by Kimberly King – Monday, December 30, 2019 – ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS)
On New Year’s Eve, for the first time in his career, Butorac will play more than two hours of Beatles songs for an expected sold out crowd at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium.
The orchestra, which will include strings and instruments the Beatles used, will be behind a plexiglass wall. “Surprisingly, the band makes quite a bit of sound, so the plexiglass wall is to protect hearing and also to better blend the sound of the orchestra with the band,” Butorac said.
Butorac smiled as he explained how the Classical Mystery Tour band does its covers of Beatles hits. The concert at 8 p.m. Tuesday will feature many songs from the group’s “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album. The orchestra will serve as a supporting actor to the band as it plays center stage. Butorac said there will be about 55 orchestra members, largely strings since that’s often what the Beatles used behind their band in songs. “Plus, there will be horns, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets. There’s one little detail that I love and that’s in the front of the string section. Every chair has a stand, and this is for one piece and one piece only — ‘Eleanor Rigby.’ Typically, strings will share a stand,” Butorac said said.
The song requires eight string soloists. The Classical Mystery Tour band includes players from the hit Broadway Show “Beatlemania.”
“They sound like them, they look like them,” Butorac said.
See the video here.
