Il Divo still defining 'popera'

 

It has taken a while for four artists to get comfortable with one another

 

By Tom Harrison, The Province

They were an international success first, then they got to know each other.

Carlos Marin from Spain, Sebastien Izambard from France, David Miller from the U.S. and Urs Buhler from Switzerland were selected by Simon Cowell for their background in opera, christened Il Divo, made a record and sent out on tour.
There was only one question in the back of the four's minds: Would this work?
Another six studio albums, three world tours, and 25 million records sold patently says, yes. Eight years ago, Il Divo wasn't so sure.
"In the beginning, we didn't know each other," Miller recalls. "So we had a few communication issues. But we picked English, so I was the mediator in the group. As the other guys' English has improved, it's no longer a problem.
"It was a huge experiment, all of this," he continues. "And all of us had different individual tastes. I think the turning point for us was "Unbreak My Heart." Then there was a flow to it. Then it became a question of how do you build with-out becoming repetitive?"
It has taken five albums to answer that question. The latest, Wicked Game, is titled after the haunting/haunted Chris Isaac song. It's operatic and lends itself to the four voices and the lush orchestration Il Divo has favoured.
As well, Wicked Game is the kind of pop - a hit but not a big hit, recent but not too recent, dramatic but not a party piece - that fits the Il Divo direction.
"There has been a certain amount of expanding of the horizons as far as repertoire," Miller agrees. "We might have gone too far with The Promise [Il Divo's fourth album] with the Frankie Goes To Holly-wood song, "The Power Of Love."
"Some things that look good on paper don't work when we get in the studio. It's never give and take."
Il Divo became the forerunner of what became tagged "popera," a crossover of classical and pop, which finds the four singers poised between opera and pop. This has confused audiences expecting a more classical program or those expecting the pop of "Wicked Game" or Roy Orbison's "Crying." There is a feeling that Miller thrives on the challenge of overcoming their puzzlement.
"We actually hope it will be different," he says of the night-to-night audience reaction. "A lot of people will go to see us expecting classical pop, like the Four Tenors. So, some-times it takes a while to get through to them."
Il Divo now is at a point where the four know one another, know what will suit their repertoire, and know they are equals.
"We all have ideas but ultimately all our ideas are suggestions," Miller says. "There is a kind of thinking outside the box [with Il Divo taking other ideas from its advisers]. It's give and take; it's all a big committee.
"The more we go along, the more democratic we become."