By RICK de YAMPERTENTERTAINMENT WRITER
Freddie Mercury would be proud.
The late singer of the rock band Queen had a fetish for opera, as evidenced in that band's most famous song, "Bohemian Rhapsody."
The Ten Tenors, that singing group composed of -- yep-- 10 lads who studied opera at Australia's Queensland Conservatorium of Music, have a fetish for rock and pop.
When opera and the classical repertoire became a bit constraining after the Ten Tenors formed in their native land in 1995, they decided to have some fun. And so Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Bicycle Race," Abba's "Dancing Queen," a song by the Australian group Men at Work, a Bee Gees medley and the theme to the TV western series "Rawhide" became part of the Ten Tenors' musical palette.
Both the pop and opera sides of the Ten Tenors will be on display when the group performs Nov. 4 at Flagler Auditorium.
After forming in 1995, the Ten Tenors began touring their native Australia in 1998. But the group didn't get their international break until 2002, when they performed at the German final of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Since then, they have toured extensively throughout Europe, Asia and the United States, and they became one of the most successful Australian touring acts of all time. The Ten Tenors perform more than 250 concerts annually.
Along with those pop and rock hits, the group's repertoire also includes an opera medley and a ditty titled "Opera Without the Boring Bits."
"Nostalgica," the group's latest CD, was released last year, and includes such classic songs as "Danny Boy," "What a Wonderful World," "Moon River," "Over the Rainbow" and "Mona Lisa."
If You Go
WHO: Ten Tenors
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 4
WHERE: Flagler Auditorium, 3265 E. S.R. 100, Palm Coast
TICKETS: $40, available at the auditorium box office
INFORMATION: 386-437-7547 or online at flaglerauditorium.org
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