The Ten Tenors were boarding a plane to Brazil last year when COVID-19 threw a spanner in the works.
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It was the first of five countries the Australian music ensemble had planned to tour in 2020.
"The government had just announced 14-day quarantine periods back home and we got on the plane, shaking our heads and wondering what we were doing," Jared Newall tells Weekender from Canberra.
"Sure enough we landed and, as expected, the tour was cancelled and we were ushered home as quickly as we could get flights, which for me was a week later. So I got home, did my two-week quarantine in Canberra and have stayed put ever since."
Newall, who grew up in Western Australia and spent 10 years living and working in Melbourne, was more fortunate than some. A singing teacher when not touring with The Ten Tenors for the past 10 years, he found full-time teaching work almost immediately.
"Our dance and performing arts school was able to make a space for me to have a singing studio and it filled straight away," he says.
"I went from touring six to eight months a year to full-time teaching in the space of two or three weeks."
Newall began his professional music theatre career in 2007 in Hair: The Musical, followed by Jonathan Larson's Rent. In 2008 he started studying music theatre at the University of Ballarat and since 2011 has been touring the world with The Ten Tenors.
The Ten Tenors kick off a 22-city tour in Brisbane on July 1 and perform across the continent until early August.
Newall can't wait. He has missed the thrill of performing in front of a live audience.
"This tour celebrates 25 years of live shows by The Ten Tenors, so it's a 'best of' to some extent," he says.
"There's Meatloaf, The Beatles, Queen, and all the operatic pieces people expect. Having seen the set list and having rehearsed for the past few weeks, I know it is going to be the biggest show we've ever done.
"I'm going to be exhausted and dripping with sweat every single show and I'm going to be loving every second of it. We are all so excited. Our first show will be very, very emotional, because this is what we do and we have missed it so much."
Newall describes The Ten Tenors as a family, and a close knit one at that.
"We're all there for each other's professional and personal lives. We've all been to each other's weddings and support one another," he says.
"We've been messaging more and more as the weeks have been counting down to the tour. We really are like brothers, all of us."
Over 25 years and with various line-ups The Ten Tenors have 15 albums to their name.
They have sold more than 2.8 million concert tickets and 1.2 million albums worldwide; toured in 34 countries; scored seven gold or platinum albums and DVDs; and helped to raise more than $11 million for charities.
Their performance highlights include singing to an audience of 85,000 in Warsaw in 2012; a concert at The Royal Albert Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2006; a private party in Petra for the King of Jordan and 100 other dignitaries in 2007; and being the highest selling act in the history of the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, California, surpassing the previous highest seller (Barry Manilow) by 10 shows.
Newall still pinches himself, saying it's "all quite surreal" especially after spending more than a year without a gig.
"I was surprised when I got the call for the Tenors. I'd always worked and done well but had seen the group as the pinnacle in Australia. When I was chosen I almost felt like I had imposter syndrome," he explains.
"I guess over the years I have come to believe it; to accept it.
"The line-up does change due to people's commitments but The Ten Tenors has such a particular sound that we need to find the right voices. When someone leaves, their replacement has very, very big shoes to fill and we agonise over who to choose, we really do.
"The last time it took us six months.
"And it's not just that they have to have a good voice; can they sing in the classical style, or rock and pop, or the music theatre style? They have to fill the shoes of the people they're replacing completely.
"I'm rock and pop through and through - when the guys hit the top notes I'm sitting a comfortable third under them up the back, taking it easy and saving my voice for Meatloaf or The Beatles [laughs]."
