Mixing your genres is not always a good idea - sometimes you might find the perfect hybrid of styles, but more often than not you end up with a grotesque fusion of half-bred ideas. Opera and club culture may seem mutually exclusive pursuits, buy that hasn't stopped Opera Machine from attempting to marry the two in a one-off extravaganza at the Red Box tomorrow night.
Directed by Peter Kaegi and produced in association with Opera Ireland, L'Altro Mondo (Another World) features three DJs, six opera singers and eight dancers, all working together to create an exciting and eclectic mix of opera and contemporary dance/club music.
To make things more accessible, the singers will choose "pop" opera standards from TV ads and movies such as Titanic, while DJs Francois, David Hughes and Paul O'Donaghue will toss some tried and trusted dance beats into the mix.
It's not such a novel idea: Malcolm McLaren did it successfully in the 1980s with dancefloor readings of Carmen and Madame Butterfly, so don't poo-poo the idea just yet - you might just be swept off your feet by a heady mix of beats and arias.
