Il Divo comes to Kansas City

If you ask Il Divo singer Sébastien Izambard about his globally known pop opera group’s current tour — which will make its to the Starlight Theatre in Kansas City at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 16 — he’ll tell you it’s the “most personable” yet.“People are getting to know us like they never have before,” says Izambard, a native of Paris, France. “It’s a far more relaxed show.”These warm, friendly concerts mark a significant change from Il Divo’s early tours. When the quartet was assembled by producer and current “X-Factor” judge Simon Cowell in 2003, Il Divo (which translates to “divine male performer” in Italian) was largely shrouded in mystery and mystique. The vocalists rarely gave interviews and few knew of their off-stage personalities. Yet pop and classical music fans from all over the globe grew fascinated by this international supergroup, which includes French pop singer Izambard, Spanish baritone Carlos Marín, American tenor David Miller and Swiss tenor Urs Bühler.
Il Divo’s enigmatic disposition was far from intentional, Izambard says. It was simply the result of the musical equivalent of arranged marriage. After all, Cowell — at the height of his “American Idol” powers — pieced together Il Divo as if he were Dr. Frankenstein.
“At the beginning, we didn’t speak English apart from David. That’s why we didn’t do many interviews,” Izambard says with a chuckle. “And it took time for us to get to know each other’s personalities. It took us a little bit of practice.”
Il Divo truly became Cowell’s monster — at least as far as album sales are concerned. Despite the secrecy, or perhaps partly due to it, Il Divo’s self-titled debut went multi-platinum in 2004. The record shot to No. 1 in the charts in 13 countries around the world and achieved top 5 placing in a total 25 countries.
In the eight years that have followed, the well-traveled quartet’s six albums have sold more than 26 million copies worldwide; essentially making Il Divo the face of classical crossover music. In that time, Izambard, Marín, Miller and Bühler have wowed audiences with their impressive vocal performances of reworked versions of pop classics like Toni Braxton’s “Unbreak My Heart” and The Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody.”
But “Wicked Game,” the group’s latest album, which was released in 2011, might be the one that Izambard is most proud of. He says “Wicked Game” captures Il Divo’s growth and self-reflection in a way that no other album has before.
“It’s very masculine, very dramatic and occasionally very dark,” he explains. “It’s kind of a turn in our life somehow. It’s something exceptional.”
Rather than Il Divo’s rich vocal performance throughout the record, Izambard attributes the hardy drama to the album’s song selection itself. The album includes covers of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game,” Roy Orbison’s “Crying” and Andrea Bocelli’s “Time to Say Goodbye (Con te partirò).”
That last one wasn’t the easiest to pull off. When people think of “Time to Say Goodbye,” Bocelli always comes to mind. And when they think of Bocelli, “Time to Say Goodbye” is the tune he’s most commonly associated with. Few things are quite as intimidating for a vocalist as tackling a tune that has already been performed to near-perfection, but Il Divo proved up to the challenge. It was all an issue of mind over matter.
“When we’re singing these almost unreachable tunes, we go into the studio not thinking about who sang them before,” Izambard says. “We just put ourselves into it and actually bring something new to those songs that are known by everyone.”
Although he wouldn’t give any details, Izambard says that Il Divo is working on a new record that will be released later this year. And, in case you’re curious, Simon Cowell won’t be doing much with the upcoming record. Over the course of nine years, the notoriously snarky and honest producer has scaled back his input for Il Divo. He’s a busy guy, after all. But Izambard says he’ll always appreciate the shot Cowell gave him.
“Being a part of this has been the most amazing thing ever,” he says. “(Simon) definitely opened doors for us. But, truthfully, I don’t think it would have lasted only due to Simon.”
Indeed. Il Divo seems to be doing just fine on its own.