Italian Opera meets Jazz

Metropole Orkest will launch its new album with Mike del Ferro and Claron McFadden with a ‘zondagochtendconcert’ on May 8th in Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

Italian Opera meets Jazz: the belcanto repertoire – Neapolitan songs and arias, with the accent on Italian composers such as Verdi and Puccini – in a contemporary setting. Performed live on by Mike del Ferro together with Metropole Orkest (conducted by Jules Buckley) and soprano Claron McFadden. The album, released on Challenge Records, will be available on May 6th.

For Mike del Ferro, opera and classical music have been familiar fare since his infancy. He began having classical piano lessons early, until he heard jazz and decided to turn his sights on that. But he has never lost his immense love for opera and classical music. Some time ago he hit upon the idea of arranging opera repertoire for his own trio. Talks with Metropole Orkest led to the the recording of this album. The orchestra asked eight international arrangers to cast them in an entirely new mould.