The Ten Tenors are one of Australia’s premier vocal groups. They have sold over 2.8 million concert tickets worldwide, sold over 1.2 million albums, headlined over 2500 performances globally and toured and performed in 34 countries….and counting. This October The Ten Tenors are embarking on a 22-city tour across Australia to celebrate their 25th anniversary.
I recently had the chance to speak to Jared Newall, one of the longest serving tenors, whilst he was on route between cities on the tour bus. Jared has performed with the tenors for the last 10 years, and I wanted to know where it all began for him.
“For me, my musical journey began at birth. I was singing before I spoke, or so the story goes. I would sing in school musicals, the local church choir and things like that. Then I went to study musical theatre in Ballarat. I joined the Ten Tenors shortly after that, and have been touring with them for the last ten years. It all happened really quickly so I never really thought about it. When you are studying, you look at people working in the industry thinking that one day that could be you, but it all happened so quickly after graduating that I barely had time to start making plans. It’s surreal, and I still have ‘pinch myself moments’ every single day.”
Over the years there’s naturally been a rotation of the line up. I was curious to know how vital is it to uphold that original blend of sound that audiences have come to love, or has The Tenors found that each new member brings a fresh approach to the group?
“It has to be both. We really like that new members bring their own individual flavour to the group, but it is in service to not only uphold that original idea of the group, but also grow and build the group as time goes by. We are always looking to replace a voice type with a similar voice type, but at the same time, you can find a great singer who might not fit in the current group socially, so we do agonise over that as well. We really want to make sure the guys we bring in are fantastic singers, awesome performers but also decent people who would be worthwhile sitting on a long bus ride with for hours on end. This current line up has two new guys that joined us only two weeks ago, and we all have great camaraderie.”
2021 marks the 25th anniversary of the Ten Tenors. Even after so many years, the group is still performing to sold-out venues across the globe. What is the magic that draws audiences in?
“The group has definitely grown and evolved over the years, but with every show we create, we try to find an element of surprise. Those members of our audience who know the least about us would think we just “park and bark” (as we call it), where we just stand on the spot and sing 20 classical arias and then go home. But that’s not the case. It really is a dynamic, vibrant performance where we do get to mix the classical pieces with rock, pop and musical theatre, and even a helping of dancing and choreography. So even those who know nothing about us go away surprised by how exciting and energetic the show actually is. We try and make that element of surprise bigger every single time.”
After having their sold-out tour of Brazil cancelled in March 2020 due to COVID, the 25th Anniversary tour will be the first time the group has performed together this year, and they are excited to have Adelaide as part of their schedule.
“We were really glad to get to do our previous show, Love Is In The Air, in Adelaide back in 2019, and loved the vibe the audiences gave us. But I think there’s been such a hunger from the ten guys who are going to be on stage to be back with audiences. So, while our show is as exciting and energetic as we always want it to be, there’s another added element of getting to be with people that has really been missing with us. Audiences will get to see our love of being on stage performing with each other, and see how excited we are to be back with each and every audience. That’s really going to be exciting.”
The Ten Tenors 25th Anniversary tour performance will be at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sunday 10 October at 1.30pm and 7.00pm and Monday 11 October at 7.00pm. Further information about the Ten Tenors and their tour can be found at https://thetentenors.com/. Bookings for their 25th Anniversary tour can be purchased at www.thetentenors.com
Interview by Ben Stefanoff
More News
