Rock Opera is a Smash
Claude Bereznikov
Issue date: 9/28/05 Section: Arts & Entertainment
- Page 1 of 1
|
The band's name is self-explanatory, hinting towards its operatic and popular rock influences. For twelve tracks, lead singer Tyley Ross and powerhouse vocalist AnnMarie Milazzo embrace and cover Italian Opera pieces (so do not expect covers of Wagner or Handel), though the band claims eclectic influences.
To recreate pieces in the likes of Giacomo Puccini and Rigoletto, classical instruments, such as violins, are included. With eleven members, this has to be the case. Instead of fusing opera with rock to create a new sound, the band gives opera a contemporary sound with a rock edge. Rock and opera have met many times in the late 20th century, especially during the eighties when artists were experimenting, and new technology was introduced.
Metallica famously hired an orchestra for live performances and bands such as Das Ich, Elis, Die Form, Night Wish, and singers Nina Hagen and Klaus Nomi have combined operatic vocals with classical instruments, guitars and synthesizers. Today, with the superior quality of instruments and expanding world of pro tools, The East Village Opera Company is expanding its horizons, unapologetically, while improvising and popularizing the classics.
Instrumental "La Donna e Mobile" starts the album with the storming of violins, then progresses to the tapping of keyboards, and lively guitars. On "Nessun Dorma," Ross rolls his "r's," while singing seamless popish vocals to power ballad chords. The rock anthem guitar riffs echo the eighties, when rock filled stadiums with head boppers wearing florescent spandex leggings, leather and hair sprayed with thick helpings of Aquanet. "O Mio Babbino Caro" uses varied percussion, and stands apart from the other pieces with its trip-hop rhythm. Closing the album, "E Lucevan Le Stelle" is a mellow piece until Ross sings dramatically, ending the album in a memorable note.
The same energy, drama, intensity and raw human expression opera reflects can also be found in rock music; thus the band's choice in using rock to interpret opera with a modern edge is a no brainier.
Its debut presents both sounds together, instead of neutralizing them to create an original and genre defying sound, but mixing popular opera with popular rock is their true intention. The East Village Opera's easily accessible music will appeal to listeners of many genres, but some opera fans may be skeptical of the band's interpretation. Others will embrace the sound as a new way of hearing the classics they know and love, and hope that collaboration with Andrea Bocelli will happen outside of their dreams.