The TEN Tenors are one of Australia’s most well known musical exports. The ensemble of, you guessed it, 10 male singers have been representing “the Land Down Under” for more than 20 years, touring an average of 250 shows every year and selling more than three million tickets.
The group, like a classically trained version of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, changes and replaces members as they drop out of the group to maintain that power of 10.
“The group began in Brisbane, Australia, and it was just a group of guys from the Brisbane Conservatory who got together for a corporate function and named themselves The TEN Tenors,” says Cameron Barclay.
Barclay is a current member of The TEN Tenors. He joined with the group just over three years ago.
“I just happened to be at the right place at the right time,” he says.”I was chatting with a friend of a friend who happened to be a friend of [The TEN Tenor’s] music director. They had a member on the way out and were looking for someone quickly and I happened to be the right fit. I auditioned over Skype and I had a job within four days.”
Barclay is an openly gay member of the group, and while in today’s current social climate that can be a risk factor in certain parts of the world, Barclay says he has been lucky enough to only have positive encounters.
“In my three years, we haven’t toured anywhere that is particularly hostile toward the LGBTQ community, so we’ve been pretty lucky in that sense,” he says. “I’ve not encountered any problems thus far, and hopefully someday it becomes more and more of a non-issue, but for now, with the way the world is, it’s certainly something you have to think about.”
The TEN Tenors began in the 1990s originally performing classical songs, but as the years went on and different musical tastes came in and out of the group, the lineup started to change.
“We have a variety of different singing styles in the group; you have the guys who are amazing rock screamers and then you have the opera guys and then you have the pop guys and then the musical theater guys,” Barclay says. “Just in the shows for the tour we are on now, we sing Queen and Meatloaf, we have some opera in there, Broadway and Spanish songs. We’ve got a lot of everything, and we take all that and we put our own spin on it.”
With so many performers with differing musical styles and tastes, you would think that egos might get in the way, but that isn’t the case.
“As a part of the selection process [for the group], people’s personalities are taken into account,” Barclay says. “So everybody in the group, I can honestly say, is really respectful and really talented, and we live in very close quarters when we’re on tour but there’s never been any major problems. In fact, probably the greatest part, what makes the group so special, is that we are kind of like a bunch of mates and that shows through in our performance on stage as well.”
The eclectic mix of the mates that make up The TEN Tenors has opened up opportunities to work with some of the biggest names in a wide range of genres, including Lionel Richie, Rod Stewart, Andrea Boccelli, Alanis Morissette, Willie Nelson, John Travolta, Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban, Sarah Brightman and Christina Aguilera, just to name a few.
“The best part of being in this group is being able to sing whatever we want to sing from all music genres, be it classical, rock or even diva pop, and seeing the delight and surprise on audience members faces in that split moment when they realize what we are singing next. It’s such a buzz and so much fun when seemingly conservative audience members get up and dance in their seats,” long-serving member Paul Gelsumini says.
The TEN Tenors are currently on the U.S. leg of their world tour celebrating their 20th anniversary with the show “The Power of TEN,” and will finish up their time in the states with four shows in Florida.
“We are really looking forward to it,” Barclay says. “This will personally be my third time in Clearwater and I just love it there.”
The group’s final U.S. performances will be at the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale March 21, the Youkey Theatre in Lakeland March 23, Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater March 24 and Flagler Auditorium in Palm Coast March 25.
Americans have certain stereotypes about other countries and cultures, and while you can expect to hear some very sexy accents, the show most likely will not be filled with boomerangs and kangaroos. But just as Americans have stereotypes, so do Australians about the United States.
“I have to say that we have really enjoyed everywhere we’ve gone and for different reasons,” Barclay says. “But when you travel you have certain ideas about what people will be like. I remember going to the Pacific Northwest and it surprisingly felt just like being at home, because it was great coffee and everyone was very friendly, and then you go to the South and you see that everyone drives these huge trucks and you go to diners and you eat these huge portions, that lives up to all our expectations. It’s great.”
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