THERION Discusses Upcoming Show With Symphonic Orchestra

Metalhead.ro recently conducted an interview with THERION about the Swedish band's upcoming concert with a full symphonic orchestra, choir and international opera stars, which will take place on December 9, 2006 at the Palace Hall in Bucharest, Romania. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Metalhead.ro: [This] month you will perform for the second time in our country, but it won't be a regular concert. This is your first concert alongside many artists from the classical scene. Seeing that this is a second collaboration with this type of artists since the recordings of "Lemuria" and "Sirius B", are you prepared for this event? Are you as thrilled and as excited as your fans are?

Therion: Actually we performed live with orchestra on a festival in 1999. But then it was just with a small string quartet. This is the first time we play with such a huge ensemble, though, and it is indeed the first time we will be performing classical pieces. It will be a fantastic event and even though other bands before us have played live with orchestra, I don't think anyone ever have done it with such a huge ensemble (170 people including choir) and neither did any rock band perform parts of operas like this either. There will also be an amazing scenery; we will not just stand on a stage with orchestra, it will be a lot of efforts and money spent on making the experience for the visitor a complete revelation.

Metalhead.ro: How did you come up with the idea of a show like this? When I first heard about it, I thought "Well it had to happen one day!"

Therion: We wanted to do something like this for many many years, but there was a lack of financial fundings as well as organizational means. When we played in Romania last time, there was an outstandingly good organization (best we ever had for a show actually),so when Aquarious Foundation introduced the idea to play with an orchestra in Romania, I felt that this could be the best possible opportunity to do it we'll ever get. Plus that it's a benefit where the profit goes to children with cancer; that makes everybody work much harder on it as well.

Metalhead.ro: Can you tell us anything about the playlist for the great event? I was very eager to asking this question and I'm sure all the fans are curious — are we going to hear any new songs?

Therion: We will of course do a bunch of classic THERION tracks from "Theli" up to "Lemuria" and "Sirius B". We will play many of the hit-songs people take for granted, but also songs we never played live before, like "Via Nocturna". Then there will be works from Wagner, Verdi, Mozart and Dvorak performed in "therionized" versions.

Read the entire interview at Metalhead.ro.