Jonathan Cilia Faro is a tenor who is comfortable in his own shoes. He began his now twenty-eight-year career as a teenager, and his music has taken him from a provincial life in Sicily to become a “citizen of the world” and a proud “self-made artist.” He has been in the military, fought cancer, sold hundreds of thousands of albums, and extensively collaborated with charities and artists from different genres. In short, Jonathan has lived, and he is in no way ready to slow down.
“Romantico” has been one of those bucket list items for him. “I left Sicily when I was 16, so that is why I put 16 tracks on my album… I’ve been collecting songs that mean something to me.” For Jonathan, songs come from his travels – Spain, England, Argentina, France, Canada, and now the United States. During his career, Jonathan often prioritized live performances, paying his dues, and honing his craft. “Now I’m 42 years old, and I feel mature enough to understand the word ‘love.'” This is very important to Jonathan in a world where the word is often overused to describe everything from food to fashion and, of course, music. “I opened the album with the Love Story movie. So dramatic and so painful! Sometimes you need to be old enough, you need to go through so much real pain to understand the meaning of that song.” He jokes that “maybe the gray hair will be a witness to that.”
Jonathan’s subtitle for the album is the “Greatest Love Songs Of All Time.” Three of these timeless pieces to him are “Love Story,” “Parla Piu Piano,” and “Amapola,” which he describes as “powerful, iconic songs… not fast food songs… these three songs, I think, are going to be with me forever.”
Of course, Jonathan’s native language is also one of the most romantic to listen to, which he describes as a “sweet sound” and continues, “The Italian voice, the Italian lyrics, the Italian sound, the vowel is very precise. It never gets harsh; very similar is the Spanish and French language, but the Italian language is the most ancient language after Latin… there is always breath in every word when we sing.”
Jonathan describes his sound as “dark” and claims to “never do falsetto because it’s not me.” He comes from the Bel Canto school of singing, which is more rare these days, and when it comes to his arrangements, “People know me for key changes.” Keys are rarely changed in opera, but classical crossover allows Jonathan a bit more freedom. “I see crossover as my world because I can put all this color or these key changes.” Jonathan puts this to good use in “La Mia Voce.” In his words, “I play a lot with my voice; I go soft, I go harsh, I go rock, I go opera because the song is talking about my voice, and it’s the way I share myself with the world.”
“Romantico” features collaborations with Ben Trigg, Tyler Michael Smith, Jeff Franzel, Sergio Cammariere, Vanessa Campagna, Veronica Liberati, and Jesus Molina. He shared, “This album was like the most fun album.” His producer was Vincenzo Fontes, and the sound engineer was Cara Lee, of whom Jonathan says, “I think he is the most talented sound engineer I have ever met.” He is equally forthcoming with praise for his other collaborators, calling Tyler Michael Smith “super talented… the way he writes strings is unbelievable. He’s young, powerful, and he touches people’s souls.” Of Jonathan Kron, he says, “a crazy guitar player,” in the best way possible. He also notes that, “Every musician I’ve bumped into has Italian roots, and we have music in our blood DNA, and it made me so happy.”
For Jonathan, it is super important that each album or song is allowed to be unique. He is wary of becoming overly formulaic, joking about going viral for confessing he has not enjoyed recent releases from some of the top crossover acts due to this very issue. “I’m not looking for constant, you know? Music needs to evolve. You cannot say ‘This is my sound, that’s it, and I will die with that sound.’ That’s what has condemned many, many artists.” He wants excitement, and if he can’t find it in the mainstream, Jonathan uses that desire for inspiration. “People like me, they get bored very quickly. I need excitement; every song I click needs to be different… That’s what I do. I try to produce with a twist, and ‘Romantico’ came out perfectly in the way I’m looking for.”
Stream “Romantico” on Spotify now!
