Il Divo’s David Miller: Divine Intervention Windy City Times (2007.12.09.シカゴ）
Il Divo's David Miller: Divine Intervention
The last several years have been a whirlwind for David Miller, the American tenor for the operatic pop quartet and international sensation Il Divo. Ever since he was invited to join the chart-topping group created by American Idol judge Simon Cowell, it has been a wild ride Miller never expected.
Il Divo means “divine male performer” in Italian, and the group is known for its beautiful ballads, fashion and good looks. Their albums have gone multi-platinum all over the world since their 2004 debut.
Before Il Divo, Miller worked with some of the top opera companies around the globe, performing in lead tenor roles.
Miller will come to Chicago Dec. 21 for a solo concert backed by the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra at Rosemont Theatre, 5400 N. River. Tickets are $40 and $55, and can be purchased at www.chicagolandpops.com or 847-671-5100.
Windy City Times talked to Miller about transitions, touring the world and stereotypes.
Windy City Times: Were you always into singing?
David Miller: Actually, no. I didn't started signing until my second year of high school. Before that, I was really interested in science, oddly enough. Math and sciences, and I wanted to go into the Air Force Academy and I wanted to be an astronaut. Around my freshman and sophomore years, my height grew to be about 6' 2”, and the cutoff for a person is 5' 11”, I believe, for a person to be an astronaut because they live in such confined spaces. So, that whole dream kind of went out the window, so I started searching for other things, and I found music.
Windy City Times: 「あなたはずっと歌に没頭してきたの？」
David Miller:「いや、実は高校2年までは全然。それまで本当に数学と科学が好きで、笑っちゃうよね、空軍士官学校に入って宇宙飛行士になりたかったんだ。でも僕の身長は1年から2年までに、約6フィート（約183センチ）になった。宇宙飛行士の身長は5フィート11（180センチ）までなんだ。限られた空間で過ごさなければならないからだろうね。それでその夢は諦めるしかなくなって、他のものを探しているうち音楽と出会ったんだよ。」
WCT: At first, did you know Il Divo was a Simon Cowell project?
DM: Actually, I didn't. The other guys had been told who was in charge of it, but they had never heard of him. He's not that big in Spain, and he's definitely unknown in France and Switzerland. In a way, that was a really balanced thing. We all came together because we all wanted to do something we believed in, and not because we thought who was behind it.
WCT「Il Divo がサイモン・コーウェルのプロジェクトだということは知ってた？」
DM「僕は知らなかった。他のメンバーは聞かされたそうだけど、サイモンがどういう人物かはわからなかったそう。彼はスペインでは有名ではないし、フランスとスイスでは少しも知られていなかったし。ある意味、それは本当によかったよ。みんな、誰がバックに付いているかという計算じゃなくて、自分のしたいことをするために集まったんだ。」
WCT: Was it weird to transition from doing solo work in lead tenor roles to being a part of a pop group?
DM: Definitely, there was a transition period. You know, the four of us are soloists. Let me tell you, that first year and a half was a lot of learning to, let's just say, define boundaries. [ Laughs ]
WCT「テノール歌手としてソロ活動をすることからポップスグループへの移行は難しくなかった？」
DM「もちろん、過渡期はあった。僕たち4人はソリストだからね。最初の一年半は、ほとんど学習の期間だった。「ねえちょっと！境界線を決めよう！」（笑）」
WCT: A lot of egos in the room?
DM: A lot of healthy self-esteem, for sure. There was some ego-clashing. There was actually a lot of language and culture barriers. I actually thought that was pretty funny. You know, France and Spain are right next door to each other. You'd think they would be able to understand the cultures, but apparently not.
WCT「多くのプライドがあった？」
DM：「当然、プライドがぶつかりあった。違う言葉と文化が障壁だった。あのね。フランスとスペインは隣同士だろ。だから彼らはお互いの文化をよく理解できるてると思ったんだ。でもおかしなことに、全然さ。」
WCT: I bet you've learned so much, so far.
DM: When we look back at the end of that year and a half together, we had done a lot of things. But every even kept coming one right after the next, so there was no time to slow down and think, “Oh, wow. We've done a lot.” It was all, “What's next? What's next?” We went to Japan for the first time and we made our kind of showcase debut over there in the same performance space that The Beatles did when they first performed in Japan. That was really cool. They had this video screen that was up while they were presenting us before we went on stage. It was showing all the things we had done. A part of our video was up there, all the TV shows we were on…and they just kept putting up one country after the next of all these major TV shows we had been on. We just stood there, saying, “Oh my God!”
WCT「今まであなたが学んだことは間違いじゃなかったと思うわ。」
DM「僕らが一緒に過ごしたその一年半を振り返ると、本当に多くのことをしたと思うよ。次々といろんなことをこなして、スローダウンして考える時間がなかった。「ワオ！やった！」「次は何？次は何？」全てにおいてそんな感じ。僕たちが初めて日本に行ったとき、ビートルズがやったのと同じ会場でプロモーションをしたんだ。本当にクールだったよ。僕たちがステージに上がる前、スクリーンに紹介のビデオが流れた。それは僕たちの全部・・・、全部のテレビショー、そして行ったことのある主な国のテレビショーが流れ続けた。僕たちはただそこに立っていて、言ったよ。「ああ、なんてことだ！」」
WCT: Is that when it hit you that this had definitely exceeded your expectations and this is, indeed, huge?
DM: For me, that was definitely the moment.
WCT「それはあなたの予想を遥かに上回った？そのときに、これが本当にすごいことだと思ったの？」
DM「僕にとっては、それがその瞬間だった。」
WCT: Do you ever miss opera and Broadway?
DM: Oh yes, absolutely. I connect very strongly to musical situations, where you're a character, you're in a costume, you're on set, you're going to lose yourself acting-wise and put up a fourth wall. For me, that's so much easier singing-wise to let go of all of my preconceptions of who I am personally, and drop into a role and drop into the music. When it's me on stage, just me, that's a lot harder. Like what's coming up [ his solo show ] , it is all opera tunes, but people are coming to see just me? That just feels so different. I haven't done a lot of concert repertoire over the years. It's been mainly shows on stage. But I definitely miss it, and I'm so looking forward to it, you have no idea.
WCT「オペラとブロードウェーは懐かしくない？」
DM「うん、もちろん。ぼくはオペラの場面をすごく思い浮かべるよ。僕はそこである役になる。衣装を纏って、セットに上がって、自分ではない誰かを演じるんだ。僕にとって、自分が誰かという先入観の全てを捨てて役になりきることは、歌うという点ではとても簡単なやり方だから。そうじゃないただのステージでは、それはもっと難しいんだ。今回のソロショーのように全部オペラの曲なのに、僕だけを見に来る？ちょっと違和感がある。僕は長年、多くの曲を歌わないで、ステージのショーばかりしていた。でも僕はオペラを歌いたくて、それを楽しみにしているんだ。他の人には理解できないかもしれないけど。」
WCT: Let's talk about your fan base a little bit. You have such a huge following, not only all over the world among women of all ages, but interestingly enough, you have a huge gay following, too.
DM: I'm not entirely sure what makes Il Divo tick, in the first place, among women. Obviously, there's a kind of romantic fantasy that goes along with it, sure. I suppose that that translates to all people who are interested in that type of music. It has to do with the exoticness of all four being from different countries. We dress up nice, we sing nice music and we use our voices in the most beautiful ways that we can. I think there's something in there for everyone that connects to something of quality, something of luxury. It's really great for us to know that, especially in this MTV culture, where the memory span is about 2.3 seconds, people can stop and unplug for a little while to use our music to connect to a really emotional place.
WCT「少しあなたのファンベースについて話しましょう。あなたは世界中で、あらゆる年齢の女性の巨大な支持を得ているわ。そして面白いことに、あなたにはかなりの数のゲイのファンが付いてる。」
DM「僕は Il Divo の何が女性をそんなに魅了するのか、よくはわからないんだ。多分、一種の恋愛ファンタジーかな。こういうタイプの音楽が好きな人の全てが、そう感じるのかも。それに、僕ら全員が異なる4つの国の出身で異国情緒を感じるとかいうことも関係がある。僕らは素晴らしい服を着て、素晴らしい曲を、できる限り奇麗な声で歌う。それを誰もが、質のいいものや贅沢なものと結びつけるんだと思う。特にこのMTV文化の中で記憶範囲が約2.3秒でしかないところに、人々が立ち止まってわずかなときでも本当に感動を共感するということを僕たちが知っているのは大きいと思うよ。」
WCT: There have been many interviews where people have asked if you guys are straight or gay, and I'm not going to ask you that because you guys have said you are straight enough times. What I want to know is what do you think that says about our culture still, where if a guy dresses nice and sings beautiful music, we automatically assume?
DM: I think there's an aspect in Western society that really tries to very clearly delineate between the sexes and in terms of sexuality. I think when people see us, we spend a lot of time creating the look, focusing on details and making sure its very high quality. I think that's naturally perceived as a feminine aspect. And then there's this stereotype that gay men are feminine men, which plays into that. So, when men are displaying creativity by taking care of their appearance and being sensitive to emotional music, they just automatically put those two categories together. But that's just my theory.
WCT「「あなたがたがストレートかゲイかを尋ねたインタビューが多くあって、あなたがたはずっとストレートだと答えているから、ここではそれは訊かないわ。それより、素敵な服を着て美しい曲を歌うと、なぜ自動的にゲイだと思われると思う？」
DM「それは性別で性的特質を決めつけようとする西欧文化の特徴なんじゃないかな。僕たちが人前に出るとき、見た目に細かく気を使って、ハイクオリティに保つことに多くの時間を費やす。それが女性的なものとして感じられるのは自然なことなのかも。ゲイの男性は女性的だという固定観念があるから。だから男性が外見に気を使って、感傷的な歌を歌うと、ゲイにカテゴライズされちゃうんじゃないかな。それはただ僕の持論だけど。」
WCT: Let's talk about your show with Chicagoland Pops Orchestra. Tell me a little bit about what we should expect.
DM: It's going to be a lot of my favorite things, in a way. I'm singing the operatic repertoire that kind of got me to the point before Il Divo, like Romeo … and La Boheme, which I did on Broadway and was the only production of it I've done, which was just prior to Il Divo, … and also where I met my current girlfriend, who will be singing with me in the concert. We're very excited about that. We'll also be doing something from La Boheme and West Side Story. There're a couple other musical theater numbers in there that are just some of my favorite pieces. There's also going to be some holiday music in there. Then, I'll also be going back to opera, pieces where I've just previously been too young to handle in the voice. Opera has an age hierarchy. Some roles are appropriate earlier in the career, and some are for later. These roles you just don't touch until your mid-30s. Well, now I've been in Il Divo for four years, and it's kind of transitioned a maturation period in my voice. It's very exciting for me. I'm looking forward to coming back to Chicago. It is one of my favorite cities.
WCT「Chicagoland Pops Orchestraのショーについて教えて。何を歌うの？」
DM「いわゆる、僕のお気に入りの曲だよ。この時期、 Il Divo の曲よりもう少しぴったりだと思うオペラのレパートリーを歌うんだ。ロミオみたいに。 Il Divo に参加する直前、僕はブロードウェーで La Boheme を上演して、それは唯一CDになった。そのころ、今のガールフレンドに出会ったんだ。今回のコンサートで彼女と一緒に歌うことを、僕たちはすごく楽しみにしているよ。La Boheme とウエストサイド・ストーリーから数曲、それから僕の大好きなミュージカルの曲や、クリスマスソング。
今、僕は、以前は若すぎて扱うことができなかったオペラの曲も、歌うことができるようになった。オペラは年齢によって演じる役があるんだ。若いころにできるもの、30代中頃まではできない、経歴をずっと重ねてからできるもの。あのね。4年間 Il Divo をしているあいだに自分の声が少し成熟したと思うと、すごくワクワクするよ。
僕はいつか、シカゴに戻ってきたいと思ってる。大好きな街だからね。」