Spaghetti Western Orchestra

The Spaghetti Western Orchestra, formerly the Ennio Morricone Experience, is a quintet of musicians who perform music from Spaghetti Westerns, especially the music of Ennio Morricone.

Spaghetti Western Orchestra
Spaghetti Western Orchestra in the Netherlands – 2009
Background information
OriginAustralia
GenresFilm music, comedy
Years active2004–present
Websitehttp://www.spaghettiwesternorchestra.com
MembersBoris Conley[1]
Jess Ciampa
Graeme Leak[1]
Shannon Birchall
Patrick Cronin[1]
Denis Blais (Director)
Past membersDan Witton[1]
David Hewitt[1]
Philip McLeod

As the Ennio Morricone Experience,[2] they performed at venues such as The Studio in Sydney. John Shand, reviewing their act in 2004, praised its inventive humour, saying that their "versatility is a constant surprise and regular source of laughs."[1]

They premiered their current act at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2007, were successful at the Edinburgh Festival, and have toured the world with this show in which they re-enact the music and incidents of famous Spaghetti Westerns, such as For a Few Dollars More and Once Upon a Time in the West, using a variety of unusual musical instruments such as the theremin and foley sound effects such as a duck call.

John Lewis of The Guardian reviewed their performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in October 2009, saying that, while the storyline and comedy didn't work perfectly, their musicianship and the strong theme made this "an endearing, impressive show".[2]

They performed at the Royal Albert Hall in the 2011 season of the BBC Proms on 14 August. Hugo Shirley, reviewing for the Daily Telegraph, praised their "imaginative exuberance" and observed that they were more successful in engaging the audience than the BBC Concert Orchestra, which had performed Spaghetti Western music as an encore in their earlier prom performance of film music that day.[3]

It was announced on their Facebook page on 1 September 2014 that the group had come to the decision to no longer tour "for the foreseeable future".[4]

References
  1. John Shand (26 June 2004), Ennio Morricone Experience, The Studio, The Sydney Morning Herald
  2. John Lewis (11 October 2009), The Spaghetti Western Orchestra, The Guardian
  3. Hugo Shirley (15 August 2011), "BBC Proms 2011: Proms 38 and 39: Film Music Prom/Spaghetti Western Orchestra, Albert Hall, review", Daily Telegraph
  4. You may have noticed..., 1 September 2014, retrieved 4 June 2015
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