Concert review: Amici Forever

Stephanie · Joined: Jan 14, 2006 Posts: 66

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3568074a14297,00.html

Concert review: Amici Forever
10 February 2006
By SIMON SWEETMAN

New Zealand's fascination with pop-opera group Amici Forever must lie in the fact that the group's leader, Geoff Sewell, is an expat Kiwi.

He and fellow tenor David Habbin have good voices, but are not great singers. Sopranos Jo Appleby and Tsakane Valentine are good singers but do not have great voices.

The plan behind Amici Forever is the blend of the voices and the very idea of being, as their debut album claimed, The Opera Band.

Sewell has plenty of charm and knows how to play the crowd; that certainly counts for something in popular entertainment. He and Habbin play cads for much of the evening, changing between black and white suits while Valentine and Appleby vamp it up in thigh-high dresses.

Amici Forever has had plenty of success, as Sewell jokes early on, "thank you for making us wealthy" (at least, I think he was joking).

One audience member, who had paid his money and therefore was convinced he had the right to call out whenever something didn't suit, yelled out for them to "turn the sound down". How rude. I bet none of the members of Amici Forever will turn up at his work and tell him how to correctly use his mop and bucket. The band members handled it well though, Sewell asking the crowd if it was too loud. A resounding "no" drowned the unofficial Noise Control member out and on with the show.

Amici Forever is best at presenting the songs that have more to do with opera than pop. The Prayer (originally performed by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli) was a moving group performance. Valentine and Appleby both performed stunning renditions of Puccini arias, whereas Haddin's South Pacific adventure bumbled along and Sewell's interpretation of My Way saw him leaning more toward being an Elvis impersonator than channelling Sinatra.

When the two males offered a shambolic version of That's Amore it was clear to see that these singers are better on record than in a live performance.

The blur of voices against live strings and pre-recorded synth arrangements and drum loops often caused a clatter and in some cases (Prayer In The Night) it bordered on cacophony.

But the majority of the crowd loved every minute of Amici's carefully crafted stage presentation. The pop moments drew me closer and closer to a cringe; So Far Away was mawkish and overly sentimental in its patriotic claim. And when the group mangled Frankie Goes To Hollywood's The Power Of Love I thought back to my family's 1985 trip to see the figure-skating bears at the Moscow Ice Circus.

The encore of Nessun Dorma lacked any real emotion too much of Amici Forever's craft is based on the surface sheen but it is futile to argue with a standing ovation.

Like Jerry Bruckheimer's action movies and Dan Brown's novels, Amici Forever's music serves its purpose and they are not to be criticised for offering a product.

xcept · Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 3:12 pm Post subject:

the review is a bit acidic in places but gives info on the changes within the group since they started - ideal if you are new to Amici forever for a quick catch up Very Happy

Amici Forever
By Michael Dwyer
February 16, 2006
SOURCE:SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
Including the word Forever in the name of a pop band is the height of optimism. But Amici Forever aren't quite a pop band. Nor are they quite an opera company. Then again, they aren't exactly the amici they were six months ago.

With little explanation, the smouldering visage of bass baritone Nick Garrett was quietly erased from the group's photographs in August. There he is, one of five handsome faces on the cover of the group's latest album, Defined, and there he isn't, in the same shot that wallpapers their web site.

"He was a loss," English tenor David Habbin says with a notable lack of regret. "I mean, his is a really fine baritone voice, so we miss that on stage, but it's just another chapter, really, in the life of Amici.

"Moving on from that, we find that the number four works better for us. When you see five faces on an album cover it looks like a small crowd, whereas four looks like you can get to know those faces very easily."

Ah, the sweet sound of the classics tempered with the marketing pragmatism of pop. Following the Three Tenors' chart ambush of the 1990s, it's become one of the more successful musical hybrids of recent years.

The platinum ilk of Amici, Il Divo, Bond, Charlotte Church and Andrea Bocelli even have their own Billboard chart in America. They're filed under "Classical Crossover" to distinguish them from proper classical artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and, er, Bocelli.

The artists who reside in this more distinguished, less lucrative chart are allowed to cross over and back as often as they like. Amici Forever are among those stigmatised without reprieve, but Habbin, for one, has no qualms about the insult. "I suppose there's always been that problem with classification," he says. "I think we'd be happiest in the mainstream (pop) chart, to be honest, but the fact that there is a crossover chart doesn't dismay me at alI. I just think it brings what we do to people's attention."

Friends or otherwise, what Amici do is inherently divisive. Defined features works by Beethoven, Puccini, Rachmaninov and some lyricist guy, sexed-up and watered-down for a huge audience that the Royal Opera couldn't find with a full-page newspaper ad.

This piece from Britain's Opera Talent website indicates the depth of loathing from the traditional side of the pop opera fence: "The newest, tackiest group on the block (is) Amici Forever," it sneered in 2004, "who look great, but who have no idea of ensemble singing and degrade themselves with shamefully bad arrangements."

Asked if he feels disrespected by the classical music establishment, Habbin is surprisingly forgiving. "Not disrespected, perhaps overlooked," he says. "The classical fraternity will always stick out for classical music in its untouched and purest form, and I think that's quite right. I think it's their job to criticise any tinkering.

"The important thing is that we, as a band, respect the music in its original form, but I think we're also showing a healthy disrespect by saying, 'Hey, there is another way of looking at this'. It doesn't have to be enjoyed just in the opera houses. At the end of the day, these are great tunes."

Habbin says opera singers such as Mario Lanza and Izio Pinza have been cropping up in the pop market for half a century, rarely with the blessing of traditionalists, but with benefits to the longevity of the repertoire.

"Here in London at least, the opera companies are trying to reach out to the mass public with their marketing," he says, "so I think they realise their future depends on it having a much wider appeal."

Habbin was a relative latecomer to the classical world. He spent eight years of his youth touring Europe in a van with the Flaming Softies, a rock band influenced by David Bowie, the Rolling Stones and T-Rex. "We got a sniff of a record deal a couple of times, but no cigar," he says.

Enrolled at theatre school in Bournemouth, he gravitated towards opera, a talent he consolidated at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. A few years later he founded Amici Forever with tenor Geoff Sewell, a former boy soprano from New Zealand.

Compared with Garrett's unceremonious departure, there was a much warmer and sadder tone to last month's announcement that Sewell will also leave the group, to care for his two-year-old daughter recently diagnosed with autism, after Amici's current tour of Australia.

His replacement, Brazilian-Italian baritone Bruno Santino, will join Habbin and sopranos Jo Appleby and Tsakane Valentine for a symbolic hand-over during the tour finale at a Western Australian winery on February 26.

"We saw a lot of talented people," Habbin said in his official statement on the subject, "but when Bruno came in it was obvious that this was a voice with a beautiful warm quality, and his easy-going character made us feel that he would fit in with the group's dynamic straight away."

Early photographs indicate Santino isn't altogether unattractive either, a happy coincidence that underscores the curious limbo in which Amici Forever exist. The classical world is mostly about music. The pop world is mostly about personalities. What turns out to be more important to their audience may be the litmus test for Amici.

"We have this crazy bunch of ladies who frequent our website forum, and they call themselves the Amiratori, which is Italian for admirers," Habbin says with a chuckle. "They promise all these crazy things on the website, but when we call out to them on stage they get very shy all of sudden.

"As their numbers grow they get more confident, so who knows? The Australian tour may be the first one where we get knickers thrown on stage."

That never would have happened to Mozart, surely.

novice · Joined: Feb 12, 2006 Posts: 554

"As their numbers grow they get more confident, so who knows? The Australian tour may be the first one where we get knickers thrown on stage."

So that is what he is going for...what would he like to see the Ladies receive on stage?? Boxer shorts... hmmm wonder if Jo and Tsak would find that funny.

Actually a pretty good article - gives a bit more insight on where Amici wants to be.
As for the 'acidic' parts - well reporters will be reporters, it's their job to find the
pieces that will get the blood flowing...

And I am sure Mozart received a wig or two in his time Smile

little_queen_b · Joined: Jan 28, 2006 Posts: 17

xcept · Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 1:04 pm Post subject:

brilliant, sounds like they had fun Laughing

p · Joined: Mar 04, 2006 Posts: 5

Yes, they do have fun on stage. Laughing

It's so obvious they enjoy singing as a team and enjoy each other's company, both on stage and off. If you watch closely you can see them commenting to each other on stage and during the meet and greets. There is a wonderful sense of camaraderie as they are friends foremost and are in tune with each other's singing and style. Laughing

Oh, and BTW I wasn't the one to throw the knickers on stage - but I know who did! Wink

novice · Joined: Feb 12, 2006 Posts: 554

Finally got to go read about the 'Knicker toss', quite hilarious read. Not sure if I would have ever done that but really funny indeed.

xcept · Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:10 pm Post subject:

p · Joined: Mar 04, 2006 Posts: 5

Yes, you have come across this particular person but I can't say - it's up to them to reveal themselves, if they will. Twisted Evil

xcept · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 8:51 am Post subject:

I live in hope! COME ON hands up, who is the 'phantom knicker thrower' Laughing

Night0wl · Joined: Feb 20, 2006 Posts: 12

'Twas me!!

On behalf of the Melbourne Ammis... and absent Ammis.... because you had a dead set sure chance of getting them on stage from the front row.

I have to say that the story kept getting repeated at the subsequent concerts and became more elaborate as time went on!! Laughing

xcept · Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:46 pm Post subject:

yay Nightowl !!!- well done! - you're a page in Amici Forever history Wink

p · Joined: Mar 04, 2006 Posts: 5

A pity there wasn't time enough to embroider all our names on the back of them! Very Happy

xcept · Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 11:51 pm Post subject:

little_queen_b · Joined: Jan 28, 2006 Posts: 17

well she did throw up 4 pairs!! Shocked