The East Village Opera Company is a rock group co-founded by vocalist Tyley Ross and arranger/multi-instrumentalist Peter Kiesewalter, both Canadians. Vocalist AnnMarie Milazzo was then recruited to provide female vocals. EVOC includes eight other members: two guitarists, a bassist, a percussionist, and a string quartet. EVOC could be described as a cover band whose niche is traditional operatic pieces that are then arranged to reflect more modern musical stylings. EVOC has been on hiatus since 2010 as Kiesewalter started work on a new project he calls Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkestrata to cover songs from The Sound of Music with the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization.
Discography
''La Donna''
In 2004, EVOC released their first album, La Donna, under the Canal Records label. On this album, Ross and Kiesewalter fuse classic Italian arias and Neapolitan folk songs with "unabashed 70's arena rock, sultry bossa nova, four-on-the-floor disco, and celtic and bluegrass-tinged ambience." It was arranged and produced by Peter Kiesewalter, vocal arrangements by Tyley Ross, mixed by Wayne Bartlett at Bartmart Audio, Ottawa, and mastered by Steve Fallone at Sterling Sound, New York. Behind the duo are over twenty musicians, including guitarist Vernon Reid, banjo master Tony Trishka, Blue Man Group music director Byron Estep, and a string ensemble from the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada. La Donna found its launching point as the soundtrack for Derek Diorio's 2001 film, The Kiss of Debt. The comedic film stars Ernest Borgnine as the godfather and self-proclaimed opera aficionado, and Tyley Ross, as Tino Moriano, the talented young tenor aspiring to sing with The Continental Opera Company. Ross performs "Panis angelicus" and "Ave Maria", from La Donna, and the rest of the tracks are background music to the fanciful storyline. The CD contains the following tracks:
EVOC's second, self-titled album was released September 27, 2005 on the Decca Records label. The album was produced and recorded by Neil Dorfsman, a Grammy Award winner who has worked with notable artists such as Sting and Paul McCartney, and group acts like Dire Straits. Symphonic portions were performed by the Czech Philharmonic. The CD contains the following tracks:
EVOC's latest release, Olde School, debuted in August 2008. Produced, arranged and orchestrated by Peter Kiesewalter and mixed by Neil Dorfsman at Saint Claire Studios near Lexington, Kentucky, Olde School received a 2009 Grammy nomination for Best Classical Crossover Album. The CD contains the following tracks:
"Rocking the Classics" – Gay City News, 29 September 2005
"Group takes riff on opera" – The Washington Times'', 28 September 2005
Other information
EVOC made their debut performance in March 2004 at Joe's Pub in Manhattan
Even though Kiesewalter and Ross both grew up in Ottawa, Ontario, they knew each other only through friends, and had never before collaborated professionally until 2001, on the film The Kiss of Debt.
Kiesewalter is the musical arranger and a solo instrumentalist in NYC's The Downtown Messiah, in which AnnMarie Milazzo also has performed. Incidentally, this is where Kiesewalter and Milazzo met.
Kiesewalter is not an opera buff per se. Kiesewalter was noted as saying "I've never been an opera fan. Yet the more I listened to opera, the more the melodies cried out. These arias, in essence, are pop tunes that have stood the test of time."
Ross became a self-proclaimed fan of opera, during his three month immersion in the genre, in preparation for his work on The Kiss of Debt.
After seeing Tyley Ross' performance as the lead in Peter Townshend's Tommy, CTV National anchor Sandie Rinaldo loved the performance so much, she named her new dog "Tyley."
Overture from Le nozze di Figaro incorporates the keyboard solo from The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again", and "Che gelida manina" from La bohème styles its guitar after U2.
