Olde School

East Village Opera Company (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 12, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B001AW9DL4
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,548 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #5 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( B ) > Bellini, Vincenzo
  #7 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( W ) > Wagner, Richard
  #17 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( V ) > Verdi, Giuseppe

Editorial Reviews

Time Out New York

"See them now while you can still get close. The group's charisma is inescapable and infectious...electrifies the classics for a new generation."

Product Description

Old School, the new album from New York City's East Village Opera Company is an album 300 years in the making. Using a few centuries worth of opera's greatest hits as their launching point, the album took 12 months and 14 engineers to record and involved 65 involved musicians in 10 different studios around the world. EVOC has once again taken a selection of opera arias and re-imagined them as popular songs, using full symphony orchestra, R&B horns, and choir alongside the group's guitars, drums, keyboards, string quartet, and singers. Arias by Verdi, Puccini, Bach, Mozart, and Wagner collide with Rock and Roll, R&B, 60's and 70's Pop, Surf, and Soul in an explosive mosaic of sound that is deliciously eclectic and singularly cohesive at the same time. As filtered through the group's irreverent sensibility, a seemingly bad idea (rock meets opera) comes off as a triumphant celebration of all music in a musical highwire act that deftly balances tradition and renewal.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the best CD in my collection!, October 25, 2008

By	Music Teacher (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews

Words fail, so this won't be long. I've heard modern takes on classical music before and was severely underwhelmed. After hearing this music on a NPR program, I could tell someone finally got it right. The musicianship and arranging are near perfect and the variety of styles (influenced by Led Zeppelin, The Who, Queen, and many others) kept me interested from start to finish. I couldn't be happier to stumble on this gem.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I absolutely love this album, July 16, 2009

By	E. Halliday (New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I first saw this company in a staged performance along with the Parsons Dance Company and the Joyce Theatre in New York. The show was interesting, and I knew the music deserved a second listen. Now I cannot stop. It's like the Red Shoes. It is on continuous play, and I sing and feel the music all day long. Rock and Rollers will like it because the quality of the music is superb, and Opera purists will (or at least Could) like it because it gives new life to timeless melodies. A must-have.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anything BUT...Olde School, January 13, 2009

By	C. A. Surovi (Hellertown, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Having heard EVOC live, and listening to their first 2 releases repeatedly, I was looking forward to hearing what they would do next. This disc does not disappoint!!! Very talented vocals and instumentals transform opera classics into modern masterpieces. This is how Wagner, Mozart, and Verdi would do opera if they were alive today. They bring passion, and beauty to these updated versions without losing the essence of the music. REALLY..you must hear it to believe it.