“An Evening with IL Divo”

On May 15, 2009, I attended a breathtaking concert event with IL Divo at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale N.Y. IL Divo are an operatic pop quartet, introduced to the world in 2004 by Simon Cowell. IL Divo’s official website reports Simon Cowell started a worldwide search in order to bring together four different cultures with unique vocal stylings, all with the intention of producing one distinct voice in an operatic pop style. IL Divo’s members do have individual vocal styles and experience, but amazingly they manage not to overshadow each other, blending together like an elegant dream portrait.

IL Divo’s quartet members are Carlos Maria, a Spanish Baritone; Sebastian Izambard, a French pop singer; Urs Buhler, a Swiss tenor; and David Miller, an American tenor. Together their voices merge to produce one spectacular musical adventure. Besides being blessed with glorious windpipes, IL Divo’s male singers are incredibly handsome with appealing personalities. Their dress style, garbed in fine suits and tuxedos, only manage to enhance their visual appeal to their female fans. A fact they incorporate in their verbal interaction with their audience.

The concert started fashionably late, approximately thirty minutes, but the anticipation was well worth it once the lights dimmed. IL Divo emerged with their rich voices and quickly engulfed the audience into the palms of their hands.

IL Divo performed multilingual songs, in English, French, Italian, and Spanish. Translation wasn’t necessary because IL Divo’s experienced musical dictation easily explained the jest of the stories. IL Divo performed, “La Vida Sin Amor,” “Nights In White Satin,” “My Way,” “Angelina,” and, “Mama,” among other operatic pop classics. IL Divo performed an encore with their spectacular rendition of, “Amazing Grace.” They ended their concert performance with, “To Dream The Impossible Dream.” Both powerful songs brought the sold out audience to their feet with cheering applause.

IL Divo exhibited their remarkable individual talent with solos emerged in each song, but their strength and power explodes when all four voices merge and crescendo, rendering a masterpiece portrait of musical talent. This is a talent they easily display on stage, but professionally it is a very difficult thing to achieve. IL Divo has managed to accomplish all this.

IL Divo’s stage set can only be described as inspiring. Time period living portraits were on a background screen. I use the word, living, because portraits come alive; evolve with character’s body movements changing fluidly in slow motion, almost like sculptures attempting to become three-dimensional beings. IL Divo’s period sets of screen portraits in the first half of the concert gave you the impression you were viewing Italian Provincial Artwork, Greek or Spanish sculpture. Your eyes were magnetically drawn to the background setting, waiting for the feminine characters to leap from the screen. IL Divo somehow managed to represent themselves separately on stage and still be one with their stage portrait setting. At times camera images of each member were framed on the screen. The second half of IL Divo’s concert had you viewing pulsating evolving geometric shapes. IL Divo’s lighting and scenery managed to draw you in and give you a unique visual and auditory experience.

If you can capture an IL Divo concert during their tour schedule in America or worldwide, you won’t be disappointed. You’ll leave with a remarkable warm music enhanced experience.

To find out further information about IL Divo, their music, and tour dates with availability of tickets, please visit their official website. www.ildivo.com

The End