As part of its Friday Night Eclectic Series, the Strathmore (5301 Tuckerman Lane) is hosting a popular D.C. band and a mini-opera performance based on Craigslist ads.
Heavy Breathing will bring its electronic rock act to North Bethesda on Friday, March 8, starting at 9 p.m. for its first performance outside the Beltway. Tickets are $10 online and $12 at the door:
Born out of former D.C. favorite The Apes, Heavy Breathing’s electric rock is full of irresistible beats and riffs. The band combines traditional instrumentation with electronic influences, notably with the help of a non-human member called The Rhythm Machine, a sequencing and sampling program that enables them to create vocal melodies and chants by splicing, rearranging, and pitch-shifting audio supplied by anonymous online a cappella vocalists.
On March 22, Arlington-based “contemporary opera” company UrbanArias will put on a 90-minute performance that features three mini-operas, including “Craigslistlieder”:
Craigslistlieder, with music by Gabriel Kahane and text from, well, Craigslist, catapulted the young composer to national prominence several years ago. This is an eight-song set, each of which is an actual, unadulterated ad from Craigslist. Subjects range from the “neurotic and lonely” man looking for a woman who “must have a video game system,” and the crazy woman with an ice cube fetish looking for a roommate, to an advertisement selling “assless chaps.” Kahane’s Mahlerian music is the perfect foil for the hilarious ads.
The group will also improvise two-minute operas based on plot suggestions from the audience.
For more information and for tickets, visit Strathmore’s website.
