3 Kiwis: ‘ the next global superstars in mainstream classical music’?

3 Kiwis: ‘ the next global superstars in mainstream classical music’?

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norman lebrecht

February 14, 2014

That’s what Decca president Dickon Stainer thinks of his new signing, two brothers and a cousin whose group, Sol3 Mio, outsells One Direction in the record stores back home (they still have record stores in New Zealand).

The boys are presently studying in Wales. You can hear them and reqd a bit more here.

solemio

Comments

  • RalphW says:

    Could it be anymore clich3?

  • Janey says:

    Crossover is now called “mainstream classical music”?

    It is thrilling that their material is so original.

    • Anon says:

      In the sense that for the average punter, crossover is fairly mainstream, core classical is very, very niche; yes.

      Obviously for those within a core classical music world (many of the readers here), crossover isn’t “mainstream within classical music”.

  • Henry Dunn says:

    I presume that is the same Dickon Stainer that I was at school with (Felsted School in Essex), along with brother Ben (in my year) and Giselle. All sickeningly talented. Ben, in my opinion anyway, deprived me of a music scholarship! All part of the John Stainer dynasty (grandchildren), though I seem to remember they were adopted. Shows that environmental factors are just as important as genetics.

  • Wilbur Ross says:

    It may sell a few downloads and even a few CDs, but it is, yet again, another short-term “fix” by a struggling and lost “classical” music business. It is, yet again, not an original concept, yet another cloning, one taken right off the business template formula shelf…three young hunky guys making music together. Hummm…I think we’ve seen similar things before…Once upon a time…there were three famous tenors who sang at the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Rome…once upon a time three African American singers created …3 Mo’ Tenors…and then there was the ‘Three Sopranos’…and many, many more just like this….and they all lived very unhappily ever after, as none could match or maintain a presence, as they were all copies of a unique good idea that just happened once, but could never be replicated. All the record men and women tried and tried and some still pull this rabbit out of their hats even today. Good luck!

  • Barbara says:

    I wish them all the best for their futures in the Opera world. I saw Amitai when he won a singing competition here in NZ (judge Denis O’Neill) . He had a thrilling voice. I’m glad they are enjoying singing in different genres together and am looking forward to seeing them next month at a Sole Mio concert here in Wellington.

  • Deborah says:

    Like Barbara, I have seen these guys. Individually they have gorgeous voices – the brothers will compete with the best as opera singers. Together, they have a hilarious comedy act, with wonderful harmony as a bonus (they’re usually billed the other way around, but I laughed a lot). They’ve been singing together for fun for a long time. Nothing snooty about these guys, just great singing and musicianship.

    If they can make some money to get them going in their UK training, all power to their elbows. It costs an awful lot for a NZer to move to the UK to train.

  • Michael Varcoe-Cocks says:

    I have just listened to two arias on Youtube sung by Pene. “Salut demeuere….” builds to a glorious climax with an elegant and effortless diminuendo that many great tenors past and present would envy. The “Tombe degli avi miei” has an equally impressive if unwritten high D but there is a generosity and elegance of this young singer which reminds me of Pavarotti and the shimmering steel of Björling. The boys’ trio singing may not be to everyone’s taste but there is no denying their classical musical voices and ability. They are young and do not deserve being dismissed as so-called cross-over performers such as Watson and Jenkins.

  • jim says:

    Well, one thing a good tenor advertises is a surfeit of testosterone. These guys would have trouble raising an aspirin among them.

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