Arias and rock symphonies
Steve Baylin
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East Village Opera Company goes big AND goes home... to Ottawa
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Ottawa duo behind the East Village Opera Company play with fire while playing the classics
Peter Kiesewalter is as composed a composer as there is in this world. The soft-spoken musician sounds calm, comfortable and relaxed as he speaks, each word chosen with care. His partner in crime, Broadway stage veteran, recording artist and film actor Tyley Ross, is a different story altogether. Equally generous and insightful, the golden-voiced vocalist talks in a flash flood of impulsive expression, unable to control his enthusiasm. Though at different paces-one high speed, the other locked on cruise control-they both travel down the same road bound by a mutual passion: the world of classical music.
Kiesewalter and Ross are the driving force behind The East Village Opera Company, an 11-piece ensemble whose rock-infused arias are turning heads in the clubs of New York City and beyond. Released with little fanfare last year, The Company's faintly cheeky debut collection, La Donna, is at once reverent and fiercely modern. Leoncavallo's dramatic Vesti la Giubba, from the opera Pagliacci (a one-hit wonder by today's fickle standards), struts with a pounding disco dance beat. Verdi's La Donna e Mobile erupts with histrionic bursts of slashing guitar and sparkling banjo. And Schubert's majestic Ave Maria gives way to crescendos of tasteful distortion. So are they wary of the pitfalls as they cross that line between tradition and innovation?
"No, not really," says Kiesewalter over the phone from his home in the Big Apple. "Much like the way jazz musicians keep
re-interpreting a great standard, we do the same with these opera arias. They are just great pop tunes, and I'm surprised that more people haven't really tried to interpret them in a contemporary way."WORLD VISIONS
Kiesewalter is no stranger to the world of pop fusion. A veteran of the Ottawa music scene, the 38-year-old first made waves round these parts with Bytown world beat mavericks The Angstones, and Fat Man Waving, before heading to New York in 1996. He's been in demand ever since: In addition to his longstanding position as music director for the annual Downtown Messiah (a fresh reading of Handel's oratorio from the Bottom Line Cabaret, featuring a host of pop performers), Kiesewalter has been juggling session work, live performances, film production and his ongoing gig as resident composer for ABC TV.
Another former Ottawa resident, the well-travelled Ross has enjoyed a similar run of good fortune, starring in stage productions of Tommy, West Side Story and Miss Saigon on Broadway. The two crossed paths in 2001: Kiesewalter was commissioned by director Derek Diorio to rework and update several traditional arias for Kiss of Debt, a comedic Mafia flick that happened to feature Ross as a budding tenor.
"I went down to New York to meet Peter and we got on like a house on fire," recalls Ross. "He said he'd be interested in looking into doing one track. It was loads of fun, and we finished the soundtrack, but we felt there were still things to be done on this recording. We just really felt compelled to finish it just to see where it would go."
After a year of fits and starts ("We'd get together whenever we could manage it, sending a lot of material over the Internet," says Ross), the two slowly put the final touches on the 11-track La Donna, with plenty of high-powered help from Vernon Reid, John Geggie, Tony Trishka and Fred Guignon to name but a few. Determined to get it out "in front of the people," the Company last year set up shop in the intimate confines of Manhattan's Joe's Pub, ready to turn on both East Village rockers and couples in their 60s "who go to every production at the Met."
"The first few shows there were absolutely insane to us," recalls Kiesewalter. "Much like operas themselves, the show went from very quiet to super bombastic, and the crowd was so there with every note of the music. We saw people towards the end of tunes jumping up on the tables, and then in the quiet moments you could hear a pin drop. I've never been in a situation where the crowd had such a visceral reaction before."
UNHEALTHY REVERENCE
Of course, from Art Tatum and Duke Ellington through to The Nice, Sky, and Sigur Ros (and so many more), the union of classical music with themes from mainstream pop is hardly new-some just pull it off better than others. (Yes, there's something strangely euphoric about watching a wild-eyed Keith Emerson randomly stab his defenceless Hammond organ with knives during a juiced take on Dave Brubeck's Rondo.) Rock lore has too many musicians whose lofty ideals far outweighed any good taste, sound judgment, or outright fun. Thankfully, the Company avoids that pitfall with La Donna: Never patronizing, the ensemble, often over the top and almost giddy at times, pays equal respect to both disciplines, with each aria a genuine tribute to the past, and the present-day power of song.
"It's great for anyone who grew up loving prog rock," laughs Ross. "This is just kind of an elixir for their sad musical hearts. But we're really just playing the music the way it speaks to us. What we're doing is wonderfully selfish. We're doing it for ourselves, and for those who are inspired by it."
Kiesewalter is a more blunt: "There are a lot of classical music fans who will be horrified to hear this because they have such strict reverence-and I think it's an unhealthy reverence-for the music. They feel it should be treated as a museum piece. I think it's really important to mess with it a little bit."
Indeed some people think the often inflexible world of classical music could use a wake up. Just ask fellow New Yorker Greg Sandow, noted composer, teacher and all around music scribe.
"If the Metropolitan Opera knew what it was doing, it would acknowledge this group, and others like it, and sell their CDs in its gift store," he wrote via e-mail. "The opera world's attitude should be, 'We're thrilled these people are interested in what we do, and we'd like to invite everyone who hears their CDs to hear our performances, too.' So then if you presented a copy of the CD at the box office, you'd get a large discount on your opera ticket. The Met could certainly afford it. They're playing to half-empty houses."
While La Donna has affectionately kicked open a door to the past, Kiesewalter points out that The East Village Opera Company is not on a crusade to save opera, or anything else for that matter.
"That's the furthest thing from our minds," he says. "The concept evolved organically as opposed to being spelled out in some kind of mission statement. I've always found that the less you push, the more that people come to you. We just went into this hoping to have fun, play live, and see if we could pull off this pretty eclectic range of material. So we'll see what the future brings."
EAST VILLAGE OPERA COMPANY
W/ BANDE SONOR
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25 AT 8:30 P.M., $15
BARRYMORE'S MUSIC HALL
I noticed your article and I wanted to let you know that The East Village Opera Company will be playing additional shows. As of now, I know that they will be playing at these venues:
Monday 1/30/06 Los Angeles, CA The Knitting Factory
Tuesday 1/31/06 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
Monday 2/6/06 Chicago, IL TBD-check www.eastvillageoperacompany.com
Just thought you may be interested!
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Karen Daniels
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First I've heard of this composing duo or their ensemble but their fusion of opera and pop sounds quite interesting, innovative and captivating. I only wish I was little older to have enjoyed Kieswalter in his other bands before he left ottawa almost 10 years ago know. Although it sounds like moving to new york was a nescessary evil fo the musical jack of all trades, and I wish him the utmost sucess in all his ventures.
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Angus Bennett
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