Rarely does one get the opportunity to rock out to Grandma’s favorite opera tunes. But that’s about to change when East Village Opera Company brings their infectious style of Rock Opera to Yakima’s Capitol Theatre.

East Village Opera Company 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 Peter’s keyboards, then synched it to a string quartet. A second superb vocalist, AnnMarie Milazzo, was recruited for impassioned duets with Ross, such as  "Au fond du temple saint," (from Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers), and soaring solos like “Ebben? — Ne andrò lontana” (from La Wally by Alfredo Catalani).

East Village Opera Company takes opera classics such as “La donna è mobile” from Rigoletto, “Habanera” from Carmen, and “Nessun dorma” from Turandot , and performs them at full length and in the original languages, but with a new style that can’t be ignored. Embracing what  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.

“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. For EVOC, that approach has been a recipe for success.

East Village Opera Company’s Decca/Universal Classics debut was produced and recorded in 2005 by Neil Dorfsman, a three-time Grammy Award winner whose credits include international bestsellers by Sting, Dire Straits, Paul McCartney, and Bjork. The string arrangements were recorded in Prague by the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra featuring lead violinist Pauline Kim.

The Capitol Theatre is elated to be offering this edgy new sound to Central Washington. Join us this October when we Rock the House!

EVOC TRIVIA

Kiesewalter and Ross’ first began to work together when they were asked to arrange a modern take on Italian opera for a film entitled “Kiss of Debt”

For the last two consecutive years, EVOC has been invited to play the opening night gala of the New York City Opera

Tickets for The East Village Opera Company are available at The Capitol Theatre box office: 509-853-ARTS or 800-325-SEAT.