The first, self-titled album from the three gorgeous boys of Sol3 Mio rocketed up the NZ charts over Christmas, making them the number 1 stocking filler in the country. Pene Pati, Amitai Pati and Moses McKay, larger than life, warm, irrepressible, are exactly the kind of opera stars our country needs. They might in fact be the best things that have happened to New Zealand opera since....well....Kiri at the Royal Wedding, 1981?
The genius of Sol3 Mio is that they are appealing to a whole new market - people who wouldn't ordinarily listen to, let alone buy, a classical album. But here's the brilliant part - they are easing them into it. We're not talking about a hard core line up of Aida, Siegfried and Die Tote Stadt, we're talking crowd pleasers like Nessun Dorma and the Pearl Fisher's duet that don't freak people out. Then they've chucked in a bunch of pop songs tastefully arranged and I tastefully sung. The boys manage to sing the whole album staying true to their classical training but without succumbing to the ever-present danger of an awkward crossover. The harmonies are just gorgeous, they were born musical, and they blend and support each other vocally - thanks, I'm sure, in part to the incredible training received from their time in the New Zealand Youth Choir and New Zealand Secondary Schools Choir.
But the thing I like the most about these guys is that they're not just singing arias in a studio. I think the gripe that most critics have with Katherine Jenkins, who also pads out her albums with light, fluffy stuff, is the fact that she sings operatic repertoire but has never been in an opera, nor sung those arias without amplification. Not that there is anything wrong with that. My point is that these Sol3 Mio guys may dabble in "The Rose" and "Ten Guitars", but they have already sung, and are engaged to sing, actual operatic roles in actual operas. This album is funding their continued operatic training. Their voices are being nurtured by tutors who want them to have longevity in the business.
Meanwhile, their stage presence, cheeky humour and their apparent lack of self-consciousness absolutely endears them to their audiences. New Zealanders like the fact that they are just normal Samoan boys, gifted with talent and grateful for the opportunities given to them. There will be no insincere Anne Hathaway tears when they collect their Classical Grammys.
Posted by Georgia Jamieson Emms
The genius of Sol3 Mio is that they are appealing to a whole new market - people who wouldn't ordinarily listen to, let alone buy, a classical album. But here's the brilliant part - they are easing them into it. We're not talking about a hard core line up of Aida, Siegfried and Die Tote Stadt, we're talking crowd pleasers like Nessun Dorma and the Pearl Fisher's duet that don't freak people out. Then they've chucked in a bunch of pop songs tastefully arranged and I tastefully sung. The boys manage to sing the whole album staying true to their classical training but without succumbing to the ever-present danger of an awkward crossover. The harmonies are just gorgeous, they were born musical, and they blend and support each other vocally - thanks, I'm sure, in part to the incredible training received from their time in the New Zealand Youth Choir and New Zealand Secondary Schools Choir.
But the thing I like the most about these guys is that they're not just singing arias in a studio. I think the gripe that most critics have with Katherine Jenkins, who also pads out her albums with light, fluffy stuff, is the fact that she sings operatic repertoire but has never been in an opera, nor sung those arias without amplification. Not that there is anything wrong with that. My point is that these Sol3 Mio guys may dabble in "The Rose" and "Ten Guitars", but they have already sung, and are engaged to sing, actual operatic roles in actual operas. This album is funding their continued operatic training. Their voices are being nurtured by tutors who want them to have longevity in the business.
Meanwhile, their stage presence, cheeky humour and their apparent lack of self-consciousness absolutely endears them to their audiences. New Zealanders like the fact that they are just normal Samoan boys, gifted with talent and grateful for the opportunities given to them. There will be no insincere Anne Hathaway tears when they collect their Classical Grammys.
Posted by Georgia Jamieson Emms