The 25-year-old singer joined the vocal group in 2006 and has been enjoying the busy touring schedule that keeps the tenors on the road practically year-round.
"I'm one of the more recently acquired members of the group," Sowden said from Lubbock, Texas, the home of Buddy Holly, after completing a matinee performance last week.
His excitement for touring America is understandable. Since joining the Australian singing group, Sowden has visited 16 countries, but this is his first tour of the United States. The Ten Tenors, including Sowden, arrive in Escondido on Sunday.
"From South Africa to Europe and later this year we might be going to South America, it will be amazing," Sowden said. "It's amazing to be able to see all these amazing places and to be able to experience it at a young age."
In 1995, the Ten Tenors emerged out of Brisbane in the Province of Queensland on Australia's northeast coast and still employ five original members.
"The group began simply touring Australia and now we spend 10, 11 months overseas," Sowden said. "I'm getting to, while I'm young and not married, see the world while having a great time performing and doing what I love doing."
The core of the group emerged from the Brisbane Conservatory of Music over a decade ago and has performed for more than 90 million people since then. Their latest record, the platinum-selling "Here's to the Heroes," is something Sowden is proud of on many levels.
"When I joined the group I thought, 'Wow, with them I might be able to have a CD in a store.' You know, to go into a CD shop and there's my CD on display ---- that was very cool," Sowden said.
He also relishes the celebrity it has brought his parents.
"They're proud. It's nice to see people notice them. Five years ago, if you had told me that I would have a CD in stores and be traveling the world, I'd tell you that you were kidding yourself."
As evidenced on "Heroes," the Ten Tenors' broad repertoire is why the group has such a popular, globe-spanning appeal.
"We love the variety of the shows that we put together. We do Queen, and during the Bee Gees medley we're jumping around and that's always a lot of fun," Sowden said.
From Puccini to the Bee Gees, and from the music of "Gladiator" to James Bond films, the Ten Tenors bring an operatic slant to music across genres. They know no musical boundaries.
"Variety makes it different every night. And I think it broadens our target audience a little bit," Sowden said.
The music of the British rock group Queen, led by the late rock tenor Freddie Mercury, is especially popular fare with the Ten Tenors' audience. Queen's choral "Bicycle Race" is in the regular rotation, but it's the group's interpretation of the Queen smash "Bohemian Rhapsody" that always brings audiences to their feet.
" 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is definitely a favorite of the show. People go a bit nuts," Sowden said.
Sowden finds the Ten Tenors to be the exception to the rule in operatic circles. Tenors are known to have enormous egos, but that's not the case with this Australian supergroup.
"There's always the stereotype, but we're easygoing. I think part of it is we're Australian. We make ourselves as fun as possible. if not to entertain our audience, to entertain ourselves. Traveling with them all, well, that's another story," he said and laughed.
"They're all really great singers. It's part of the criteria when you audition for the group. Not only do you have to be able to sing, but you have to have a sense of humor because it is a long time on the road that we spend together," Sowden said. "It's like a football team traveling together."
It is not all fun and games touring the globe for Sowden. He keenly understands the career opportunity that lies before him and the work ethic it requires.
"Being one of the younger guys, it's great because I'm learning so much. My singing is really improving spending time with these guys with a lot more experience and knowledge," he said. "I'm trying to soak it all up."
Source: North County Times
