Move over Jonathan Goldsmith. You have been replaced by the most interesting man in the world. He is a rock opera singer who just signed a deal with RED/SONY to release his self-titled debut album better known as Alexander Kariotis.
Kariotis comes from a classical background in opera. Growing up, he was learning from Arrigo Pola (the late Luciano Pavarotti’s voice teacher, Modena, Italy), Gianni Raimondi (La Scala, Italy), as well as Dan Marek, John Wustman and Nico Castel (Metropolitan Opera). Not to mention that Pavarotti is one of Kariotis’ major influences in the voice.
One of the main goals of Kariotis’ self-titled debut is to bring forth a new genre of music that combines rock and opera. His love for rock singers such as Steve Perry of Journey and Freddie Mercury of Queen play an impactful role in the music he’s crafting for the album. “It’s something that’s super personal to me and there are no gimmicks. It’s not like ‘hey, look at me I’m juggling and singing opera. Although I can juggle so maybe I shouldn’t say that,” said Kariotis.
As the interview went on, we transitioned into the composition process for Kariotis. How he meshes rock and opera is fascinating because not only is he able to transition from one genre to the next, he’s able to do it in different languages. One can only imagine how it would be like to not only grasp the fluency of another language, but to remember how to be convincing in both languages. “What really takes the time for me isn’t so much the composition itself, but really making sure coming in and out of from opera to rock-n-roll in a meaningful way,” said Kariotis.
Right after that statement, Kariotis followed by saying this. “I always say it’s easy to write something cheesy. Hey it’s a rhyme; maybe we can rap an album.”
After a sarcastic remark on my end, the conversation quickly transitioned into discussing a project that Kariotis is working on with DMC of legendary Hip Hop group, Run DMC. DMC will be featured on a remix of one of Kariotis’ songs that will actually be the last song off of his self-titled debut.
The waters have been tested so much in music throughout the decades that having an open mind is practically a mandatory requirement. It also goes to show no one ever knows what opportunities in life come along. In this case, it was meeting DMC at a New York Knicks game in Madison Square Garden last year.
“I know this is going to sound strange, but he has the most angelic soul haha he’s so much fun to be around,” said Kariotis.
Food quickly became a topic of conversation because of his Greek heritage and his love for the culture. Kariotis has traveled through several different countries just for vocal lessons alone. His thoughts on food in different countries interest me because it resulted in this. “This is going to sound crazy since I lived in a lot of different places, but the best food in the entire world is the food that you get in Chicago,” said Kariotis.
The primary food he was referring to is steak. Although he’s been to Peter Luger’s in Brooklyn, NY and loves the steak over there, he claims that the same type of steak can be found in his hometown at a place called Steven’s Steakhouse. He made it clear that he will be reminding himself that Chicago has the best food since he’s singing the National Anthem at the Chicago Cubs game.
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