Ten to the Factor of Ten

The Ten Tenors have something to celebrate

Here's a little game for you: Go over to the homepage of the Ten Tenors and find out how often the word "ten" appears in the few texts to be found there. Chances are, you'll call it quits after you've counted till about 300. Quite obviously, these Australian boys are in love with the number "ten" and that's why it comes as no surprise that now they have reached their tenth anniversary, all hell breaks loose. First off, there's the "Tenology"-compilation, scraping together the best of, well, their first ten years in business (but only from four albums). There are not too many "real" Opera tracks to be found here, but at least fans will get treated to the tenors' adaptation of Vangelis' "Conquest of Paradise" and a live version of "Bohemian Rapsody". And secondly, the Ten Tenors will continue their world tour which will see them hit Germany, Australia, Canada and the Unites States all within just a few weeks (and then they're back in Germany for Christmas).

Over the course of their career, the boys have had to endure some harsh criticism, especially from fans of the traditional approach. Quite a lot of that criticism is the Ten Tenors's own mistake - didn't they, after all, claim that they were the young answer to the magic troica of Domingo/Carreras/Pavarotti? Which is absurd both in terms of their stage performance and their vocal capacities. Still, the band's shows are simply very effective and highly creative entertainment - when they enter the stage for the Eurovision Song Festival and perform a Meddley of all participating contributions, when they dedicate a track to the three great German composers Bach, Bohlen, Beethoven (Dieter Bohlen being the lead singer of bland 80s act Modern Talking) and when they freak out on stage like a group of berserkers, they are just as silly/great/funny/ridiculous/stunning/appaling as - for example - an Andrew Llyod Webber-musical.

And there's one more thing that we feel is important: The Ten Tenors were there first. Their counterpart Il Divo has been charming audiences especially on American and Canadian soil and selling millions of records, but their combination of pop ballads, re-arranged opera arias and some self-composed pieces is a pure copy of what these ten Australian singers have been doing for ten years now.

By the way: We've used the word "ten" exactly ten times in this article (silly, isn't it?).

Homepage: The Ten Tenors