Il Divo in a musical showcase

If you are already up to your ears with Christmas sounds, then here is something that you might want to try out while enjoying some downtime this season. This is A Musical Affair, the latest album by the famous Il Divo. This is the international quartet’s first-ever collection of songs from the musical stage and it is every bit as relaxing, as inspiring and as beautiful as the best Christmas music you can think of.

Il Divo is the first group that successfully bridged classical singing with pop music and is made up of members from various countries. These are Urs Buhler, a tenor from Switzerland; Carlos Marin, a baritone from Spain; pop vocalist Sebastien Izambard of France; and David Miller, the tenor from the US. It was TV and music mogul Simon Cowell, who put together Il Divo exactly 10 years ago. And I am happy to note that there has been no change in membership since. These guys seem happy performing together.

As of the most recent count, Il Divo has sold nearly 27 million albums all over the world, 50 of which made No. 1 in the charts. These guys have also toured extensively and have been honored with 160 Gold and Platinum Album awards in various countries. As fans have surely noticed, they sound as good today as when they amazed everybody by singing Toni Braxton’s Unbreak My Heart in their classical tones and in Spanish at that in 2003.

A Musical Affair by Il Divo is a lushly produced, star-studded album. It is made up of very popular songs with guest turns by big-name singers. And can there be anybody bigger than Barbra Streisand? The great Streisand, who herself began her career on the Broadway stage, joins Il Divo in a live recorded duet of The Music Of The Night from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera. 

If I am not mistaken, this number was part of Streisand’s recent tour where Il Divo was one of the guest performers. And this speaks very well of how far the group has come. A known perfectionist, Streisand is not likely to accept just any guest artist into her show. She approved the appearance of Il Divo. That means these guys are not only famous, they are also very good.

Also featured in the album are Memory from Cats featuring former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger; Can You Feel The Love Tonight from Disney’s Lion King featuring Heather Headley, who played Nala in the musical; Bring Him Home from Les Miserables; Tonight from West Side Story; All I Ask Of You also from Phantom with Broadway’s original Glinda in Wicked, Kristin Chenoweth; Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific; Who Can I Turn To from Stop The World I Want To Get Off; Who Wants To Live Forever from the Queen musical We Will Rock You; You’ll Never Walk Alone from Carousel; If Ever I Would Leave You from Camelot; and Love Changes Everything from Aspects of Love with the original star of the musical, Michael Ball.

Still on the theater and musicals. Producers of Wicked, namely Lunchbox Productions, Concertus Manila, Radio High and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), have announced that there will be a special performance of the musical that will benefit those affected by Typhoon Yolanda. This will be held at the CCP Main Theater on Jan. 31 at 1:30 p.m. Wicked comes to Manila on Jan. 22 and will run until Feb. 23. It stars Jemma Rix and Suzie Mathers as the witches Elphaba and Glinda, respectively, with Jay Laga’aia as the wizard.

And exciting news for those, who will be there. The curtain call will be followed by an auction that will surely raise more funds for the victims and which promises to be lots of fun. This means that those present can bid for a prop from the show or a walk-on part in full make-up and costume. I do not think singing Defying Gravity is in the package but just being part of the cast for a few moments would be great. And because, it is all for a good cause, you can also give yourself a pat on the shoulder.

Still for the victims of Yolanda. FILSCAP, the Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, is also doing its bit to help alleviate the suffering of those affected. FILSCAP has announced that it will waive the public performance license fees for concerts held solely for the benefit of the Yolanda victims. If only a portion of the proceeds will be donated, FILSCAP will grant a discount by not taking into account the donated portion in the assessment of license fees.

For those unaware of the intricacies of the music business, please note that every performance of a work by a member composer should be covered by a license fee that FILSCAP collects. And when I say every performance that means when a song is used on the radio, on the Net, on stage, TV, the movies, etc. It is this fee that the members of FILSCAP have agreed to waive in favor of the Yolanda victims.