Il Volo are a young Italian operatic pop trio who won the 2015 Sanremo Music Festival. They also represented Italy in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria.
The group consists of two tenors, Piero Barone and Ignazio Boschetto and one baritone, Gianluca Ginoble. The trio are still very young but all have been singing in competitions and festivals for many years and all had their talent recognised when they were very small children.
Piero Barone (tenor) was born on June 24th 1993 in the town of Naro in Sicily. His father, Gaetano Barone is a mechanic and his mother, Eleonora Ognibene is a housewife. He has a younger sister called Mariagrazia as well as an older brother, Francesco, who is studying philosophy at the University of Bologna. Piero grew up in a musical environment and when he was only five years old it was his grandfather who realised his talent. His grandfather, Pietro Ognibene, is a blind musician and he had written a song in Sicilian which he asked the young Piero to sing it for him. Pietro Ognibene was so amazed at what he heard that he immediately got the help of a friend and recorded Piero singing Un Amore Cosi Grande. People were astonished when they heard Piero the recording and throughout his childhood he was picked up, stood on a table and asked to perform. His family rallied around to help him to develop his gift and his grandfather paid for him to have piano lessons.
Ignazio Boschetto (tenor) was born on 4th October 1994 in the city of Bologna in Emilia Romagna. His father, Vito Boschetto and mother, Caterina Licari both come from Sicily and the family moved back to the island shortly after he was born. Ignazio and his older sister Antonina were both subsequently bought up near the town of Marsala in Sicily. Ignazio has a rare talent and was singing arias from a very early age. One day, to their great surprise, his parents overheard him singing one of Verdi's arias, alone in his bedroom when he was only three years old.
Gianluca Ginoble (baritone) was born on 11th February 1995 in Atri in the region of Abruzzo. He is the eldest son of Ercole Ginoble and Eleonora Di Vittorio, his younger brother is called Ernesto. Gianluca also started singing when he was only three years old and he used to sing with his grandfather in his local village square. He was also very good at football and used to play for his local soccer club where he was known as the 'Maradona of Montepagano'. He is the youngest, shyest and most serious of the three and has an unusual and beautiful deep voice which is baritone but with a strong upper register.
In the year 2009 all three boys entered as solo artists in the Italian music competition 'Ti Lascio Una Canzone'. The winner was Gianluca Ginoble but the director and creator of the show, Roberto Cenci, had the vision to put the three of them together to form a trio similar to 'The Three Tenors'.
The group were originally called 'I Tre Tenori' which was later changed to 'The Tyro'. In 2010 the name was changed for a third and last time to 'Il Volo' which means 'The Flight' in English.
