Young opera sounds from the Amici Forever

The trail was blazed earlier by the Three Tenors, Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti, of course, and then there followed the emergence of classically-trained artists like Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban in the Top 40 hit lists. So it was really inevitable that somebody would come up with the idea of using the same successful formula, classical singing with pop sensibility, but with a group. And it has finally happened. Opera has once more crossed over in a big way. The group is named Amici Forever The Opera Band. The members are young and good-looking. They sing both pop and opera and would look very much at home on a concert stage as well as in a Burberry ad in a glossy magazine.

Amici Forever is made up of Nick Garrett, the bass/baritone, formerly of the Swingle Singers with a music degree from Trinity College; Jo Appleby, a soprano who studied at the Northern College; David Habbin, tenor who started out as a rock singer and went to the Mountainview Royal Northern College; Tsakane Valentine, also a soprano from South Africa who got her degree from the University of Pretoria; and Geoff Sewell of New Zealand, also a tenor, formerly a boy soprano who attended the Boston Conservatory of Music. Garret, Appleby and Habbin are all from the UK. All five members have performed in classical presentations like operas and oratorios, musicals like West Side Story and Les Miserables and lots of concerts.

The latest news from the hitfront says Amici’s self-titled debut album now ranks number two in the classical charts of the US, while it has already gone either Gold or Platinum in other countries like the UK and Australia. The band will embark on a worldwide promo tour soon so expect the album to begin getting airplay hereabouts within the next few days. I am very sure lots of Pinoys will be very impressed with Amici. So check out this album if you want heavenly listening, which I am sure most of us do now that Election Day is over.

Amici Forever has classical pieces fitted with lyrics like Prayer in the Night from Handel’s Sarabande, and Nimrod: Lux Aeterna from Elgar’s Enigma Variations, pop tunes also fitted with new lyrics like Senza Catene which is actually Unchained Melody to us ordinary mortals; the theme from the TV series Requiem for a Soldier from Band of Brothers; an oratorio excerpt Zadok the Priest by Handel and opera tunes Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s Turandot, Soave Sia il Vento from Cosi Fan Tutte by Mozart, Au Fond du Temple Saint from The Pearl Fishers by Bizet and others done to perfection by Amici Forever.

What’s next? Somehow, here’s an idea I just cannot resist mentioning here. How about an opera boy band? Can you imagine five young great looking guys resembling the old Backstreet Boys but singing opera? The total effect would be like multiplying Josh Groban three or five times over. Awesome.

Farewell To Another National Artist

Must they go away in twos? I ask this because the recent death of National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin was followed four days later by the death of Jose Maceda, National Artist for Music. I am also sure many of you still remember how the deaths of National Artist for Music Lucio San Pedro, and National Artist for Music and Literature Levi Celerio also came about within only two days of each other two years ago. Since the Philippines is not known for creating truly deserving National Artists fast enough, having to lose two in almost one instant can be very damaging to our neglected Filipino souls.

Maceda, 87, was a pianist, composer, musicologist, teacher and performer known for his extraordinary avant garde works and painstaking research on the country’s ethnic music heritage. If you come across music that comes from remote mountain places and isolated islands in the Philippines, there is a strong chance it was discovered and brought to us by Maceda. Some of his works for native instruments and voices are Ugma Ugma, Agungan, Kubing and Pagsamba. He died of acute respiratory failure following a lingering illness at his home in the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City. He is survived by his daughters, Marion, Madeleine, Kathleen and Eileen. He was married to the late pianist Madelyn Clifford.