02 Dec 2009
In March, Serj Tankian performed his Elect The Dead album in New Zealand with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra. It will be released on DVD.
“I was elated to have the opportunity to arrange my songs from Elect the Dead for a full orchestra with the APO,” says Tankian in a statement. “The arrangements are quite different than those on the record, including bonus tracks never played live.”
The APO’s John Ure was right into the project. “I was introduced to the music of System of a Down several years ago and became a fan after hearing the first song. Next thing I knew I was speaking with Boh Runga about a dream of mine of the APO performing Serj’s music on stage and as it turned out, she knew him and was able to pass on this idea. It seems that dreams do come true! The excitement and anticipation is almost unbearable,” he said.
The orchestral performance featured the two songs ‘Gate 21’ and ‘the Charade’ not included on the original album and made available here for the first time.
The score was arranged by Tankian and then arranged by New Zealand composer John Psathas. The finished audio was handed over to Junkie XL for mixing.
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