Amici Forever
Encyclopedia
Amici Forever is a band of four classically trained singers who mix opera
with pop music
(operatic pop
). The band's first album, The Opera Band
(2004
), reached number one on the Australian classical charts, number two on the United States
(US) classical charts and the top 5 in the United Kingdom (UK) classical charts.
, a baritone
, and two soprano
singers. In 2002 tenor Geoff Sewell, originally from New Zealand
,alongside renowned classical crossover manager Nadia Raibin came up with the idea of an "opera band" mixing traditional opera with contemporary pop. One of the original five members, Nick Garrett
, a bass-baritone
, left the group in August 2005 to pursue a solo career, shortly after the release of Defined. Tenor
Geoff Sewell left the group in February 2006 after his daughter Sienna was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This was just after the highly successful tour of Australia and New Zealand. Amici Forever have celebrated two No 1 albums with The Opera Band and Defined in Geoff Sewell's homeland of New Zealand. He was replaced with Brazilian Italian baritone
Bruno Santino. On 20 September 2006 it was announced on the Amici Forever website that Jo Appleby
would be leaving the group to pursue a career as a solo artist. Lucy van Gasse was introduced as the newest member of Amici in February 2007.
Amici Forever signed with Arista Records
and started playing high profile gigs such as the FA Cup
, the UEFA Champions League
final in 2003 and the English rugby union
final. Nick Patrick, who had produced albums by the Gipsy Kings
, Tina Turner
and Marvin Gaye
produced the band's first album, The Opera Band
.
The Opera Band
was released on 13 January 2004 and soon reached number 74 in the Billboard 200
album charts and the top 50 of the ARIA
Australian album charts. The album has also reached number 2 on the Billboard Classical Crossover and Heatseeker charts. It became number one on the ARIA Australian classical album chart, as well as the top 5 on the UK classical charts. In addition it peaked at #39 in the UK Albums Chart
. The album was nominated for "Album of the Year" at the Classical Brit Awards
held at the Royal Albert Hall
on 26 May 2004 where they also performed.
UK Tour – May/June 2006
Field of Sound – Eastbourne, UK – June 2007
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
with pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
(operatic pop
Operatic pop
Operatic pop, pop opera or popera is a subgenre of pop music that is performed in an operatic style, or a song, theme or motif from classical music stylized as pop. The term popera and adjectives poperatic and popical are used by some media editors and music reviewers...
). The band's first album, The Opera Band
The Opera Band
-Making of the album:The members of Amici Forever met when rehearsing and performing at opera venues around the world. Tenor Geoff Sewell, originally from New Zealand, came up with the idea of an "opera band" mixing traditional opera with contemporary pop...
(2004
2004 in music
See also:* 2004 in music Record labels established in 2004-January:*January 1**The Vienna New Year's Concert is conducted by Riccardo Muti.**Kurt Nilsen wins World Idol....
), reached number one on the Australian classical charts, number two on the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(US) classical charts and the top 5 in the United Kingdom (UK) classical charts.
History
The members of Amici Forever met when rehearsing and performing at opera venues around the world. The band currently features a tenorTenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
, a baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
, and two soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
singers. In 2002 tenor Geoff Sewell, originally from New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
,alongside renowned classical crossover manager Nadia Raibin came up with the idea of an "opera band" mixing traditional opera with contemporary pop. One of the original five members, Nick Garrett
Nick Garrett (bass baritone)
Nick Garrett is an English bass-baritone. He was a member of the vocal ensemble, The Swingle Singers, and the original bass-baritone in the opera band Amici Forever.-Biography:Garrett was born in London and taught himself to play the piano at age seven...
, a bass-baritone
Bass-baritone
A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...
, left the group in August 2005 to pursue a solo career, shortly after the release of Defined. Tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
Geoff Sewell left the group in February 2006 after his daughter Sienna was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This was just after the highly successful tour of Australia and New Zealand. Amici Forever have celebrated two No 1 albums with The Opera Band and Defined in Geoff Sewell's homeland of New Zealand. He was replaced with Brazilian Italian baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
Bruno Santino. On 20 September 2006 it was announced on the Amici Forever website that Jo Appleby
Jo Appleby
Jo Appleby is an English soprano from Thornton, Lancashire. She is a former member of operatic pop group Amici Forever.-Life:...
would be leaving the group to pursue a career as a solo artist. Lucy van Gasse was introduced as the newest member of Amici in February 2007.
Amici Forever signed with Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
and started playing high profile gigs such as the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
, the UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
final in 2003 and the English rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
final. Nick Patrick, who had produced albums by the Gipsy Kings
Gipsy Kings
The Gipsy Kings are a group of musicians from Arles and Montpellier, who perform in Spanish with an Andalucían accent. Although group members were born in France, their parents were mostly gitanos, Spanish Romani people who fled Catalonia during the 1930s Spanish Civil War. Chico Bouchikhi is of...
, Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
and Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
produced the band's first album, The Opera Band
The Opera Band
-Making of the album:The members of Amici Forever met when rehearsing and performing at opera venues around the world. Tenor Geoff Sewell, originally from New Zealand, came up with the idea of an "opera band" mixing traditional opera with contemporary pop...
.
The Opera Band
The Opera Band
-Making of the album:The members of Amici Forever met when rehearsing and performing at opera venues around the world. Tenor Geoff Sewell, originally from New Zealand, came up with the idea of an "opera band" mixing traditional opera with contemporary pop...
was released on 13 January 2004 and soon reached number 74 in the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
album charts and the top 50 of the ARIA
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
Australian album charts. The album has also reached number 2 on the Billboard Classical Crossover and Heatseeker charts. It became number one on the ARIA Australian classical album chart, as well as the top 5 on the UK classical charts. In addition it peaked at #39 in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
. The album was nominated for "Album of the Year" at the Classical Brit Awards
Classical Brit Awards
The Classic BRIT Awards are an annual awards ceremony held in the United Kingdom covering aspects of classical music, and are the classical equivalent of pop music's BRIT Awards....
held at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
on 26 May 2004 where they also performed.
The Band
As of February 2007, the band consisted of:- Lucy van Gasse (EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) (soprano), born in NailseaNailseaNailsea is a town in the unitary authority of North Somerset within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, approximately to the southwest of Bristol and about to the northeast of the seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare. The nearest village is Backwell, which lies south of Nailsea on the...
, a little town just outside BristolBristolBristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. She has a Bachelor of MusicBachelor of MusicBachelor of Music is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree; the majority of work consists of prescribed music courses and study in applied music, usually requiring a...
from Cardiff UniversityCardiff UniversityCardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...
and a Master of MusicMaster of MusicThe Master of Music is the first graduate degree in Music awarded by universities and music conservatories. The M.Mus. combines advanced studies in an applied area of specialization with graduate-level academic study in subjects such as music history, music theory, or music pedagogy...
from Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. - Tsakane Valentine Maswanganyi (soprano), born in JohannesburgJohannesburgJohannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. She studied musicMusicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
at Pretoria UniversityPretoria UniversityUniversity of Pretoria Football Club, also known as Tuks FC, is a South African football club based in Hatfield, Pretoria that represents the University of Pretoria. The club plays in the National First Division.-History:...
and had operatic training at the University of Tshwane. She appeared in performances for Nelson MandelaNelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
and Thabo MbekiThabo MbekiThabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki is a South African politician who served two terms as the second post-apartheid President of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008. He is also the brother of Moeletsi Mbeki...
and starred as Maria (the lead role) in West Side Story for Spier Opera Company in Cape TownCape TownCape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
. - David HabbinDavid HabbinDavid Habbin is a tenor from Ringwood, Hampshire, England, who achieved international acclaim as a founding member of the world's first pop opera band, Amici Forever....
(tenor), born in FordingbridgeFordingbridgeFordingbridge is a town and civil parish with a population of 5,700 on the River Avon in the New Forest District of Hampshire, England, near to the Dorset and Wiltshire borders and on the edge of the New Forest. It is south west of London, and south of the city of Salisbury. Fordingbridge is a...
, HampshireHampshireHampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
. He spent several years writing and performing with Pop rockPop rockPop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
bands. He then began vocal training with international operatic tenorTenorThe tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
, Jon Andrew. He completed his studies of actingActingActing is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
and musical theatreMusical theatreMusical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
at Mountview Theatre School in North LondonNorth LondonNorth London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
. He was in performances of Les MisérablesLes Misérables (musical)Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
and West Side StoryWest Side StoryWest Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
on tour and in west LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
before finishing his operatic training at the Royal Northern College of MusicRoyal Northern College of MusicThe Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...
in ManchesterManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. David then performed with different UK operaOperaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
companies, one of which was the Glyndebourne Festival OperaGlyndebourne Festival OperaGlyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
for their Summer Festival and touring company. - Bruno Santino (baritone), born in Belo HorizonteBelo HorizonteBelo Horizonte is the capital of and largest city in the state of Minas Gerais, located in the southeastern region of Brazil. It is the third largest metropolitan area in the country...
, BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. Santino originally studyed chemical engineeringChemical engineeringChemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...
. After being invited to sing in six different choirs, he decided to start learning music instead and began at CEFAR Music School. Bruno won scholarships to the Guildhall School of Music and DramaGuildhall School of Music and DramaGuildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...
and completed a Masters degree in Music Performance there, as well as a Post Graduate Diploma in Vocal Training with distinction.
Tours
Australia/New Zealand Tour – February 2006UK Tour – May/June 2006
Field of Sound – Eastbourne, UK – June 2007
External links
- Amici Forever on Allmusic
- Oakes, Keily Oakes, "Olympic effort from Amici Forever", BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, 30 August 2004