“When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie, that’s amore,” so sang Dean Martin, whose real name was Dino Paul Crocetti, born to an Italian father, albeit in Ohio.
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The Italian Tenors are three Italian opera singers – Mirko Provini, Sabino Gaita and Evans Tonon – who revive Martin’s classic in their show. Direct from Italy, The Italian Tenors are three of Europe’s most successful operatic tenors.
They formed their trio in 2012 and released a successful album titled what else,but That’s Amore. They were soon signed to Universal Records, and released their sophomore album Viva La Vita in 2014. Roughly translated viva la vita means celebrate life. And that’s exactly what the three Italian performers do with their music.
These handsome Italians balance between classical arias and popular Italian hits, but will sing in English for their Australian tour. On stage with them will be a band featuring six Australian musicians, including strings.
The elder statesman of the trio, Evans Tonon, 45, says the concert will be a “very Italian performance”. “We are somewhat cliched. We are into fashion, style and we clown around a little. Besides singing, we entertain the audience by making a bit of fun of our cliches,” Tonon says. When I spoke with Tonon, they were still discussing how they would perform their Australian shows.
“We have all worked more in pop than opera, even though we studied classically. Sabino and I met in Turin performing at the Opera House. We both had a passion beyond opera. We met Mirko at a show and we came up with the idea to sing Italian pop songs and presented the idea to a German promoter. We didn’t know it then, but Germans have a better knowledge of Italian songs than we did.”
The Australian concerts promises all the Italian charm and vocal power of their recently sold-out European tour. Familiar songs on their set list include Ti Amo, Gloria, Miserere, Arrivederci Roma, Parla Piu Piano (The love theme from The Godfather), Hallelujah, Mamma Maria, Here’s to You, Somewhere.
If you want to get a taste of the passion these three men bring to their performances, go to YouTube and watch them sing Piccola e Fragile, then watch the video of That’s Amore to see their sense of humour.
Tonon is more of a baritone, despite the trio’s name, but he adds that extra depth of sound to their performance. They have not written any of their own songs yet. ”But I’ve been asking Sabino to work on it, because he is the musician among us,” says Tonon.
None of the singers has visited Australia before and all are extremely excited at the prospect. “We are doubly excited because we hope to have time to see at least the cliches – the kangaroos, koalas and beaches.” Sadly ladies, Provini and Gaita are engaged, but Tonon is still on the market, so perhaps he will look beyond the cliches..
