Today is the day: Our first onyesha at the London Coliseum! Everything we've done over the last few weeks has lead up to this moment.
We visited the venue back in may and got the grand tour kwa the technical manager Dewi who has been working in this theatre for zaidi than 30 years. Of course he had a lot of stories to tell. He showed us the seats where the phantoms usually sit and watch the shows... Anyway, we're very excited to perform in this iconic theatre and nyumbani of the English National Opera.
We have been pretty much away from the public eye after we'd finished the 2009 world tour and the krisimasi shows. We have spent a lot of that time since in the studio, recording and refining our upcoming new album, to which the coliseum shows are a kind of a launch event.
The first time we performed a song from this new repertoire was at the Royal Albert Hall, where we got the award for "Artist of the Decade" at the Classic Brits. It was then and there where we worked for the first time with Brian Burke, an artistic director from Vegas, who is best known for the 5 mwaka running Celine Dion onyesha "A New Day", and the water spectacle "Le Reve", a onyesha he is currently still working on at the Wynn in Vegas. Brian created the visuals for our Brits performance, and we were all so thrilled with the result that we commissioned him to stage a full onyesha for us: "Il Divo Live at The London Coliseum".
After several conference calls and video chats from all over the world to discuss ideas we finally met again just about two weeks ago. He and his team, stage manager Justin Mabardi and choreographer ray Leaper, presented us with "The Bible" a 60 page workbook in which every detail of the onyesha was meticulously planned out and documented.
Now Il Divo wouldn't be Il Divo if we would just say yes to everything and do what we're being told. So we obviously had our own individual opinions and ideas and we were keen to make them be heard. We have however gotten quite good at dealing with different opinions over the past 8 years, so we managed to bring it all together in a constructive dialogue to finalise elements of the show.
What followed was an intense period of rehearsing; we had to get the onyesha from the paper ready to go on stage in just 7 days. However, Brian and his team, as well as our MD Andrew Small were so incredibly professional that now, that we're about to go on, we feel very well rehearsed confident and secure with what we're doing. And, of course, we are very excited to be back onstage and imba for our audience. We rehearsed with the Royal Philharmonic tamasha Orchestra yesterday, and its so wonderful to have a big orchestra behind you, especially in hearing some of the new songs take shape in a live studio.
It is going to be our first onyesha in the UK for almost 20 months and we're eager to make it worth the wait. Tonight and tomorrow it will be up wewe all to tell us again if we've kept our promise. We cant wait to see wewe all at "The London Coliseum".
Best wishes, Urs x
