Interview: Effie Passero and Branden & James Make CELLOVOCI's NY Debut at Carnegie Hall

CelloVoci – the newly formed classical-crossover group starring internationally renowned cello and vocal duo Branden & James, along with powerhouse singer/songwriter Effie Passero from “American Idol” and Postmodern Jukebox – has announced that their debut album Happy Days is available in digital formats and on CD today, Friday, October 11. The album’s first single, an epic version of the chart-topper “The Prayer,” was released last month. Two “Behind the Music” videos that explore the song are available on the CelloVoci YouTube channel, youtube.com/@CelloVoci. CelloVoci makes their New York concert debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall on Thursday, October 17 at 8 pm. (Tickets are available HERE.) 

Since forming during the pandemic, the trio has toured extensively around United States, along with several cities in Mexico. CelloVoci will embark on a new branch of the tour through 2025 and beyond, including upcoming dates in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Chicago, IL; Plymouth, MA; Milton, DE; and more. For the full calendar, visit CelloVoci.com.

From the soaring opening medley – the trio’s bravura take on the legendary Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand duet, “Happy Days Are Here Again” and “Get Happy” – to the closing track, Happy Days is a musical tour-de force. Other ingenious combinations, such as their haunting blend of the Latin standard “Bésame Mucho” with the Eagles’ evergreen “Hotel California,” create a special sonic interplay which allows you to hear these beloved songs as if for the first time. 

Showcasing skills beyond her remarkable singing ability, Passero performs an original composition, the melodic and heartfelt ballad “Simply Happy.” The trios enters the rock arena with an emotionally charged medley of “Chasing Cars,” from the Irish/Scottish band Snow Patrol, and Amanda McBroom’s delicate movie theme “The Rose.” The album concludes with an unusually plaintive “You Are My Sunshine,” as Effie’s lovely vocal dovetails exquisitely with Branden’s “Over the Rainbow” – bookending this collection with another iconic Judy Garland song. 

Moving beyond the typically stiff and stentorian traps of the classical-crossover genre, CelloVoci’s extraordinary musicianship and uncommon musical pairings deftly showcase the group with power and sensitivity. Their premiere album Happy Days is set help launch them to even bigger stages around the globe.

Below, read a conversation with Effie Passero and Branden & James Clark about their new album and upcoming Carnegie Hall debut.

[This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.]

So what are you most looking forward to about your show at Carnegie Hall?

JC: I love performing with Brendan and Effie. That's always a treat.

I just finished the arrangements yesterday for us and our band of merry people and I'm quite excited about hearing it all come to life and performing it.

We try to lean heavily on arrangements that kind of were ours and not just performing other people's music all the time. Even though we play cover music, it was to kind of lean into the arrangements that are more unique to us. And I'm excited to bring them to life with a string quartet and the little seven-piece backing that we've got. And I also know that there's going to be a lot of love in the room that night. We're basically sold out and there’s a lot of people that we know coming. So I'm excited to share that moment with all of them.

EP: I'm going to piggyback on that and say definitely the energy in the room. I’m looking forward to that because it's the first time for I think all three of us that we're going to have so many people in the same room that haven't actually met before. It's going to be lots of family. People from all walks of life, all coming to support and I'm really, really ecstatic for that.

BC: I think what I'm looking forward to most is, I know this sounds maybe a little egomaniacal, but we’ve played in New York many times. It can be tricky to sell rooms in New York City. It's a hard place to be get friends to come see shows and despite it being a very popular place, it's not always the most convenient place for out-of-towners to come.

So, to have a full room already waiting for us at Carnegie feels really gratifying to me. I’m very excited.

What was it like putting together your upcoming album?

JC: It's a self-release [that] the three of us recorded together in Puerto Vallarta earlier this year, and we've just been working on getting it out there for the release. [Ed. Note: The album releases today, October 11th].

You asked what it was like putting together the album together, right?

It was really a bunch of arrangements and things that just kind of happened organically between the three of us. We met during the pandemic and started playing virtual concerts together. And this is just like a conglomeration of arrangements that we kind of put together on the fly, really, knowing we had just a few days before our virtual broadcast to put things together.

And then because we had these sort of overwhelmingly positive responses from the audience, we were able to say, “This works really well, this doesn't work.”

So it’s at least three years of us working together and all these things just kind of came to us really organically. So to record them on the album and present most of them at the concert will be a really gratifying experience.

Do each of you have a favorite track from the album?

EP: I think mine is the arrangement of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” that we have. I've been playing that arrangement since I was 13. But to come together with Brian and James and breathe new life into my own arrangement and include them, and now I have the cello, and we wrote an extra part for Branden to come in...

So it’s extra special to me just because that song has a lot of meaning in my life. It's a really beautiful arrangement, and I'm very happy to have them with me on it. And I think a lot of people will connect to it and really appreciate what we’ve done to that track without [ruining] the natural dignity of that song. We didn’t mess it up, we added some new beauty and grace to it.

JC: Well said, Effie. That song is right up there too, [our] version of “You Are My Sunshine” and “Over the Rainbow,” but I'm also very excited about our version of “Bésame Mucho” and “Hotel California,” which is always just so fun to play live and to have the guitar and the strings and everyone there I think is going to be a real treat for us.

“Hotel California” has been a standard of Branden’s and mine for many years now. And then we kind of added “Bésame Mucho” to it as a way of making it feel a bit fresh and keeping the audience on their toes a bit, because you’re never really quite sure what’s going to come next with that arrangement, and yeah, I think that people are going to really love that. It's got such a fun vibe to it.

BC: I would have to concur with Effie. Definitely “You Are My Sunshine” / “Over the Rainbow” is my favorite track on the album, and again for exactly the reasons she said. It's really the only track where the three of us are playing our principle instruments and there aren’t any other production elements at all. There's no guitar, no strings. There's no extra anything, any pads of any kind. So it's just the three of us, and it really is just about the glorious music.

Is there anything else that each of you would like to add?

EP: We're really excited to kind of officially launch our new brand, CelloVoci. All these people have been following us individually, but now this is a new adventure where the three of us are going out and doing this as a team, and as a family. And to officially launch this new project with all these amazing people and the audience is so special, and the energy in the room like we mentioned is going to be insanely amazing. So I just I just feel so grateful. I'm really excited to see what comes next, ‘cause it’s only up from here... hopefully. [laughs]

JC: It’s going to be fun to do all the things you just mentioned, Effie, as well as in such a hallowed space. I mean, I'm still pinching myself that it's even happening. It feels like a dream come true to be playing our own show at Carnegie Hall.

BC: I think they summed it up. I just adore working with both of them. I think we have something special. Like Effie said, I think this is just the beginning. I'm very excited to see what transpires next.

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Tickets to the 10/17 Carnegie Hall show are available HERE.

Follow CelloVoci on Instagram here.

Header photo credit: Duc Nguyen

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