Report: 'Faust' Heavy Metal Opera Surpassed Expectations

March 13, 2005

AFP has issued the following report via Yahoo! News:

Opera purists may call it a faustian bargain, but in the first on-stage merger of classical opera and heavy metal the tragic tale of Faust and his existential struggle between good and evil has found an apt musical expression in this small western Norwegian town.

"When it comes to the theme, Faust is perfect for heavy metal and vice versa," Kristiansund opera chief Jan Karstensen told AFP, pointing out that both the old tale of a man who sells his soul to the devil and heavy metal music address the eternal struggle between good and evil.

The approximately 300 people in the audience, including a large number of young people, appeared to agree, clapping and stomping wildly as the last, screeching guitar note caressed the bodies of Faust and his beloved Margerethe strewn across the black stage.

"This surpassed all my expectations," said Stian Kristiansen, 27, whose long hair and thick, black eyeliner gave him away as a metal fan.

"I've never been to the opera before, but this made me want to go again. I was actually moved a few times," he told AFP.

"It was dead cool," Torun Werswick, 65, agreed. "I just thought it was fabulous!"

The "Faust - Metal Opera" (photo),which premiered in this small coastal town of just 17,000 inhabitants on Friday, mixes music from Charles Francois Gounod's classic 1859 opera — based on German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's tragedy which again was inspired by an age-old myth — with heavy metal composed by a local band called PICA FIERCE.

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