Music
Press
A Vagabond Opera show is a chance to time-travel. Specifically, to 1920s Paris. On a riverboat. With a glass of absinthe in one hand and a long cigarette holder in the other. And — why not? — chatting with Josephine Baker. more…
Rachel Beckman - Washington Post
For five years, his sextet, Vagabond Opera, has blended sounds from around the globe, spanning the worlds of folk, pop and classical music. “The show is a cabaret but not in the jazz-hands, modern cabaret sense or in [the sense of] the musical ‘Cabaret,’ for that matter,” Stern explains. “More the cabaret of old Warsaw.” more…
Glenn Dixon - Read Express
Everything about them is first-class: the music, the band, the voices, the arrangements, the technical quality, the CD artwork and design. Listening to Vagabond Opera is like taking a trip back in time and into the future at the very same time, and that ain't easy!
-Barry Reisman - WNWR, AM 1540 Philadelphia
"Vagabond Opera plays multi ethnic, operatic songs with a caberet flair... postmodern air of eclecticism as they skip from one Old World influence to another... a surefire spectacle." - The Oregonian
Discography
Vagabond Opera's newest CD "Vagabond Opera" was released in April 2006. They have one previous full length CD, "Get on the Train" (2004). They will be releasing their third album in the Summer of 2008.
Photos
Bio
Based in the Pacific Northwest, yet encompassing the world, Vagabond Opera delivers passionate offerings of Bohemian cabaret. Paris hotJazz, gut bucket swing, Tangos, Ukrainian folk-punk ballads, Klezmer and vigorous originals meet a world of riverboat gambling queens, Turkish belly dancers, and the enigmatic Marlene Dietrich. Weaving elements of Kurt Weil, Duke Ellington and Edith Piaf with absurdist flair, theatrics and an old world mood, Vagabond Opera presents the new wave of opera–lusty (trained) voices singing in 13 languages and presenting a cabaret of rich musical phrasing, sparkling lyrics and indomitable stage presence, all played with exuberance, skill and a gritty Vagabond edge. This is Opera liberated and reinvented for everyone.
The band's lineup features trained operatic tenor and soprano vocals, accordion, tenor and alto saxophones, cello, stand-up bass, drums, and, when the mood is right, a burlesque hoola-hooping fire performer.
Vagabond Opera is at the vanguard of a growing popularity in the Neo-cabaret phenomenon, and through their theatrical performances, lyrics in 13 languages, and an eclectic repertoire, they liberate opera from its usual construct, expanding musical and theatrical biodiversity.
Vagabond Opera has performed all over the USA, including the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., And to sold out performing arts centers in Portugal. They have been featured on NPR, in the Washington Post and Jazziz Magazine, and have shared stages and players with Pink Martini, The Decembrists, Al Franken and the Oregon Symphony.
Vagabond Opera was created in 2002 by European-trained opera singer and composer Eric Stern. Then disillusioned with the classical opera world, Stern created a new context for opera: Performance on a more intimate scale incorporating not only opera but elements of Weimar Cabaret, Arabic and Balkan forms, and the original music that springs from the ensemble's fertile creative work. This is not your granny's opera, but a visceral artistic ensemble that features powerful instrumental and vocal performances coupled with a highly eclectic and theatrical experience.
Vagabond Opera is currently listed in the Young Audiences of Oregon and Washington Community Arts Resources Roster, offering an assembly program for youth. In addition to concerts, they are also always happy to play private events including weddings, mitzvah's, theme parties, and corporate events.
more at: www.vagabondopera.com
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