Customer Reviews

Pop@Opera.mus

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Fads come and go. In the latter 90s were boy and girl bands follow by a mix of solo and group acts a la LFO, O-Town, et al. What happened to them? Now 2005 and earlier is the popera genre. I prefer the term classical crossover because the artists are more or less classically-trained with conservatory backgrounds and / or private lessons. Remember Andrea Bocelli? He was classically-trained under the tutalage of the great maestro Luciano Pavarotti. As the year 2005 has come to pass, classical crossover acts are popping out everywhere: Amici Forever, Il Divo, Bond, Opera Babes, The Mediæval Bæbes, et al. As an avid opera fan, I am glad that if this is one method to reach the greater public to educate about opera, be my guest. Enough with solo acts from Spears, Simpson, Aguilera, and Knowles.

For once, I am glad and proud to write a review about a topic dear to my heart: Opera reaching to the Asian-Americans. I did not just woke up, mind you. I have known for a great deal that there are prominent Korean coloraturas like Sumi Jo and Hei-Kyung Hong having paved the path for future Asian-American opera singers.

Welcome Mr. Marius Evangelista, Ms. Jubel Obien, Ms. Melody Versoza, and producer Mr. Andre Evangelista for their debut album Pop@Opera.Mus. Overall, the album is pleasant to my ears. I do have a few tibits that threw the pleasure out the window.

On the track "A Time For Us," the echo effects threw me off.

For the track "This Is The Moment," the use of synthesizers ruined the mood and the primary singer's slightly un-secured high notes are wobbly at times.

There are some minor things like that, but the tracks that won accolades from my ears are "Nessun Dorma," "You'll Never Walk Alone," and "O Mio Babino Caro." In my humble opinion, no current tenor can out perform the "Nessum Dorma" standard of Maestro Lucioano Pavarotti. But the debut efforts of Mr. Marius Evangelista did reach my ears and at least made me feel for the music.

The standard for "You'll Never Walk Alone" is the 1956 recording with Shirley Jones on the "Carousel" soundtrack. I really do not have any opinion on Evangelista's interpretation. I did enjoy the song. It is one of my favorite broadway hit selections.

"O Mio Babino Caro" is an aria beat to death. Prima donnas have performed them on their recitals; child singers like Church and Westenra put them on their solo albums. The aria should be performed with a mature vocal experience. Ms. Versoza's interpretation did some justice to Pucini's aria. I do not feel that "Not another 'O Mio Babino Caro'!"

The broadway selections are mediocre at best. I am not fond of "Miss Saigon." I do feel left out from the vocal talents of these new comers when the audio space should be filled with more aria selection than broadway ones. All these singer belonging to the Filipino heritage, I would like to see on their future releases some songs from the Phillipines. Folk songs that parents sing their children to sleep--lullibies and such.

Lastly, I wish these four independent artist success to impact their community to inspire more Asian-Americans to pursue opera and spread and educate the opera to the general public.

The vocals are impressive. The song selections are good. His voice blends well with Melody Versoza's who provided vocals on several tracks. I bet both voices would sound amazing with a live orchestra!

Marius is "The Singing Teacher," an operatic Filipino-American tenor who is also a Special Education teacher at Western High in Anaheim, CA, a school once attended by Tiger Woods.

The genre is "popera," a mix of pop, Broadway and opera on the same album. This CD was produced as a reaction to the rise of popera tenors Russell "The Voice" Watson and Daniel "The Singing Cop" Rodriguez. Not to mention Josh Groban. Three years in development, the CD is finally here. Judge for yourself.

No audio samples? Marius' Web site at "Marius Evangelista dot com" has audio samples of all the songs. "CD Baby dot com" also has rather lengthy 2-minute samples of all the songs. They have a nice "Play All Songs" feature where you can essentially listen to the entire album in shortened form.

Marius has a B.S. degree in Microbiology from Cal State Long Beach and a Masters in Education from Cal State Dominguez Hills. He studied Opera at Cal State Fullerton, and has had lessons with Seth Riggs. He has sung with various groups around town, including the Pacific Chorale, and he sings regularly in the church choir. He has sung at numerous events for the Anaheim Union High School District.

Please support your Independent artists.

Thank you.
Andre Evangelista
Producer