The Opera Boys are set to commence their 2018 UK tour with two dates in Wales this February.
Making opera accessible to the masses, The Opera Boys combine their exceptional classically trained voices with their experience, showmanship and personality to deliver a wonderfully entertaining show.
Andy Howells recently put questions to Rob Cherry of the group about their forthcoming tour.
How did you discover your passion for Opera?
All of us started singing at quite a young age in local choirs, church choirs and things like that so I think it all stemmed from there really. We do have a passion for opera and classical music, but really, we are great music lovers in general and enjoy listening to and performing a wide variety of musical genres.
How did The Opera Boys come about?
Two of us met working on a show together quite a few years ago… the story we tell is that we hated each other from the outset, and that has never really changed! But the truth is, we had a similar love for this kind of music, and a very similar sense of humour and I think that’s really what started The Opera Boys, this idea that we can perform this music that we love, but make a show that is funny and light-hearted and entertaining.
There’s a bit of a preconception when you use the word ‘Opera’ that it is a but stuffy, maybe a bit boring, and the whole idea for us was to get as far away from that as we could and to make it entertaining and accessible.
The Opera Boys will commence their 2018 tour with two dates in Wales
You’re starting your forthcoming tour in Wales, do you love visiting the land of song and are you looking forward to the tour?
Yes, yes and yes! Wales is brilliant… Two of us studied at The Royal Welsh college of music & drama (which makes us honorary Welshmen!) and it’s great to come to the land of song! The Welsh know good singers and so it’s really a pleasure to perform in Wales and get the Welsh appraisal after the show. The Welsh also have a great sense of humour, which makes it more enjoyable to perform for them!
What can fans expect from the forthcoming shows?
The show is full of great, well known music from hugely popular operatic arias like ‘Nessun Dorma’, ‘Brindisi’, ‘La Donna e Mobile’, ‘Toreador’ etc to well know classical hits like ‘Time to say goodbye’ and a few West End numbers from Les Mis, Phantom and even Jersey Boys.
There’s a broad cross section of music in there which really includes something for everyone. But as well as that, the show is very entertaining. It’s light-hearted and good fun with some very funny bits and some audience participation. It’s good old-fashioned entertainment with some opera thrown in!
The Opera Boys will perform their show in both Rhyl and Carmarthen
What’s been your favourite highlight since The Opera Boys came together?
It sounds a bit cheesy, but the ongoing highlight is to be continually working doing what we love. We are very busy with the UK tour and in between we get to fly round the world performing internationally so we really do count ourselves lucky!
Also, we performed on the inaugural voyage of the UK’s largest cruise ship, Britannia, launched by Her Majesty The Queen… That was nice too!
What are you working on now are there any new recordings coming out?
We are constantly working on the show and new idea for songs and we have also just recorded a new album which will be available at the shows.
If you could perform any operatic piece with anyone outside of The Opera Boys who would it be, what would it be and why?
I think if there was one man we could perform with it would be Pavarotti. Sadly, we’ll never get that chance now, but he is really the man responsible for re-popularising opera and classical music.
- The Opera Boys 2018 UK Tour gets underway with two dates in Wales. Rhyl’s Pavilion Theatre on February 1 and Carmarthen’s Lyric Theatre on February 2. For full tour details visit operaboys.com