The East Village Opera Company, The East Village Opera Company

Over the years, musicians have collaborated to bring their listeners fresh new sounds with an edge. The first time I ever remember such a commingling of musical genres was back in the ’80s, when Run DMC and Aerosmith brought us their rapping/rocked-out version of “Walk This Way”…and it was actually pretty darn good. Many bands would attempt to follow this ingenious union and many, many of them would fail (Limp Bizkit and Method Man immediately come to mind).

It’s not easy to bring diverse sounds together and create something that people actually want to listen to, but The East Village Opera Company has managed release an album that fuses together rock, pop, and — wait for it — opera in a really fun and musically superior way.

Let’s face it, opera can be really boring. I recognize opera’s musical integrity and all the lyrical beauty it possesses, but come on, it can (and has) put a person to sleep. That is why I have so much respect for the East Village Opera Company’s well-executed vision. Lead singer Tyley Ross and arranger/multi-instrumentalist Peter Kiesewalter have a real love for opera and have found a really cool way to bring it to the masses: they combine it with a rock/pop/new age sounds and do it all with soul.