CLASSICAL DETOUR
The Ten Tenors take on ‘something different’ in ‘Wish You Were Here’
Cameron Barclay is grateful to have found music.
The singer is a member of the Australian ensemble The Ten Tenors.
The group of tenors is currently on tour in support of the album “Wish You Were Here.” And the group makes a stop in Albuquerque at Popejoy Hall on Sunday, Feb. 25.
For a good part of the year, Barclay and crew have been crisscrossing the globe on tour.
“We spent a week in Berlin doing a little promotional stuff,” he says in a recent phone interview. “I’m really looking forward to the upcoming tour because the album is a special one.”
The Ten Tenors are known for covering a lot of classical music.
In fact, Barclay is a graduate of both the University of Auckland and the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington, where he studied singing, French and Italian.
Born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, he also lived and went to school in Avellino, Italy, which he considers to be his second home.
Barclay has also performed extensively throughout New Zealand, and some of his recent highlights include performing in Ken Hill’s “Phantom of the Opera” in Tokyo and performing the role of Frederic in the New Zealand tour of “The Pirates of Penzance.”
“In the group, there are various types of tenors,” he says. “We all come from a classical background. So getting to do something different is exciting.”
The idea for “Wish You Were Here” came during a rehearsal when the group decided to cover “Heroes,” by David Bowie.
Barclay says the songs on the album are a tribute to Bowie, Cohen, Prince, Pink Floyd, John Lennon, Amy Winehouse, Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury and Whitney Houston, among others.
“David had just passed away,” he says. “Then we lost Leonard Cohen and Prince. These talented people were no longer in this world. The idea was born then. We wanted to celebrate the life and art of the musicians that meant so much to us. We’ve all been influenced by these popular musicians.”
Barclay is also looking forward to returning to Albuquerque. He was last in the city for a Christmas show in 2015.
“It snowed while we were there,” he says excitedly. “I also was able to get a haircut, and it turned out really well.”