Opera Singer / Vocal Coach Reacts to 20 Year Vocal Transformation of Simone Simons

[@pvandewyngaerde]

I cant wait to see her live again this Friday with a symphonic orchestra.

[@nebulajumper6216]

I was going to be there too, but life blessed me with a great back, so I'll try to catch it online

[@MLint]

deze donderdag

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

me too!

[@jeroenvanos9653]

I went on thursday

[@eduardogutierrez8598]

20 years listening to Simone in a regular basis and still hits like the first time...she is incredible

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

Have really enjoyed digging into her history vocally. So much appreciation to be had

[@mikedown3219]

At that 20th anniversary concert. They did a parody of themselves. They were originally going to be called Sahara Dust so for the first few songs of that show, they came on as Sahara Dust, the ‘support act’ to Epica.

[@djstraylight]

What Mike said. Epica opened for themselves as Sahara Dust (original band name that didn't stick). 20th Aniversary show was amazing and probably available on Blu-Ray. The upcoming live symphonic show is going to be sweet. They're always great live.

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

this makes a lot of sense, that's a relief. Thought I really messed something up 🤣

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

still my favourite band ever. they just keep getting better. 🤘😎🤘

[@theatomicpirategirl]

I saw Epica in 2022 and Simone Simon’s vocals are truly magical. No exaggeration, I got a little emotional hearing her sing. And the whole band puts on an amazing performance! I hope one day you get to see them!

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

They really are pioneers in a way. It’s an amazing thing to see when you get orchestra, thoughtful yet moving composition, and such expressive performers in one place

[@PittDaddy]

Think about it. They were in their teens and early 20s when they wrote and performed this the first time. Unbelievable.

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

Incredibly inspiring group of artists

[@subwaytosally18642]

What’s the interesting thing is that Simone was credited as a mezzo soprano in the first two albums. Fitting with that, she had a rather deeper sound and as she improved, her voice became more bright and lighter. It culminated in a snippet I caught Q&A on Facebook years ago, where Simone was asked about her voice type and she answered that she is a soprano. Makes sense to me. I always thought that her voice early on sounded carefully studied/manipulated and that wasn’t the case at all when I saw them in early 2015. Her voice sounded natural already then.

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

Sometimes it can take a while to bloom, but training has its place. Many sopranos begin as mezzo sopranos while they build their foundation of technique

[@wannabedane4046]

In the first video - The blonde lady is Amanda Somerville, the dark hair lady on Amanda’s right is Linda Van Summeren aka Linda Janssen (Coen's wife (Coen is Epica's keys player))..Amanda Somerville Is an American vocal coach, backing/choir vocals, producer. Know for her work with After Forever (Floor & Mark Jansen’’s first band) Epica (Mark Jansen, Simone Simons) Avantasia, Kamelot, and more. When you see Simone looking around, she's mostly looking at Amanda, then and now, and vocal coach. In the second video from the 20th Anniversary (I was there) Sahara Dust/Epica played a 3 hours concert. Mark Jansen changed the name of his band “Sahara Dust” to “Epica” that is the name of one of “Kamelot”’s album, a band they were touring with.

[@PeterKarlsson-b6h]

Thanks for this video, great reaction! And i saw you on Twitch You did thhaaa whole Omega show! Thank you for that too!

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

it was EPIC!!! -A

[@PeterKarlsson-b6h]

@@CharlieCalottaReacts 👍🤟

[@mikedown3219]

Simone started classical training aged 16.5, joined Epica at 17 and she would have been 19 during this video in 2004.

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

Unreal ability for less than 3 years of formal training

[@prefane]

Dont quote me on this, but wasnt the blonde backup lady her vocal teacher aswell?

[@redguern]

@@prefaneYes, it’s Amanda Somerville from Exit Eden.

[@bigg2988]

@@redguern And of many others, including AVANTASIA and KISKE & SOMERVILLE, plus a couple exquisite solo albums. Amanda is a trail blazer in bringing the Atlantic shores together for Power and Symphonic metal in the last 25 years.

[@nightgoblin29]

They did "Facade to reality" on this session, and that wil blow your mind :)

[@irenehabes-quene2839]

We leven in een droom wereld…….we live in a dream world. I saw an ad. promoting ticket sales for their upcoming concerts in AFAS theatre in Amsterdam…… I really am thinking of going, I live only 30 minutes away by car! They are really so epic!

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

Yes!!! Hope you have an amazing EPIC time

[@jubbelidiot]

A bit late to comment, but I have been wanting a vocal coach to make this video for years now. Thank you ^^

[@dzrrr]

Nice video and again interesting song choice!

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

Thanks 😋 glad you liked it! And thanks for coming to the stream :)

[@dzrrr]

@@CharlieCalottaReacts that was fun, glad to rewatch such a great show

[@sebastiancaceres7294]

a similar type of video but with sharon den adel would be amazing!

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

Order up!

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

Did some young vs recent Sharon way back, but due for an update.

[@sebastiancaceres7294]

@@CharlieCalottaReacts saw that. wt recently release a dvd "Worlds Collide Tour - Live in Amsterdam" there they play two classics "mother earth" and "ice queen", that songs were played also on their 1st dvd "Mother Earth Tour" from 2003, there is more than 20 years gap between both dvds

[@Dutchman626]

You already did a reaction to the Dutch metal singers, 'the power of love'. That was great too!

[@wishmaster0390]

It would be great if we can join you in any way to watch it. I already have my ticket also. Hope you upload a little review of it.

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

Definitely will. I just found that I have rehearsal during the broadcast, but I will have a view… legally I swear…

[@dac2007]

​@@CharlieCalottaReactsyou can watch it anytime for the next 48 hours I believe

[@peter3331]

And i will be there friday ❤🔥🇳🇱🤘

[@dzrrr]

My favorite song and recording of early Simone - Solitary Ground (Road to Paradiso live compilation album), sadly there is no video, only audio. And it's so sad, that she sings the most beautiful songs from that era so rarely nowadays kzbin.info/www/bejne/gn3cqKWpi9OVl9k

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

Cool, thank you for this!

[@christophschmedes5975]

I start to hwre Epica in 20003 also over 20years in the Metall seane of the Netherland s sing all the female Metall singers a soprano have fun

[@kenwill-jp8xw]

She was like 19 yrs.old here,blonde is Amanda Somerville her vocal coach.

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

Oh that’s really cool!

[@natiisotillo7770]

I like this kind of content! I would love to see you dig into Sharon Den Adel's (Within Temptation) vocal history. She has some interesting changes as well as Simone :)

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

Yeah! Thanks Nati, someone else requested this, happy to! Any cool career long songs I should look into?

[@natiisotillo7770]

@@CharlieCalottaReacts Ohhh there are at least three that come to my mind now: "Mother Earth", "The Promise", and "Angels" but you pick which one haha :) have fun

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

I have Tarja’s cover of angels on the dock… maybe a side by side :)

[@natiisotillo7770]

@@CharlieCalottaReacts oh, yes! Great idea. Can't wait to watch that one :)

[@wildhoney126]

AFAS 2023 concert she sang much better. And at this concert she was not quite in shape, after an illness, if I'm not mistaken. Two more fresh concerts Exit festival 2023 and Polandrock 2023 - also played and sung gorgeously, I want to watch them again. And for some reason the 20th anniversary show is not

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

It’s true you can hear a little fatigue in the vocal folds, but the sign of a master is the ability to persist in a live setting despite that. Her best qualities are front and center. I appreciate your detailed listening, thank you for that input

[@wildhoney126]

@@CharlieCalottaReacts Personally, I got goosebumps when she performed with Apocalyptica on the song "Rise Again" live in London. Just her voice and cellos. It was so beautiful.

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

She fits so well with the strings

[@russull5589]

about 8:30 you touch on a neat thing I've been noticing consistently enough in their vocals that i feel like it has to be a practiced thing. if you mess around with placing Mark's growls and can get kinda close, then try growling a vocal line where Simone's cleans come in right away. flip from doing the growls to doing Simone's line and you'll usually find that the placement and setup are really, really similar at that point of transition! i think it must be to promote a sense of unity and cohesion and harmony between the two hypercontrasting sounds. I'm very much an amateur so i could be seeing smoke without fire, but it feels like a thing.

[@russull5589]

an addendum now that I'm at the end: I don't really prefer early or present performances from Simone. I think the key thing I enjoy about her singing is that she's compulsively interesting, and she's always been that, so different performances just mean I get to hear her get up to differently interesting stuff.

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

Yeah totally valid point, I am the same way. In the end it’s all preference for different reasons. Aesthetic, cultural, the weather that day, whatever:) And to your point, I think singers are very easily affected by the people they sing with. There’s an interesting phenomenon that happens when two opera singers are together. The vibrato of each singer will sync up when singing a duet. This is a mix of different sonic things but there’s also the aspect of listening that will create vocal empathy (which is a real thing). I experience this if I listen to really bad singing, my voice will be slightly out of place… I think it has to do with the way we learn to sing and speak. Just like a baby learns how to speak through imitation, there is a subconscious pull to blend with those you sing with and listen to.

[@christophschmedes5975]

Simone start her singing by Epica with 17years now she is 39years and one of the best sopranos in Metall 🤘 🤘 🤘

[@dac2007]

Important to note how in the live shows she sings more parts whereas in the studio version (including the We Will Take You With Us) the choir sings a lot of the parts alone and she only does her lines after Mark's growls Anyway not the best performance from her in this show IMO but still reasonably good I remember seeing them live like 2 months after this and she was incredible

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

Yes fair, and there is definitely a little swelling in the cords but the sign of a true master is the ability to perform well in all situations and conditions

[@fredcintra]

This was the song that brought me to Epica, this song is awesome! Can I ask for a Floor Jansen thru the years after you finish with Epica?

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

Yeah! Great idea! I wonder what songs would be good……. I think we’ll do some more Omega Alice, Simone’s solo album, the new concert, then it’s time for Nightwish 😈

[@christophschmedes5975]

Listen to Epica when Simone sing with her best frend floor sing Santa Terra ore Sabat Mata Dolorosa

[@CharlieCalottaReacts]

Yeah I've actually done a reaction to that! here ya go kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqjdZ36JgqZ0oMU