Artist description Chris Opperman’s recording of original piano lieder, is a beautiful, personalized journey that stimulates the mind as well as the heart. Mr. Opperman has created a modern classical idiom that is both tangible, and intellectual at the same time. The lovely melodies that make up this album are not obtuse or pretentious. Instead, Mr. Opperman shows us that melody does not have to be a guilty pleasure. He has bridged a gap between jazz improvisation and modern classical music that is both palpable and arcane. The “six little piano pieces” could be tiny musical portraits dreamt out of an imaginary meeting between John Lewis, Joel Garten, and Shostakovich. “Melodious Monk” sounds like Satie playing homage to Monk. I’m looking forward to hearing what else Mr. Opperman has to say. He is an original and stimulating talent.

Music Style Neo-Classical, Experimental Rock, Prog-Rock/Art Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock

Musical Influences Mike Keneally Erik Satie Frank Zappa Charles Ives Igor Stravinsky Anton Webern Arnold Schoenberg Miles Davis John Lennon Carla Bley McCoy Tyner Steve Vai The Beatles Bj�rk Elton John Bob Marley Nirvana Queen Radiohead Weezer R.E.M.

Similar Artists Frank Zappa

Artist History Barely into his twenties, this Berklee College of Music-educated composer/performer has already entered what some might consider the third stage of his career. "Oppy" as he's known to some, debuted in the last moments of the 90s with sonically sophisticated and delightfully diverse Oppy Music Vol. 1: Purple, Crayon. Recorded during his Berklee days and produced by Mike Keneally, P,C serves as a sweeping and glorious introduction to an artist capable of making you laugh, think, cry, feel. If you only tracked through "Ain't Got No Beef," "Send Your Money," "Sharel's Lullabye," and "The Day Big Bird Turned Blue," you'd begin to understand the fierce talent Opperman possess. But you'd also miss numerous other sides of him, the most seductive subtleties of his compositions, the way they shift, turn, or stop on a dime with inordinate precision. Besides that, you'd only begin to grasp the measure of his artistic depths. (And you'd also learn something about the goings-on of someone named Snot Woman.) After completing his studies in Boston, Opperman moved to California where he joined Mike Keneally and Beer For Dolphins for the 2000 release Dancing, laid down some of the meanest trumpet parts in recent history, then disappeared from the band's roster. (He continues to collaborate with Keneally on a fairly regular basis, participating in parts of the San Diego-based guitarist's Circus Of Values shows and serving as copyist for the recent MK/BFD Nonkertompf Live concerts in the Netherlands.) But, to date, perhaps the most fruitful of their post-Dancing collaborations is Opperman's impeccable second recording, Klavierstucke. A solo piano recording Klavierstucke defies and transcends the genre. In less than one hour Opperman takes listeners from the dark beauty of the opening "The Jeans of R. Mattoon" to the outright joy of "T. Williams," "Huggenkiss" and ". . . as if it were made of glass," and then through several music portraits including "Injun Joe!," "The Dance of The B. Pastries" and "An Anton Webern Moment." Then there's the "Six Little Piano Pieces" section of the album where the pieces prove as realized and intense as their full-length counterparts. (Current favorites include "The 11th Evening," "Hypocrisy," and "Leave.") Like two of his musical mentors, Mike Keneally and Frank Zappa, Opperman seems intent on defying classification and producing music that best represents him as an artist at the time. He shares other things with these two artists as well: direct and precise insight, humor, and the ability to find analogies between music and everyday things.

Instruments Piano, Trumpet, Keyboards

Albums Oppy Music, Vol. I: Purple, Crayon. (1998) - Klavierstucke (2001)

Press Reviews On his sophomore release Klavierst�cke, Chris Opperman delivers an equally stunning and inviting collection of solo piano recordings that run from gentle introspection to unfettered virtuosity and all points between - 18 new compositions that simultaneously challenge, disarm, and embrace the listener while shattering any preconceptions of how a piano record should sound or feel. xxxxxxxxxx "These days it's rare to hear a person squeeze the most out of the performance potential of a non-electronic instrument. On this record, Chris explores harmony, melody and virtuosity on the piano with a lofty and magnificent insight." -- Steve Vai xxxxxxxxxx From The All-Music Guide: "Klavierst�cke is an album of solo piano pieces by Chris Opperman, and much of the talent he showed signs of on Oppy Music, Vol. 1 is on full display here. The pieces are beautiful and sensitive, and the playing is strong and assured. Opperman really seems to have found his own style, which is truly a synthesis of his main influences (Satie, Stravinsky, Webern, Zappa) rather than emulation. The pieces occupy a music space somewhere between jazz and classical, like Frank Zappa meets Erik Satie, or Bill Evans crossed with Anton Webern. Most pieces are completely composed; some were written as early as high school. Others are improvised (some overdubbed, � la Conversations With Myself), but the line between improvised and composed never sounds that cut and dry (you'd be hard-pressed to determine that "Injun Joe" was improvised). Overall, a sense of calm and beauty pervades this album, even when the playing gets a little more intense. Despite the fact that some of these pieces were written at the same time as some of the material on his first album (and some from even before then), the difference between the albums couldn't be more striking. In many respects, Klavierst�cke is light years away from Oppy Music, Vol. 1, yet they are clearly from the same mind. This is the mature work of a very talented young composer. Highly recommended." - Sean Westergaard (4/12 stars out of 5) xxxxxxxxxx Outsight in Australia says: Sophisticated rock guitarist Mike Keneally, producer of this album, characterized Opperman as "one of the most uncompromising composers currently working." Indeed, the solo piano pieces on this sophomore release from the 22-year-old suggest a virtuosity and creative brilliance beyond his years. These are compositions of both gentle, scintillating beauty and personal, cinematic episodes of atmospheric elegance. (5/5)

Additional Info Chris Opperman is a present-day composer who refuses to die.

Location Los Angeles, CA - USA

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