Chris Opperman profile picture

Chris Opperman

Music proves the existence of magic in the world.

About Me

Click here to join Oppy's mailing list!

Coming May 27, 2008:
Chris Opperman - The Lionheart!

Use the "Buy Now" button above to pre-order "The Lionheart" for only $10 including free shipping inside the U.S.!
"Someday Opperman will be remembered as one of the great composers of the 21st century."
- Jedd Beaudoin, seaoftranquility.org
"These days it's rare to hear a person squeeze the most out of the performance potential of a non-electronic instrument. Chris explores harmony, melody and virtuosity on the piano with a lofty and magnificent insight."
Grammy-award winning guitarist Steve Vai
"Chris Opperman is not only a great player and composer, but a fine improviser and a talented bandleader as well." - The All-Music Guide
Chris Opperman
bio
The music of award-winning composer Chris Opperman sounds like your best dream being poured into a glass. Since debuting on his own Purple Cow Records label in 1998 at the age of 19, Opperman has been carving his own niche in today’s pop-saturated music world. As an exciting, relevant composer of a rare hybrid of rock, jazz and classical that is his alone, he has already made a name for himself as a solo artist and by working with some of today's most renowned musicians.
Currently, Opperman is completing his fifth album, The Lionheart, which features his own ensemble, Special Opps, performing his latest compositions. The album presents Opperman’s first major original work for full orchestra plus rock ensemble. Titled “The Porpentine,” it is an ambitious multi-movement opus that encapsulates everything Opperman has learned about music composition and modern orchestration.
In addition to his own music, Opperman has performed with and/or orchestrated music for such industry luminaries as Grammy-award winning guitarist Steve Vai, virtuoso musician Mike Keneally, Indian classical music masters L. Shankar (a.k.a. Shenkar) and Zakir Hussein, and former Duran Duran/Missing Persons guitarist Warren Cuccurullo. In 2005, Opperman appeared on Vai’s Grammy-nominated composition “Lotus Feet” from Vai’s Real Illusions: Reflections album.
While growing up in Clifton, N.J., Opperman was first inspired to become a composer by hearing the music of Frank Zappa. Once ignited, that early passion was fanned into a raging bonfire when Opperman was accepted into Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music.
In 1998, Opperman put together a 15-piece band to record Oppy Music, Vol. I: Purple, Crayon, which became a popular favorite on local college radio stations. The album was produced by Mike Keneally, who commented that “Opperman’s music occupies a hitherto unexplored region between rock, jazz and contemporary classical music.”
After graduating from Berklee, Opperman moved to Los Angeles and began working at Universal Music Publishing Group. In 2001, he released the critically acclaimed Klavierstucke, a solo-piano album that piqued the interest of Steve Vai. Vai observed, “These days it’s rare to hear a person squeeze the most out of the performance potential of a non-electronic instrument. On this album, Chris explores harmony, melody and virtuosity on the piano with a lofty and magnificent insight.”
In 2003, Keneally was commissioned by Co de Kloet of NPS Radio Holland to compose a piece for full orchestra, to be performed by Holland’s Metropole Orkest. Keneally tapped Opperman to be his co-orchestrator, and the collaboration yielded the album The Universe Will Provide, which was named one of the Best Albums of 2004 by the Internet’s All-Music Guide, a definitive resource widely utilized within the industry.
In a similar commission, Opperman was hired by Steve Vai to orchestrate selected compositions, including “For the Love of God,” a Vai signature song. Vai also brought Opperman on as a guest artist to play acoustic piano on Vai’s 2004 live-performance recordings of the same material. Those performances also include “Lotus Feet,” nominated for a Grammy in 2006 in the Best Rock Instrumental Performance category.
Opperman’s other albums include 2004’s Concepts of Non-linear Time, a collection of duets, and 2005’s Beyond the Foggy Highway, a live album featuring all of Opperman’s Los Angeles ensembles. In its review of the album, the All-Music Guide lauded the young artist: “Chris Opperman is not only a great player and composer, but a fine improviser and a talented bandleader as well.”
For all of his multiple-genre excursions into rock and jazz, Opperman nonetheless sees himself first and foremost as a classical composer. “If Beethoven were alive today,” says Opperman, “he would be pushing the envelope with his musicians, utilizing the latest technology, and embracing many styles of music to create his own inimitable sound. That’s the standard I am striving to achieve.”

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 3/14/2004
Band Website: oppymusic.com
Band Members: SPECIAL OPPS West Coast:
Chris Opperman (piano)
Frank Macchia (flute, clarinet, tenor saxophone)
Alma Carlson (flute, alto saxophone)
Chris Spilsbury (electric guitar)
Daren Burns (electric bass)
Craig Bunch (drums)
SPECIAL OPPS East Coast:
Chris Opperman (keyboards/vocals)
Andre' Cholmondeley (electric guitar/vocals)
Jeff Paitchell (electric guitar/vocals)
Jordan "J-Ro" Shapiro (keyboards)
Dave Johnsen (electric bass)
Eric Slick (drums)
Oppy --
[noun]:

A master of storytelling

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com
Influences: Mike Keneally, Erik Satie, Frank Zappa, Weezer, Sonic Youth, Igor Stravinsky, Queen, Arnold Schoenberg, ELECTRIC Miles Davis, Nobuo Uematsu, Steve Vai, McCoy Tyner, Beethoven, Dr. Dre, Anton Webern, Carla Bley, Charles Ives, Ahmad Jamal, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Kronos Quartet, Portishead, Jewel, Phil Spector, Nickel Creek, Benmont Tench, Thelonious Monk, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Neil Gaiman, The Skatalites, The White Stripes, Fiona Apple, Sparks, Kurt Vonnegut, The Beatles, John Lennon, George Harrison, The Smashing Pumpkins, Jean-Paul Sartre, The Specials, Captain Beefheart, Momus, Herbie Hancock, Reel Big Fish, Tchiakovsky, Bjork, early Elton John, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Peter Gabriel, The Beastie Boys, Nirvana, Bob Marley, Radiohead, R.E.M., Mountain Dew, No-Doz, the number 42, the year 1996, summer '97, the year 2003, Christmas 2005, my friends and family, and all my ex-girlfriends.
Sounds Like: "Opperman's music is as strange and beautiful as your dreams." - Derek Sivers, President CDBaby.com
Record Label: Purple Cow Records (4 releases)
Type of Label: None

My Blog

From Sea to Shining Sea

Hello!  As some of you already know, I spent the last 10 days on the road with one of my best friends, Lou Lagonik, traveling from Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, CA to Atlantic City, NJ! ...
Posted by Chris Opperman on Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:45:00 PST

Gasoline Hand Session Recap

Saturday was the GASOLINE HAND session @ Clear Lake Audio in Burbank, CA.  Thursday night the drummer called Matt Malley and told him that he got offered a better gig and cancelled on us. &n...
Posted by Chris Opperman on Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:57:00 PST

New Paintings!

So every once in a while when I feel like I need to ponder the relationships between notes better, I make paintings. It's kind-of like how you eat ginger in between your spicy tuna roll and your yello...
Posted by Chris Opperman on Mon, 02 Jun 2008 04:33:00 PST

Gasoline Hand

So this is it!  My last month in Los Angeles!  My plans for the next couple weeks are to finish packing/shipping and to finish recording instruments for "The Porpentine."  On June 8th I...
Posted by Chris Opperman on Sun, 25 May 2008 08:15:00 PST

A Proper Update

As promised, here it is, a proper update, with which you can stop considering how your socks can get so dirty after spending just one day in your shoes and consider this instead: Co de Kloet and I - ...
Posted by Chris Opperman on Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:57:00 PST

Watermelon in Easter Hay

Well, I've been having fun with YouTube lately checking out all the Frank Zappa videos and I stumbled upon this one from the '88 band that honestly made me a little misty-eyed.  What a beautiful ...
Posted by Chris Opperman on Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:46:00 PST

2008 So Cal Live Music Awards & More!

Lots of news! First and foremost, THANK YOU to everyone who has preordered The Lionheart so far!  We’ve gotten pre-orders from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Norway,...
Posted by Chris Opperman on Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:47:00 PST

10 Reasons to Pre-order The Lionheart!

Pencil sketch of The Lionheart by Eisner-award winning comic book artist Mark Buckingham Here is some big news!  After three years and countless recording sessions, my fifth album, The Lionheart...
Posted by Chris Opperman on Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:31:00 PST

Sessions, Session, and more Sessions!

I spent the better part of last week having a total blast in recording studios working on a variety of things!   On President's Day I went to Tangier to see a performance by my friend Elizabeth ...
Posted by Chris Opperman on Tue, 26 Feb 2008 04:01:00 PST

No Grammy This Year!

Well, unfortunately Steve Vai's "The Attitude Song" which I played piano on and which was nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance lost out to The Boss.  Special Opps saxophonist Frank Ma...
Posted by Chris Opperman on Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:31:00 PST