"l see a miniature libretto from a fan..."

Welcome to the 2019 Singers Showcase. For the next 90 minutes or so, you will see and hear some

of Berklee's most extraordinary vocalists, instrumentalists, arrangers, and dancers perform work by
one of rock’s most influential bands. Tonight's show is the result of more than six months of planning,
400 auditions, and eight weeks of intensive rehearsals. And this particular repertoire brings an extra
production challenge, due to the sheer scale of Queen’s famous stacked vocal harmonies. Our 16 lead
vocalists will be augmented by a choir of 12 background singers, with most of the vocal arrangements
scored by students. Famously, at Queen concerts, the band would leave the stage during the operatic
section of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” leaving the audience to watch a light show while listening to a taped
playback of Freddie, Roger, and Brian’s multitracked studio-built choir. Tonight, everything you hear
will be live-including those stormy backlit cameos from Scaramouche, Galileo, and Beelzebub. Our
students are under pressure. But the show must go on. And we know they'll tear it up.

Queen’s body of work has made an incalculable contribution to music history. Between 1970 and
1991, they recorded 191 songs and released 14 albums. All four members were technical virtuosos,
which meant they could tackle any style as the fancy took them. There was something for all tastes, from
prog-fueled fantasy ("Seven Seas of Rhye") to campy '80s pop ("I Want to Break Free"), political rock
("Hammer to Fall"), vaudeville ("Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon”), deep-grooving funk ("Another One
Bites the Dust"), and '50s rockabilly pastiche (“Crazy Little Thing Called Love"). Their artfully constructed
records used the multitrack studio to the fullest extent possible, with Brian May's homemade Red
Special guitar conjuring up the sounds of strings, clarinets, flutes, and brass sections so convincingly
that their first few albums had to feature a "no synthesizers” disclaimer.

Like many guitar players, and many of our students, | have a personal history with Queen and their
songs: covering "Hammer to Fall” and "Tie Your Mother Down” in bar bands when | was a teen;
watching their now-legendary Live Aid appearance on British TV in 1985; and Monday, November
25,1991, when | came offstage at a local gig to hear the devastating news of Freddie's passing. | will
forever cherish the day in 1998 that | was sent as a trepidatious young guitar journalist to interview
Brian May at his house (rock star English mansion, to be more precise). During the interview, Brian
asked me to demonstrate the magazine's guitar tab notation, and handed me the Red Special. Alas,
there were no smartphones then, so this paragraph will remain the only record of that encounter.

Some of tonight's arrangements are closely influenced by Queen's original recordings, while others
take a more interpretive approach, framing these well-loved classics through the performers’ and
arrangers’ own diverse cultural backgrounds and influences. The show features integrated video design,
overseen by post-master's fellowship student Aaron Hauser, plus an operatic appearance ("Barcelona”)
from Conservatory master's student Danielle Bavli. Qur incomparable faculty and staff have provided
expert advice, support, and coaching throughout the arranging and rehearsal process, with world-class
project leadership from concert and event producer Maureen McMullan. There are some extra special
guests with us tonight, including the superlative alumni/faculty a cappella group Vox One, and a brief
appearance from a top-secret guest drummer towards the end {no spoilers!). Everything else you

see and hear on stage tonight comes from our talented and hardworking undergraduate students.
Berklee-you take my breath away.

Joe Bennett
(forensic musicologist and lifelong Queen fan)
Vice President for Operations, Global Strategy, and Innovation