IN CONCERT
What: The Best of Queen, featuring the Victoria Symphony with Giuseppe Pietraroia (conductor) and Jeans ’n Classics (performers)
Where: Royal Theatre
When: Friday and Saturday (March 5 and 6), 8 p.m.; Sunday (March 7), 2 p.m.
Tickets: $33-$83 at the Royal McPherson box office, by phone at 250-386-6121 or online from rmts.bc.ca
The music of Queen was more intricate than that of the majority of its rock-band peers, so ideally, performers taking part in a symphonic tribute to the legendary British group would have had several practices before taking the stage.
Alas, advance preparation is not in the cards for maestro Giuseppe Pietraroia, who is conducting the Victoria Symphony for a trio of Queen tribute concerts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
“We will only have one rehearsal, believe it or not,” Pietraroia said with a laugh. “It’s a little scary.”
Pietraroia and the Victoria Symphony will be joined at the Royal Theatre for The Best of Queen by the University of Victoria’s Vocal Jazz Ensemble and London, Ont., group Jeans ’n Classics, who specialize in bringing symphonic rock tributes to life, from the Beatles to the Eagles.
Pietraroia said he will meet the Ontario group for the first time after its arrival in Victoria on Friday afternoon, just hours before the first of three performances.
The Jeans ’n Classics band, which varies in size depending on the event, knows how to get by on short notice, having done similar concerts for more than a decade. For the Queen performances, the group tours with at least two or three singers and a guitarist, pianist, bassist and drummer.
With the addition of the full symphony orchestra and UVic’s vocal jazz ensemble — which should result in quite the roar on the famously operatic Bohemian Rhapsody — Pietraroia has no doubts about what the team will pull together.
“With the choir there, people who are Queen fans who have never been to the symphony will have a great experience. I think it will be something different for them. It will give even more depth to the sound.”
The idea to produce The Best of Queen came from Sean O’Loughlin, the Victoria Symphony’s new principal pops conductor. Remarkably, he booked the show well before Bohemian Rhapsody, the Academy Award-winning movie about the life of Queen singer Freddie Mercury, hit theatres in October.
Bohemian Rhapsody has gone on to gross nearly $900 million US at theatres worldwide, effectively putting the music of Queen back on the radar of rock fans everywhere.
Pietraroia, who was born and raised in Montreal, wasn’t a Queen diehard growing up, but has come to respect the group’s abilities. Mercury, who had a four-octave vocal range, was especially impressive, he noted. “Freddie Mercury was an incredible vocalist. As someone who works a lot with opera singers, if he had trained that way, he could have had a great operatic career. Incredible performer and incredible singer.”
The late singer’s classical capabilities make for an easy transfer from rock to symphonic music, Pietraroia added.
“It lends itself to this kind of collaboration. With Queen’s music being so harmonically rich, it lends itself so well to the symphony.”
The Victoria Symphony has participated in similar events in the past. Former astronaut Chris Hadfield joined the orchestra in 2017 for a night of space-themed music, including some of his originals. The event was incredibly well-received.
“There were a lot of people who came because they knew Chris Hadfield, and wanted to see him, but had never been to the symphony before,” said Pietraroia, who conducted the concert.
“We played a few pieces beforehand on our own — such as the opening for 2001: A Space Odyssey — and people freaked out. They couldn’t believe the sound they were hearing, a live orchestra playing in a hall. It opens them up to something different.”
