Il Divo put a fresh face on popular songs, utilizing their exceptional voices, good looks, and cultural diversity to bring their romantic blend of classical and pop music to audiences around the world. Formed after a two-year search, the quartet is comprised of American tenor David Miller, popular French singer Sébastien Izambard, Swiss tenor Urs Buhler, and Spanish baritone Carlos Marin. Their eponymous debut album was released in April of 2005 and featured a diverse play list that included a cover of the Toni Braxton hit "Unbreak My Heart" and the Frank Sinatra standard "My Way," as well as "Nella Fantasia," a newly arranged -- with vocals -- version of "Gabriel's Oboe" from Ennio Morricone's score for The Mission. It became a massive worldwide hit, and the quartet returned in 2006 with Ancora, a ten-track collection of new music featuring the hit "I Believe in You" with Celine Dion. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide

Il Divo Artist Main on Yahoo! Music

Sophie’s World has been translated to more than 40 languages since it was first published in Norway in 1991. The novel is about the 14 year old Sophie who is introduced to philosophy through the somewhat mysterious character Albert Klage, later also referred to as her philosophy teacher. The book starts with the first Greek philosophers and ends with The Big Bang. The book differs from other philosophy books in several ways. First of all “Sophie’s World” is a novel. Secondly philosophers, great thinkers, ideas and theories from different times in history are introduced not only with plain facts. As Sophie encounters them (through Albert), she asks questions and draw conclusions on her own, encouraging the reader to think for him/herself too. Sophie’s World was in 1998 successfully turned into a musical. First performance was held in Germany where the book has sold millions of copies. In 1998 a “Sophie’s World” movie project started in Norway. The film is rumoured to be full of special effects, in addition to on location filming in several countries, among them Greece. 

Gaarder has so far written 8 books, of which 4 have been translated to English. The latest addition to the translated titles is “Through the glass, darkly”.