[ ClassicalX ] Il Divo's Singers Have Found Success, Selling Out Shows Around U.S.

What began as the brainchild of 'American Idol's' Simon Cowell has mushroomed into a dynamic powerhouse that's selling out concerts across the country, including Central Florida.

And don't be mistaken, Il Divo isn't your daughter's boy band.

It's four guys from four countries who sing everything from opera to ABBA. They're appearing in concerts at Orlando's Amway Center on Saturday and at the Mahaffey Theatre in St. Petersburg on Sunday.

The group came together in 2004 after Cowell's international talent search. They hail from diverse backgrounds: David Miller from the United States, Sebastien Izambard from France, Carlos Marin from Spain and Urs Buhler from Switzerland.

This tour promotes their latest album, 'The Promise,' which the singers say brought about somewhat of an epiphany for the group.

'We are more mature than when we started,' said Marin in a prepared statement. 'We are not in the mode of being four solo singers anymore. We are a group.'

If the group was just warming up with its first three albums, the music charts support that notion. Il Divo, meaning 'the star' in Italian, topped the charts in 26 countries, according to their Web site, www.ildivo.com.

Miller, the American tenor, has said the group's genesis posed a rocky beginning for the vocalists.

'It was a massive experiment, really,' he said. 'You bring four solo singers together, three operatic, one pop, four different countries, there's language barriers, there's no template for what we were trying to do. Simon said, ‘Here's some songs, make me proud.' We had to figure it out as we went along.'

Miller was among those operatic voices. He trained at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio, where he received his master's degree in opera theater. He went on to star on Broadway in 'La Boheme' and was ready to make his debut in the New York Metropolitan Opera when he joined Il Divo.

As an opera singer, Miller said he'd focused on technical perfection, and that carried through to his performances with Il Divo.

But the group has enabled him to discover emotion in his singing.

'So much of my brain was taken up with the idea of perfection that I sometimes lost some of the emotional connection with the other singers, and sometimes with the audience,' he said. 'Now with Il Divo, I am connecting to the music through my heart instead of my head.'

Marin said the group has developed a stage presence that seems boundless.

'In Il Divo, it's something special when we sing together,' he said. 'It doesn't matter who sings the melody and who sings the harmony, it feels like a big wave, a tsunami is arriving. It's amazing, the feeling, it's so powerful. Even when I am on stage with the other guys singing, I still get goosebumps.'

Source: The Ledger