A Night At The Opera

Vagabond Opera
Genre: Indie / Jazz / Experimental
From: Portland, Oregon, United States

Opera is alive. Vagabond Opera (the critically-acclaimed sextet from Portland Oregon), pumps life into opera with the bellows of an untamed Romanian accordion, re-invents it, and accomplishes the near-impossible. The ensemble prompts Music Halls, Performing Arts Centers, taverns even, to resound with the ovations of the vox populi, clamoring, once again, for opera’s new wave.

The curtain parts: steampunked Absinthe-era vestments, thirteen languages, an operatic encounter that puts its green-backed silver dollar where its mouth is—square in the center of a ringing high C that beckons the zeitgeist in a juicy song. The words go like this: Opera’s no longer stuffy and elite; it’s for you and it brims and burns with new life, a gypsy bouillabaisse brewed of Balkan, Jazz, bohemian cabaret, Arabic maquam, vital and reinvigorating, marking uncharted territory. It’s a new world opera, a global one. The curtain closes. Encores. Room keys thrown on to the stage. Opera reinvented.

The band's lineup features trained operatic tenor and soprano vocals, accordion, tenor saxophone, cello, violin, musical saw, banjo-lele, stand-up bass and drums.

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 and in Europe. They have been featured on NPR, in the Washington Post and Jazziz Magazine, and have shared stages and players with Pink Martini, Devotchka, The Decemberists, and the Oregon Symphony.

If you've been searching for a band that sounds like it's swallowed a Gogol Bordello, Beirut, Topol, and Dresden Dolls cocktail then your luck is in because here come Vagabond Opera. Their album is prophetically titled 'The Zeitgeit Beckons' and who am I to argue.

Go Try

MP3 - Vagabond Opera - New Year's Eve In A Haunted House
If anyone from the IFPI is reading this tracks is published with the permission of the Musebox so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

Go Visit

Vagabond Opera - Myspace // Website

Go View

Vagabond Opera
Marlene Dietrich