New Orleans Opera, like many companies, always tries to schedule its shows on Friday and Sunday, to give the singers a chance to rest on Saturday so that they don’t have to sing their incredibly demanding roles two days in a row.  So, what does an internationally recognized opera singer do on his one day off?

In the case of Mr.  Evgeny Nikitin, the answer is, “more music!”  No… not opera, but instead a change of pace.  We’ve mentioned before that Mr. Nikitin is a passionate drummer as well as a skilled singer.  This past Saturday he treated a couple of our chorus members to a first-hand experience of this as they spent a few hours relaxing, making music, and taking their minds off of Wagner for a little while.

Maxwell Eaton, Evgeny Nikitin, Mike Rihner, and David Bode enjoy a laid-back afternoon with music of a different sort.

Apparently, Friday night chorus members Mike Rihner and David Bode had been talking to Evgeny Nikitin about his interest in rock music. Evgeny mentioned how he was a drummer and the chorus members suggested that they should get together on Saturday and have a jam session. Mike Rihner called NOCCA, where he is a full-time music instructor, and set up a rehearsal room for Saturday evening. The quartet met there and played through a variety of tunes including blues, New Orleans funky grooves, hard rock, swing jazz, and even a selection by Pink Floyd. Evgeny was smiling throughout the hour-long jam session, and lots of laughs and good fun was had by all.

Although playing a proper Second Line is difficult, Evgeny is such a fine musician that he picked it up pretty well after Mike showed him the basics, so they played “Do What You Wanna” by the Rebirth Brass Band.  They closed out the afternoon by playing a jazz standard, “All of Me” and then listened to Evgeny’s rock album in Mike’s office.  It’s pretty complex rock and besides singing and writing the music, Evgeny also plays drums, bass, keyboards, and a little guitar on his album.  It was very different from the loose and easy style of New Orleans music they had just been playing and the guys said it was very interesting to see and hear all the different styles of music Evgeny can perform, ranging from Opera Masterpieces to funk jams to through composed rock music.  He is truly an incredible musician.  It was a lot of fun and hopefully they’ll do it again when Evgeny comes back to sing with New Orleans Opera sometime in the future.

Mike and David sing Baritone and Tenor in the chorus, but they’re both accomplished instrumental musicians as well!  Their friend Maxwell Eaton is a local singer and guitarist who decided to join in the fun.

It is a special treat for a musician to meet someone whose eclectic interests intersect with his own.  Thanks a million to David and Mike for taking the time to share their experiences with me for the blog!  From everything I’ve heard, it seems like these guys had a great day.  I’m only upset I didn’t know about it sooner– I would have loved to have crashed the party!

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