Il Senso Interview: “At our concerts its like opera and other styles of music collide.”

This morning we connected with the Lithuanian band Il Senso to arrange an interview before the first heat of Pabandom iš naujo!

Il Senso is a quartet of Lithuanian singers that are classically trained, and who’s music covers a variety of genres. As a group they have appeared on Lithuanian television and large stages a number of times performing renditions of popular songs and classics, but this year marks the first time they’ve ventured into something as big as the Lithuanian Eurovision preselection.

Hello there Il Senso and welcome to ESCUnited.com! We’re excited to have you here for an interview. Why don’t you introduce yourselves to our readers?

In our band Il Senso there four persons, two tenors Laimonas Bendaravičius, Kasparas Damulis and two sopranos Ieva Barbora Juozapaityte and Indre Anankaite. We all finished Lithuanian and opera academy having concerts in all over the world, participating in tv projects, tv shows and also having a lot of concerts in our home country Lithuania.

I want to help our readers get to know you as a group a bit better. How did you four originally meet and when did you decide to officially form Il Senso?

We created this band when the Covid-19 started. All concerts like everything else was closed, so we decided that we need to do something and we called to one famous composer of Lithuania Stano, he wrote us a song which was a success for our future. I think we also succeeded because we are best friends and have known each other for many years, so just having fun on the stage and being ourselves and thats the point of our band name Il Senso.

From what I was reading from your website, the group performs across a number of genres that include opera and jazz. How would you describe Il Senso’s musical sound and influences to our readers?

Actualy we are so flexible that we could sing any style of music, for example we are singing pop songs with operettic voices and one of our group members even making a beatbox during some songs. So at our concerts its like opera and other styles of music collide.

Okay, this could be the most challenging question I give you. If you had the ability to do a one night only concert anywhere you wanted, where would the group choose to perform and why?

That’s a really tricky question, but we’ll answer from our hearts. It doesn’t matter where we do a concert but what’s most important for us is our fans. If we see sparkling eyes and smiles on our audience’s faces it means that was the place where we meant to be.

This is your very first time competing in the Lithuanian national final – what made you decide to submit an entry this year? Was this the first time you’d considered competing?

Its our first time in such a high level competition. We’ve been participating in many tv shows in Lithuania, but some how we felt that we need to move forward and make this big step forward. Its a very famous competition in our country after basketball so its also a good opportunity to bee seen and spread our voices and love to people.

As a group, you have a lot of stage performance experience which can be very handy for something like Pabandom iš naujo. Do you think this experience has made your experience less stressful or is it a whole new beast for you to tackle?

Funny to say but we can’t remember when last time we’ve been in such stress and excitement in same time. We have a lot of experience on the stage but this time you see just cameras and you realize that maybe this time your audience is more bigger than you could imagine. This is also a big responsibility because you feel like you’re in Olympic games and that you representing your country.

Your song for Pabandom is Naujo is titled “Sparnai” or “Wings” in English. Can you tell us a bit about the message behind the song and how it was written?

The piece was written from personal experiences, when everything around is so turbulent, inspired by the troubles of the last years. With the song I want to say that even if you lose the inspiration to live, I know that you can find joy, even in tiny little things. Whether it’s calling the mother of the most deprived person, or hugging your child in the morning to start the day, maybe even smiling and praising a stranger you meet on the street…The song illustrates the difficulties and wings that help you rise and fly through life. Like a phoenix!

What can our readers expect to see from you on the PiN stage this coming Saturday?

The audience will see a very sensative and inspirations performance, which I think will touch people’s hearts.

For those who want to connect with you all ahead of or after the selection– where can they find you and your music?

You can find us on both Youtube and Facebook!

In closing, do you have a final message you’d like to share with the readers of ESCUnited?

Stay positive and celebrate each day that god gives you!

Il Senso is set to compete in the first heat of Pabandom iš naujo 2023 set for January 21st at 20:00 CET. The winner of the show will earn the right to represent Lithuania at the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool this coming May.

Are #YOU team Il Senso this year? Let us know on social media @ESCUnited, on our discord, or on our forum page!