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You may have heard opera and you may have heard rock, but you have never heard them put together like the East Village Opera Company will perform during a special concert on Wednesday, April 9, at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's Hatfield Hall Theater. The 8 p.m. show culminates the college's Performing Art Series for this school year.
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Rose-Hulman Performing Arts Series
East Village Opera Company
Wednesday, April 9 - 8 p.m.
Hatfield Hall Theater
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
5500 Wabash Ave., Terre Haute, Ind.
Tickets:
$20 for adults;
$17 for non-RHIT students and youths 14 years old and younger;
free for Rose-Hulman students. Tickets can be purchased from
1-5 p.m. weekdays in the Hatfield Hall ticket office or reserved by calling (812) 877-8544. |
General admission tickets are $20 for adults, $17 for non-RHIT students and youths 14 years old and younger, and free for Rose-Hulman students. Tickets can be purchased from 1-5 p.m. weekdays in the Hatfield Hall ticket office or reserved by calling (812) 877-8544.
The East Village Opera Company is a powerhouse five-piece band, a string quartet and two outstanding vocalists that brings the towering emotion and timeless musicality of opera into the 21st century. Its inventive and hard-hitting arrangements of the music’s greatest hits include “La donna è mobile” from Rigoletto, “Habanera” from Carmen and “Nessun dorma” from Turandot -- performed at full length and in the original languages.
The concept of the East Village Opera Company is totally fresh, but not unprecedented in pop. In 1985, for example, former punk-rock impresario Malcolm McLaren released Fans, an album of “hip-hopera” that brought funky beats and electronic programming to the works of Puccini and Bizet. But East Village Opera Company is a whole new thing: an integrated, 11-strong working band dedicated to rocking the opera and electrifying the classics, as the ensemble has been doing to spectacular effect ever since its New York stage debut in the spring of 2004.
The New York-based group was co-founded by lead singer Tyley Ross and arranger/multi-instrumentalist Peter Kiesewalter. They assembled a full-on rock band, adding two guitars, bass, and drums to Kiesewalter’s keyboards, then synched it to a string quartet. A second superb vocalist, AnnMarie Milazzo, was recruited for impassioned duets with Ross. Other members of the company include Ben Butler, guitar; Richard Hammond, bass; Jess Lipstein, drums; Pauline Kim and Tarrah Reynolds, violin; and Christine Kim, cello.
By embracing what Peter Kiesewalter calls “the pomposity of rock and the pomposity of opera” without demeaning or satirizing either form, the East Village Opera Company flies where countless other “classical-crossover” efforts have failed.
“We have a profound love and respect for the opera,” Kiesewalter insists. “But it’s so dramatic, so over the top by today’s standards, that it cannot be delivered with a straight face. You need a little bit of irreverence in it.”
“With modern recording technology and a wide variety of musical styles at our disposal, our goal has been to approach these songs the way we feel the composers would were they alive today,” says Ross.
Time Out New York stated that the group “electrifies the classics for a new generation.” The Associated Press mused the band was “dramatic” and “mesmerizing” while the Wall Street Journal agreed noting; “The band rocks hard, and deranges the opera stuff with savvy skill.”
The electrifying group has been consistently sought after since the release of their Decca Records debut in the fall of 2005. In a rare feat not many artists can claim, East Village Opera Company recently completed a massive U.S. tour, where they headlined eclectic rock clubs as well as some of the most prestigious classical concert halls across the country. The band’s appeal was evident in both cases. The Chicago Tribune raved: “Nobody puts a fresher, friskier contemporary spin on opera’s greatest hits than the East Village Opera Company.” The band has also performed at esteemed events such as the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, the 2006 Miss USA pageant and the world-premiere of the Da Vinci Code in
Hong Kong. EVOC was celebrated at the 2006 Emmy's with an award for their PBS Special “EVOC LIVE”, and they have received commissions to pen new works from both the New York Public Theatre and the New York City Opera.
More information about East Village Opera Company can be found at: www.eastvillageoperacompany.com and www.myspace.com/eastvillageoperacompany. |
