DREAM ARIA

A Music Band From Canada

…With A Powerful Mission…

INTERVIEW WITH DON STAGG 

By Adriana Rubio

Photographs Credits: Courtesy of Dream Aria

Dream Aria is a music band from Toronto, Canada. They started the process of becoming a band around 2001. They didn’t even have a name then. Ten years later, Dream Aria is in 2011 one of the top unsigned bands on MySpace, number one on Canadian rock, alternative and progressive charts, and number two on Global progressive, number five on Global alternative and number 7 on Global progressive charts. Dream Aria released three studio albums: “In The Wake” (2005), “Transcend” (2008) and “Fallen Angel” (2011). 

Don Stagg, a talented musician, keyboardist and songwriter, is both the band founder and the leader. This is what he says to you all: 

“I started the thought process for Dream Aria -no name at the time- about 10 years ago with a mix of rock/opera/world music plus many other genres to work on. I started to write the music and almost two years later I decided to record. I phoned drummer Garry Flint -ex National Velvet, a well known Canadian band-. We talked on the phone and he was into the same bands and music I was into. Also, he had a studio so I grabbed my keyboards and headed off to record with him. And after we recorded a few songs I wanted to bring in opera singers and add a guitar”.

“We brought in Ren and Anna, two fabulous opera singers from Toronto, and a very talented guitar player. Ren and Anna loved what we were doing at first, but when I then added a harder edge to the music, they decided it was not for them”

“I found Ann Burstyn in 2004 and she was a great fit being able to sing opera and hard rock as well as anything else I threw at her. She is one of the best female rock singers I met. Ann also started to write the lyrics to many of the songs and then put her stamp onto the band by naming us Dream Aria”

Band members from 2004 to the present days are:

Ann Aria Burstyn: lead vocals

Don Stagg: keyboards

Garry Flint: drums

Jon Casselman: bass guitar

Mark Crossley: lead guitar

The music they create has no rules or boundaries. They feel it as a powerful mission to please the audiences by taking them to a long “Dream Aria” journey. And here is why the journey is called “Dream Aria”:

Dream:
A succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep. An involuntary vision occurring to a person when awake. A vision voluntarily indulged in while awake: daydream, reverie something of an unreal beauty, charm or excellence.

Aria:
A lyrical song for a solo voice with orchestral accompaniment, generally expressing intense emotion. It’s found in opera. A deep harmony passage. The vocal-singing expression for a solo singer, adding chorus and instruments based on lyric and/or dramatic and poetic narrative.

“In 2005 we came out with “In the Wake” and have gotten so many great reviews. We did a gig on the Internet called In Your House. We have been building a steadily growing
worldwide fan base since our first album. We have already been featured on over 500 radio stations around the world. Dream Aria have also found huge success on MySpace where we have reached number one in the unsigned Global progressive charts contributing in them performing at a number of top venues in Canada including The Opera House and Lees Palace”.

The release of their newest album “Fallen Angel” in January of 2011 has noticeably increased their fan base worldwide and has been quoted as being a densely arrange project which is equally delighting instrumental and female vocal enthusiasts.

Dream Aria members bring together progressive rock, hard rock, ambient, heavy metal, Goth, classical, new age and world music with a unique sound: their own. They also combine languages, vocal styles/timbres, music eras, and cultures, exotic instruments which create a musical journey of different sorts to open the audiences’ minds, and why not… to end all the suffering. The music of Dream Aria makes you feel alive and most importantly, it makes the crowds believe they are part of some sort of Broadway characters. Songs like “Pandora’s Box Prelude”, “Pandora’s Box”, “Sun-Goddess”, “Transcend”, “Flower Duet”, “Fallen Angel”, “Gypsy Heart”, “Abstract Relations” and “Winter Storm”, among many others, are master pieces and true examples of their musical-art talent with a commanding female voice followed by heavy guitars, all music genres combined in harmony with a vast knowledge on history, classical composers, different cultures and civilizations.  A MUST listen!

In the Wake (2005)

#1 Spirit

#2 Sun-Goddess

#3 In the Wake- Soul

#4 In the Wake- Body

#5 Blue Lady

#6 Snapshot

#7 Pacis

#8 Promise

#9 He Touched My Soul

#10 Raindrops

#11 Opus Dei

#12 Spanish Nights

#13 11th Hour

Transcend (2008)

#1 The Rhythm of Now

#2 Labyrinth

#3 Transcend

#4 Serpent Nile

#5 Pandora's Box Prelude

#6 Pandora's Box

#7 Rebecca

#8 Tigress

#9 The Secret

#10 Compassion

#11 Flower Duet

Fallen Angel (2011)

#1 Fallen Angel

#2 Gypsy

#3 Abstract Relations

#4 Tale of Two Wolves

#5 The Illusionist

#6 Carnival of Souls

#7 Hearler

#8 The Gift

#9 Winter Storm

For tour dates, photos and videos please visit:

http://www.myspace.com/dreamariacanada

You won’t be disappointed. Enjoy the trip… Turn into a Rock-Broadway character… “Your Suffering Is Over”!!!