Stewart Copeland is no longer drumming with Sting but instead coining operas. Having premiered a revamped version of The Cask of Amontillado at Dixon Place in New York, the drummer-cum-composer will now bring Off the Score, a collaborative effort with pianist Jon Kimura Parker, to Pace University's Schimmel Center on April 8.
While he may have been the percussive genius behind The Police, Mr. Copeland has also delved into other forms, including a list of operas penned by the mastermind himself. Last week, he premiered new orchestrations from The Cask of Amontillado at Dixon Place in Manhattan, a little alcove located on Chrystie Street.
Mr. Copeland said in an interview:
"After we did [The Cask of Amontillado]... [David Bamberger] wrote this tiny little piece as an antidote to that behemoth. I scored it up in a heartbeat, and it played at the Barbados Arts Festival [in 1994]. I forgot about it, for a couple decades, until the American Modern Ensemble decided to pick it up and have a go at it. When I looked at the score, I thought, 'My gosh. Let's see if we can jazz that up a little bit,' because they've got a lot more players for this than I had available then."
The piece is, of course, based on Edgar Allan Poe's massive story of the same name and is merely one of two operas written by Copeland that were influenced by the Baltimore writer.
But his next venture in Off the Score is a different kind of effort, one in collaboration with the forward-thinking piano player Jon Kimura Parker. Coupled with improvisational instincts central to the rock and jazz musicians, the pair are joined by Yoon Kwon on violin, Marlon Martinez on double bass and Judd Miller on the electric valve instrument.
With arrangements of works by Stravinsky all the way to Aphex Twin, the Schimmel Center will be a venue apropos of its unique sonic quality.
Reserve your tickets here and be sure to preview what's in store below.
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