

• by Gordon Barr, Evening Chronicle
• Mar 30 2012

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Il Divo

ENTERTAINMENT Editor Gordon Barr catches up with Il Divo’s Swiss tenor Urs Buhler ahead of the group’s long-awaited gig at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle.
FOUR years ago almost to the day, Urs Buhler, one fourth of Il Divo, was in the North East at a show with just 120 in the audience. When he arrives here next week with the group, you can multiply that audience figure by 100.
For back in 2008, Urs was actually at the premiere of Pub Quiz at the Queen’s Hall in Hexham.
The Swiss hunk had taken his seat unannounced to watch the world premiere of the dark comedy set in the North East, and was soon laughing at the lines and enjoying his first taste of anything resembling a pub quiz.
The play was written by Carina Rodney, of North Shields, whose sister Tania was Il Divo’s hair and make-up artist ... and also the partner of the tenor.
Since then the pair have had a baby girl, Billie, and she has changed their lives.
“I remember Pub Quiz very well,” Urs tells me ahead of Il Divo’s gig at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle on Monday next week.
“How life has changed since then. Obviously Tania cannot travel with us like she used to. When Billie was a little baby it was do-able but now it is too complicated. We arrange it now and then. When in the UK it is easier.

“But when you are traveling into Asia, for example, every day you fly to a different country and it’s a four-five-hour flight. It is not enjoyable or good for a child.
“It’s hard being away from them and this world tour is the first time I have experienced that. Tania has always been with us in the past. But I’m not touring forever.”
That world tour has already taken them to Australia and the Far East, it’s now the European leg and after that they head for the USA, Middle East and South America.
“There’s a lot of travelling but it is great to be doing it,” admits Urs, 40.
“The highlight of the day is not the airport lounge, it’s the show. The rest of it is exciting but it’s not always as enjoyable as you would wish.
“The great thing is it’s our fourth world tour and we now know most of the places and remember the hotels we are coming to and we have people who remember us, drivers and people like that.
“That gives it a completely different atmosphere than when you go out on a world tour like that for the first time and everything is new and fresh. We finished our last tour Christmas 2009 and in January 2010 we started discussing the repertoire for the next album.
“It somehow has taken a very long time to put it together because we did not want to go on repeating ourselves and take a few well- known covers and record them again with the same producers.”
That new album is Wicked Game, and marked something of a turning point for Il Divo. “We tried on quite a few songs a completely different approach, some are based on classical instrumental pieces that songwriters have written lyrics to.
“It gives a very interesting hybrid. It gives you a new song as such based on existing music. It just makes it a bit more interesting for us than just, say, taking a Mariah Carey cover and doing that.”
Also new for this tour is a 40-piece orchestra.
“That is great and it gives us a completely different feeling in performing too, in recreating these big cinematic sounds in an arena,” says Urs.
“We love it. We were worried a little bit if it was a bit too dramatic for some of our audience who might prefer it a bit lighter, but we do enjoy it.
“It brings the three of us who are opera singers back to those days when we used to work only acoustically in opera houses with full orchestras. It’s a great feeling.
“It is nice making music, but it is much nicer making music together with other people.
“We now have 45 people on stage making music on stage together, which is fantastic.
“You create an energy. You get in the same kind of bubble together and you live and breathe these moments together. A wonderful experience.”
There have been many Il Divo imitators, but none have yet to match their success.
“I think it might have to do with the fact that we were the first,” says Urs modestly.
“I think it also has to do with the fact we are multi-national and very different personalities and we have very different voices from each other. A lot of people see that as a handicap but we see it as an absolute bonus as it makes the end product so much richer and diverse.”
Il Divo are at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle, on Monday.

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  29 Mar: Antwerp, Belgium (Sportpaleis) Review by Sascha Siereveld, concertnews.be

Concert Review, Added 31 Mar 2012
For over 8 years, the 4 gentlemen of Il Divo make many girls' hearts skip a beats because of their looks and their voices, so it was to be expected that of the 12 000 fans who had come to Antwerp, the majority were female. Judging by the applause and the reactions afterwards, their expectations were more than met. David Miller, Urs Bühler, Sébastien Izambard , Carlos Marin and their orchestra delivered a stylish show with of course a central role for the music, but also keeping into account the visual effects.
Everyone was waiting with excitement when a little bit past 8:30 the lights dimmed and the musicians of the large orchestra entered the stage. The violins softly announced the melody of "Come What May" from Moulin Rouge and white spots scanned the hall like searchlights. And then suddenly they were there at the back of the stage: Sébastien, David, Urs en Carlos. A first wave of fans already gasped for breath before the first note left their throats. They had not missed their entrance.
The song started out very classical with especially strings being predominant and at the end, the pop music of the electrical guitar and the drums could be head. This was also typical for Il Divo's style. David Miller explained that when they were brought together eight years ago, they got clear instructions: "You have pop on one side and opera on the other, and somewhere in the middle of all that, there's Il Divo. Here's some songs... go for it!"
And midfield, they found, among others, the genre of musical theatre, and so Il Divo performed one of the most beautiful musical songs of all time: “Don’t cry for me Argentina” from Evita. David opened the song in his higher register while the violins softly provided a muted background. Wonderful to again hear the sound emerge from the body of a string instrument and not out of an electrical box. The muted sounds of the drums set the atmosphere like a clock menacingly ticking time away before the great explosion. Sébastien took over with his lyrical voice to pass the torch to Carlos. He brought warmth and power to the song and is without a doubt the pivotal figure of this quartet. And while Urs softly sang “Don’t cry for me Argentina” in the chorus, Carlos provided the harmony. In the second part of the song, their four voices blended together and gained power to work to that last, high note. No tears of sadness here, merely of emotion.
The mix of pop and opera also stood out in Melancholia [sic], the translation of Chris Isaak's “Wicked game”. The stage was enveloped in passionate red light while of the different curved screens, images were projected of a blazing fire. For the first time, the synthesizer took the foreground, and the basses vibrated. The four gentlemen of Il Divo combined their voices, complementing one another, performing a great ending part in two part harmony and really bringing down the house at the end. It was beautiful to watch and listen to.
And still we were not always convinced for 100%. We heard and saw a beautiful four part harmony version of Leonard Cohens “Hallelujah”, enjoyed the salsa rythms of “La vida sin amor” with a prominent spot for the accoustic guitar and were in awe for their rendtition of “Unchained melody”, but stil we couldn't shake the impression that Urs Bühler was not in top form. During the whole show he sounded relatively weak and during the magnificent song “Somewhere” we even spotted some notes that were slightly off key. Luckily his three colleagues came to the rescue sometimes supporting with their harmonies. And if we have to be entirely honest, we have to say that also “Pour que tu m’aimes encore” did not get the rendition it deserved. The French wasn't always comprehensable and the synchornisation of the singing could have been way better.
But at least just as clear in this show was the talent of Carlos Martin [sic]. His warm and powerful bariton voice had the ability to charm us and the looks he threw into the camera did the same for a large part of the audience. When he sang his part in the different songs, the passion in the songs increased considerably. Vocally, he is really the stronghold for Il Divo.
Nobody will have missed the obviously relaxed atmosphere between the four band members. When David Miller nearly tripped over the stairs during the opening of “A mi marena / My way” [sic], his colleagues burst into laughter. Carlos and Sébastien then went on to joke amongst one another, prompting Urs to turn to the orchestra for a moment to stop laughing. It was probably vocally not the strongest rendition of this classic they have ever performed, but it was lovely to watch. It became really hilarious when David, right before his line “each careful step along the byway”, deliberately went down the same stairway to show that he could do it without tripping. There were many laughs both on and in front of the stage, illustrating how wonderful the atmosphere on the stage really was.
Il Divo ended the concert with “Time to say goodbye”. The orchestra again got the chance to show off its violins and also the trombones were a bit more prominent. THe four voices were combined elaborately one last time, and together David Miller, Urs Bühler, Sébastien Izambard and Carlos Marin closed the show in a powerful way with a great bang. The audience could head home while still savouring the evening and get ready for their trip to the next city and the gentlemen could get ready for the journey to the next city and the next concert. If we can believe Urs, they will miss Antwerp for sure.

This is my first post, I will use this blog to write about my life, my passion for opera music (Claccical) and my big hobby that I spend many hours every day, namely my birds.
I hope you will follow my life and what happens.
It was just a short post here.
-Anni.