Two Chances to see Electric Opera Company this Thursday!
Mar 23rd
This Thursday, March 25 of the year 2010, Electric Opera Company will be making not one, but two appearances at the University of Portland! First, you can catch us at the Willamette River Festival outside the Pilot House (located on the campus’ main drive). We’ll be playing in all of nature’s glory to help raise awareness for our Willamette River and support the efforts of the dedicated student groups of the University of Portland.
Later in the evening, we close the evening with a performance at Bluffstock, a UP music festival sponsored by campus radio station KDUP. Festivities begin at 8pm with performances by M. Bison, Kelly Blair Bauman, and Sam Wegman. Then at 10pm, we bring the classical thunder with our energetic Rock set, featuring pieces from The Barber of Seville, Carmen, and fan favorite The Four Seasons.
Don’t miss your chance to see EOC this Thursday! We hope to see you at The University of Portland.
The Battle of the Band!
Mar 16th
The stage is set for a mighty showdown. On April 16 2010, the titans of Electric Opera Company will square off not against any ordinary foe, but against each other in a battle of musical proficiency to determine bragging rights amongst the EOC Orchestra. It all started one evening while the band members were celebrating a successful performance. Before long, tempers began to rise as different guitarists began claiming their title as “best in the band”, or “fastest fingers”. The singers and keyboardists held that without them, the guitarists would be nothing. Even still, Tiso began shouting the merits of percussion through the heated ravings. It was clear that this could not be settled with words – BUT WITH A BATTLE!
The orchestra will be split into three even teams of 5 musicians. These ‘bands’ will have 4 weeks to assemble and rehearse a set of 2 classical pieces, 2 rock covers, and 2 original tunes. On April 16th, the bands will test their repertoire against each other and you, the audience, will determine our winners! To determine the teams, our competitors will meet at dawn this Sunday to compete in a decathlon of epic proportions, testing strength, endurance, flexibility, intelligence, and ability to eat a burrito really, really fast. Those who finish top 3 will be named captains to choose and lead their band against their colleagues. Who will win the decathlon and assemble the greatest band? Who will claim the title as fastest fingers? Whose group will land Tiso, the only real drummer!? Find out by joining us on April 16th at 9pm (21 and over) at Mississippi Pizza for:
THE BATTLE OF THE BAND!!!!
Performance Wrapup – February 2010
Mar 8th
Phew! What an exhausting weekend!
The brave warriors of Electric Opera Company have just completed a busy performance weekend, pulling off 3 operas and a rock show in the space of 5 days, and a total of 7 shows in two weeks. We wrapped “Das Rheingold/Baywatch” with Opera Theater Oregon on Sunday to our second consecutive full house. All in all, the run was a success! As our first experience being part of a larger orchestra (and mixing with acoustic instruments and unamplified singers), we learned a lot about the place our electric guitars have in opera at large. Big thanks to Katie Taylor and Erica Melton of OTO for entrusting us with the monster task of conquering Wagner, we had a blast!
Friday was a big day for EOC, not only playing to a sold our Rheingold audience at 7:30, but also our long-anticipated twin bill with Metal Shakespeare Company at 9:30. It was a high energy evening of cultured, gut-busting rock ‘n roll. And boy can Metal Shakespeare bring the Classical Thunder! You can see some video highlights from Friday evening, including some behind the scenes footage before both shows here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ku1_5A00R We look forward to sharing the stage with Metal Shakespeare again. Awesome show to be a part of!
Looking to the future, EOC will be making a couple of appearances on the campus of The University of Portland in the month of march. Open to the public will be a performance in support of the Willamette River Festival on March 25th. Stay tuned for more details on specific location and time. We also have a couple fun events scheduled for April, possibly reaching back to our rock roots a bit. Also, production is ramping up for our new version of “The Barber of Seville” hitting the stage in July (22, 23, 25, Scottish Rite Auditorium). Keep it here for more details as they come available!
Thank you to everyone who came out and supported us these past two weeks, you all rock!
Bobby Ray
Das Rheingold: Wagner plus…Baywatch!?!?
Feb 8th
Hello Electric Opera Fans!
We are only 9 days away from an epic evening – opening night of Opera Theater Oregon’s original adaptation of Das Rheingold as set to a Baywatch episode! Richard Wagner’s seering and thunderous music underscores this epic tail in which DJ Larry Loomin’ Large (Alberich) is driven to dark obsession over obtaining “The Perfect Tan” (The Ring), and with it, ultimate power. Can Mitch (Wotan) stop him in time, or will he too succumb to the unholy allure of the magical Tanhelm? CJ, Matt, Hobie, Stephanie and Caroline join in a race against time to stop the Perfect Tan, once enjoyed in innocence, from becoming the destroyer of all.
Electric Opera Company adds 5 guitars, bass, and percussion to an orchestra of Clarinets, Brass, Harp, and Piano to create a truly unorthodox and powerful rendition of Wagner’s music. You’ve never heard Wagner (or electric guitars) like this!!
For more information, visit Opera Theater Oregon’s website: www.OperaTheaterOregon.com and click on the “Das Rheingold” link. Performances run February 17-28, 7:30pm at the Clinton St. Theater. You don’t want to miss this one!!!
Bobby
PS – Don’t forget our rock show with Metal Shakespeare Company on February 26th, it’s going to be a classical blast! We go on at 9:30, so be sure the be there in early to get a spot close to the stage! Tickets only $6 if you buy in advance, so head down to Berbati’s, any TicketWeb location, or Click Here to purchase them online.
Get Ready to Be Rocked 2010!
Jan 9th
Happy New Year from EOC!
The Electric Opera Company could not be more excited about 2010! We are kicking off the year by tackling two big projects that promise to be a load of fun. A selection of our guitarists will be featured as the “violin” section of Opera Theatre Oregon’s production of Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold, the first in the Ring Cycle of operas. It promises to be a totally original and sexy adaptation of the opera into the world of Baywatch. That’s right: Wagner meets Baywatch, enhanced by the shredding of electric guitars. For show dates and more information check out Opera Theatre Oregon’s website: http://www.operatheateroregon.com/shows.html#camille
We are also beginning preparation for our February 26th concert at Berbati’s Pan, where we will be splitting a headline with the Metal Shakespeare Company. They just might be our artistic soul mates, but you’ll just have to show up on February 26th to find out. It is IN FACT an all ages show, and it starts at 10 p.m. Tickets are $6 in advance and $8 at the door. Either way, we are preparing more vocal music to tickle your ears, and you will have the opportunity to hear more members of our illustrious orchestra show off their singing skills. Colin Rupp and Adam Goodwin, who have blown your minds with guitar-shredding genius, just might be singing some tunes, as well as the sleek and sexy keyboardists Josephine Woolington and Audrey Voon. That’s four new vocalists folks! What could be more exciting?! You also have a couple more numbers featuring the vocal stylings of myself and Bobby Ray to look forward to. For more information on Metal Shakespeare Company, check out their myspace: http://www.myspace.com/bardcore
As a special treat, I’d like to include an excerpt from a dialogue on exotic birds which took place over email last week within EOC. This excerpt was written by Executive Director Bobby Ray, and included below. We thought you might like a behind the scenes look into our brains… Feel free to join in this very serious and fancy topic, if you please.
Until next time,
Danielle Larson
Executive Assistant
Electric Opera Company
Before enjoying this exploration of exotic birds, please enjoy this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWh_2Iit3Ek
“On the question of, can birds appreciate music:
My first inclination was to say no; if the bird appreciated the song, one might assume that it would reproduce the original with at least a shred of respect for the integrity of the original structure.
However…
There is a similar habit amongst less musical humans to erroneously reproduce a song, much to the chagrin of anyone in the surrounding area, regardless of its accuracy or timbrel qualities. Does this then suggest that the pitch deficient human does not appreciate the music either? I would contend that the human does indeed appreciate the music, possibly in some ways even more so than the more musically endowed of our species. There is certainly value in the statement that “ignorance is bliss”. Perhaps the parrot actually enjoys and appreciates the music on a far more enjoyable level than we because it is not caught up in thinking about the tune, rhythm, accuracy, or the other nit-picky things that us academics trifle over. The bird can simply enjoy the series of notes (as you previously submitted) and try to reproduce them because it is pleasing to the avian.
Perhaps the very hearing mechanism of these birds allows them a different take on the music we hear, not having a real “ear” to capture and funnel the music…interesting…
Moreover, could you make a parrot sound like the NPR guy? I imagine it might be hard for a parrot to reproduce a convincing baritone.
As to your second question – are we no better than a fool who hears something pleasing and repeats it blindly without thought or expression. I think that point is instantly refutable by the simple fact that a song (or even sound) may be pleasing to someone one year, only for the same person to loathe the same song a few years later. This means that we do intellectualize what we hear and pass judgment on it. Even if a catchy song that we eventually won’t like gets stuck in our heads to the point of involuntary vocal reproduction, that earworm usually passes once we have time to step back and think about the piece. We rationalize why it is “stupid” or “drawl” or “rigamarose” and then cast if from our psyche, whether or not we can help from singing Mmmbop in the moment.
This seems like a good transition to a new topic. It is obvious that we humans have a much different experiences with music than does a parrot. But how disparate are our experiences from that of other humans? Surely we find a lot of connections through the ways that music makes us feel. Happy music pretty consistently makes a happy impression on the listener, and so it goes for sad music, urgent music, and so on. However, it is hard to believe that our tone-deaf friend from earlier has the same experience with Mozart’s 40th symphony than you or I do. Is it a matter of musical training (read: knowledge or experience) that separates us? We have previously had many discussions about how pieces have effected us in many similar and many different ways. What of the differences between you and I?
A follow up question: Is it possible to label any of these experiences as better? That is, could Mr. Tone-Deaf increase the pleasure he gets from music by learning more about it? Or conversely, could Aaron Copland have had more pure enjoyment out of music once he had contracted a mentally degenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s?
May the great brain be with you,
Robert Harold Ray, Esquire”