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RocOpraNatra blends voices, genres

RocOpraNatra is prepping for a U.S. tour that ends next year in Las Vegas and may include some shows in China after the first of the year.

It all starts with a performance Tuesday at Packard Music Hall as part of the Warren Civic Music Association’s 2023-24 season.

“The appeal seems to have broadened beyond what we expected it might have been,” said Brian Roman, one of the group’s three vocalists.

Creating an act with broad appeal was the whole concept behind the group. The name is a combination of Rock, Opera and Sinatra.

Roman is a crooner who specializes in the music of acts like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Christopher Dallo is a classically trained singer who can handle an aria as well as pop music. Danny Scott has a rock background and was part of the Canadian band 3MDM, which was signed to A&M Records in the ’90s.

“The idea was to bring together multiple genres and styles of music in order to appeal to a broader audience, in some cases a younger audience, without alienating the already strong base of existing theatergoers (for series like Warren Civic Music),” Roman said.

The fusion creates a repertoire that ranges from the Great American Songbook to the Miley Cyrus hit “Wrecking Ball.”

“As long as we run the songs through the RocOpraNatra filter, a filter where you have these three completely different sounds and styles of singing and music coming together to sing a song, and we have to do it in a way that we feel our styles are adding value to that piece,” Roman said. “So far, so good.”

Scott, who also was on the call, added, “As we’ve gone along, as it speaks to song selection, we’ve come to understand better what makes us special. The show is designed to be inclusive, and it’s inclusive on all fronts — genre, generation, gender and even geography. We haven’t hit a ceiling for who can love this show.”

One surprising aspect is the songs have had cross-generational appeal. Younger concertgoers tell the singers how much they enjoy the standards, some of which they may be hearing for the first time. Roman said older listeners have asked him, “I like that song about a wrecking ball. Where did that come from?”

Roman created a spreadsheet where he adds all of the different songs people suggest for the group to sing along with their own ideas.

“It’s quite a process to pick a song,” Roman said. “We could go through 50 songs and not find one that we say, ‘Yeah, that sort of checks all the boxes of what we’re able to bring to the song and fits in with what we’re trying to bring to an audience.'”

Since the group’s first Warren appearance in 2016, RocOpraNatra has added more songs that feature all three vocalists and some of the solo choices have changed, but some of the songs the group started with remain staples of its set.

Each of the singers also were solo artists when RocOpraNatra started, but the group has become each member’s priority.

“Our solo careers are on hold,” Scott said.

Roman added, “100 percent of our focus now is on RocOpraNatra. It’s just so exciting. Not only are we getting great response from the audience but significant players in the industry are looking at it and going, ‘Wow, the concept is really strong, the show is really strong, it could have much broader market appeal and we want to look at it.’ When you’re getting that kind of response and that sort of excitement behind an idea, it’s pretty easy to go ‘OK, that’s where I’m going to put all of my focus,’ because it seems to be working.”

If you go …

WHAT: Warren Civic Music Association — RocOpraNatra

WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday

WHERE: Packard Music Hall, 1703 Mahoning Ave NW, Warren

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $40 and are available at the Packard box office and through Ticketmaster.

Starting at $3.23/week.

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