MARK Vincent - mio visione

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
2 Jul 2009

With his first album set to hit stores across Australia on July 3,  young Mark Vincent has to pinch himself to make sure that the past four months are not a dream.

"Everything has happened so fast it doesn't seem real," the schoolboy from De La Salle College, Caringbah says, shaking his head in amazement.

Mark's roller coaster ride began in April this year when he was announced the winner of  TV's Australia's Got Talent and presented with a cash prize of $250,000. Less than two weeks later, he was performing at Sydney's Entertainment Centre with The Priests, the three Irish clergymen, at their one and only Australian concert. Then came a rushed trip to Italy to sing for the maestro of Milan's acclaimed Conservatorio di Musica Giuseppe before making a pilgrimage south to Calabria to visit the villages where his beloved grandparents grew up.

Then it was back home to sing Advance Australia Fair before a crowd of more than 80,000 at the hotly-contested State of Origin final at Sydney's Olympic Stadium. No sooner was that done, than Mark was flying south to Melbourne to the studios of Sony BMG to put down the vocals for his first ever album.

Appropriately titled "Mark Vincent: My Dream, Mio Visione," the album is the highlight of Mark's incredible four month ride.

"I just wish my grandfather was alive to see it," he confesses. "But I know he's up there watching over me and I bet he's bursting with pride and telling everyone he's ‘on top of the world.'"

Well-known throughout Sydney as a philanthropist, fundraiser and life governor of the Victor Chang Institute, Bruno Riccio, Mark's"nonno" or grandfather, received numerous awards for his tireless community service, including an OAM and a Papal Knighthood.

But the man who along with his wife Angela, had raised Mark from the time he was a three month old baby, died suddenly in early 2008. Mark was devastated. His grandfather had not only given him his passion for music and encouraged him to sing, but according to Mark had also taught him the value of love, respect and friendship.

"With my grandmother, he ‘raised me up' to be the person I am today," Mark writes in the leaflet inside the CD, where he dedicates his debut album to his beloved grandfather.

But the tribute doesn't stop there. Two of the tracks on the 12 track album were recorded specially for Bruno. One  is "You Raise Me Up" and the other "Time to Say Goodbye."

The two songs were also performed by Mark when he visited Soverato in Calabria where his grandfather grew up during his recent whistlestop tour of Italy. "The last time I was there was five years ago when I holidayed there with my grandparents and had a wonderful time."

His grandparents weren't with him on this trip and it was a bitter sweet reunion with the Italian branch of the family. And it was for them that Mark sang the two songs in his grandfather's memory before travelling on to Grotteria, the nearby village where his grandmother was born. There, with her family and friends gathered around him, he sang Hallelujah, in her honor.

Hallelujah also features on the CD along with other  sacred favorites such as Ave Maria, The Prayer and Nessun Dorma as well as timeless classics like Unchained Melody, My Way and This is the Moment.

"I just hope the CD sells well," the young tenor says, explaining that if sales are strong he may be able to concentrate on singing as a career several years earlier than planned.

Currently in year 10 at De La Salle College, Caringbah, with his 16th birthday on September 4, the young tenor intended to study for his HSC in 18 months time. But he says if the album is a success, he may leave school at the end of the year and study music full time.

"I'm still too young and my voice is still too immature to be accepted by the Conservatorio in Milan, but that is my ultimate dream," he says.

The Maestro was impressed with Mark but had some sound advice for him as well.. "He told me I had a beautiful voice and that there were lots of opportunities ahead." But the Maestro also told the young tenor that his voice was not yet developed and to return when he was older. 

"I was trying to sing in a key most tenors don't reach until they're twice my age," Mark explains and says he is keen to spend the next few years training with his Sydney teacher, Jeanette Gould so that when the time is right, he can audition for the Conservatorio and be accepted.

"Jeanette guided me through those months when my voice first broke and I was terrified that I would lose it altogether," he says describing this as a particularly tense time. "I'd been a treble soprano and then around about 13 or 14 my voice changed. That's when male singers often find they can't make the transition and stop singing. But thanks to Jeanette I made it through."

Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, Andre Bocelli and 1950s movie singing legend, Mario Lanza are his heroes but his grandfather remains his role model. Following Bruno's credo of giving selflessly and often, Mark is a frequent performer at fundraisers to help raise money for such diverse charities as the Victor Chang Institute, Paint a Rainbow Foundation, Humpty Dumpty Foundation and the Variety Club of Australia.

"And one day I hope to fulfil my grandfather's other dream which was to see me sing at Rome's Colosseum," Mark says. "He may not be around anymore but he is still with me and whenever I sing I feel very close to him and remember all the happy times we spent together."