# Il Divo



## airsemon (Sep 3, 2014)

I'm not sure were Il Divo fall in the Opera genre but I just came across one of their old performances, and these boys are good.

What do you guys think?


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

one of them (don't know which one, sorry) has been in operas (he's sung Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi for LA Opera) but this was, from what I understand, before his Il Divo career. My mum and my ex-mother-in-law both love them. They're a cross-over act.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

They're fine -- for the Andrea Bocelli/Jackie Evancho school


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

When I see one of their Cds (or Bocelli, Evancho, Jenkins etc) on sale for a pound in a charity shop .... I leave it there for someone who might enjoy it - I prefer the whole opera.


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## Bet (Aug 26, 2014)

Il Volo is kinda like them but younger,


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

See those microphones? That means that they don't fall anywhere in the opera genre.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Do people really come to this site thinking that Simon Cowell's stooges Il Divo, or Il Volo, represent the world of opera?

Or is this just trolling?

It's like when someone finds out I'm an opera fan and wants to have a conversation about how great Katherine Jenkins is. Ensuing conversation is not fit to be repeated here. All in the name of education of course.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

^ I don't know, my Mum likes Il Divo and Bocelli along with Domingo and Jonas Kaufmann. I have a sneaky feeling looks play an important factor


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## Bet (Aug 26, 2014)

mamascarlatti said:


> See those microphones? That means that they don't fall anywhere in the opera genre.


your opinion


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Alexander said:


> Do people really come to this site thinking that Simon Cowell's stooges Il Divo, or Il Volo, represent the world of opera?
> 
> Or is this just trolling?
> 
> It's like when someone finds out I'm an opera fan and wants to have a conversation about how great Katherine Jenkins is. Ensuing conversation is not fit to be repeated here. All in the name of education of course.


OP may be a young person with no knowledge of opera at all. You do see Il Divo CDs in the opera sections in some music shops so he/she could be forgiven for thinking they are proper opera singers.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Bet said:


> your opinion


Eerm no. Opera (with the exception of one or two more recent operas) is sung unamplified. That is one of the things that makes it so exciting: the human voice, reaching across an orchestra, hitting the ears of patrons at the back of the nosebleed section of the Met. Years of training worthy of an Olympic athlete go into the formation of this ability.

Guys crooning pseudo operatically into a microphone is not opera.

Guys singing unamplified in a complete staged (or concert version) opera is opera.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Bet said:


> your opinion


If you like stuff like this, then fine. No problem.

If performers like this give you pleasure and enjoyment, then fine. Go ahead.

If you are satisfied with this form of music, then fine. Carry on with it.

But please .... acknowledge that many of us know what we are talking about - many of us know what opera *is* and what constitutes a good opera singer.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

sospiro said:


> OP may be a young person with no knowledge of opera at all. You do see Il Divo CDs in the opera sections in some music shops so he/she could be forgiven for thinking they are proper opera singers.


Can we all agree to do a little rearranging of the stock next time we see such a discrepancy?  Should be filed under "easy-listening", although in some cases even that is arguable.


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## Bet (Aug 26, 2014)

I never said that they opera singers. I was saying that they are kind of like Il Divo. Please don't take what I say out of context. 

@mamascarlatti When did I say that they were? Never. Stop putting words into my mouth.

Sorry for double posting


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Bet: It's not a problem to enjoy those singers. If that is what you like, I say, why not.
However, it is also good to recognize the difference between a true opera singer and just a singer of opera.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

What about the Go Compare guy? I hear he's actually a real opera singer, not just a novelty act, and my daughter loved those ads when she was a toddler.

Watch out Il Divo: if you get too popular with babies and OAPs, Professor Hawking and his superpowers will come for you as well!


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Bet said:


> I never said that they opera singers. I was saying that they are kind of like Il Divo. Please don't take what I say out of context.
> 
> @mamascarlatti When did I say that they were? Never. Stop putting words into my mouth.
> 
> Sorry for double posting


My original statement was aimed at the OP, not your post about Il Volo which kind of passed me by, and you are quite right, they look as though they are similar. We have a home-grown version called Sol3mio which people seem to think is opera.

My fault for not quoting the OP in my statement :tiphat: .


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## jdcbr (Jul 21, 2014)

It has always driven me crazy when people think that singing anything from any opera constitutes being an opera singer. I remember a co-worker years ago asking me if I realized Michael Bolton was an opera singer because he screamed out "Nessun dorma." Ditto Aretha Franklin. I also am amused when contestants on some show like Wheel of Fortune describe themselves as opera singers. Here is my personal definition of an opera singer- someone who provides at least 33% of their annual income by singing in an opera house without amplification and if 33% of that work is by composers recognized as "classical."


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

jdcbr said:


> It has always driven me crazy when people think that singing anything from any opera constitutes being an opera singer. I remember a co-worker years ago asking me if I realized Michael Bolton was an opera singer because he screamed out "Nessun dorma." Ditto Aretha Franklin. I also am amused when contestants on some show like Wheel of Fortune describe themselves as opera singers. Here is my personal definition of an opera singer- someone who provides at least 33% of their annual income by singing in an opera house without amplification and if 33% of that work is by composers recognized as "classical."


Kathryn Jenkins and Russell Watson are cases in point. Both are continually referred to as opera singers but neither of them has ever, to my knowledge, sung a note of opera in a stage production, unmiked in the opera house. How can they then be opera singers?


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

GregMitchell said:


> Kathryn Jenkins and Russell Watson are cases in point. Both are continually referred to as opera singers but neither of them has ever, to my knowledge, sung a note of opera in a stage production, unmiked in the opera house. How can they then be opera singers?


Well, over here in the states I wouldn't even call most singers, 'singers'-- let alone 'part-time opera singers.'

A microphone and voice modulation software does not a singer make.

Take away the mike, take away the voice-over, and watch them flee for their lives like Milli Vanilli did when they got exposed.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

deggial said:


> one of them (don't know which one, sorry) has been in operas (he's sung Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi for LA Opera) but this was, from what I understand, before his Il Divo career. My mum and my ex-mother-in-law both love them. They're a cross-over act.


You are thinking of David Miller.
Urs Bühler and Carlos Marin have also performed in operas.

Here is David Miller singing La donna e mobile from Rigoletto:






Concerning Il Divo and similar music I must say I consider it to be really boring. Boring music and boring singing.


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