Hanson

As a child of the 90s you undoubtedly heard, and most likely loved, Hanson’s Mmmbop. Now as the trio of brothers celebrate their 25th anniversary in music they are bringing Mmmbop and a plethora of other songs to Sydney’s iconic Opera House for an incredibly special collaborative performance alongside an orchestra.

City Hub spoke with Taylor Hanson recently about crafting the upcoming String Theory show and the band’s longevity.

“I’m excited about bringing this symphony tour to the Sydney Opera House because that’s truly a bucket list venue so bringing that show to that stage is a future landmark for sure.”

Not only in the Opera House a venue which the brothers have long dreamed of playing the String Theory show itself is something they had always hoped to be able to create at some point in their lifetimes.

“Performing with a symphony orchestra was one of those things you hope to be able to do in your lifetime, so we’re really proud and excited to be doing it with this show,” explained Taylor. “In some respects, we have new nerves now that we haven’t had before, you want to deliver every night because you’re standing alongside an orchestra of other musicians who you’re performing with.”

It wasn’t until recently when the brothers hit their 25 year milestone that they finally realised that a symphony orchestra show could finally become a reality.

“The idea of contrasting pop rock-n-roll with classical collaboration had been percolating since the early 2000s but it finally came to fruition after the 25 year anniversary and we began to take it seriously.”

This desire to finally take the leap and create Sting Theory was driven by a desire to continually challenge themselves after such a long time in the music industry. Little did they know it would be a much tougher process than originally expected, for a number of different reasons.

For the brothers, the first of two big hurdles they would have to jump would be the logistical burden of translating their music into “symphonic charts and compositions” which could be “clearly read and interpreted by many different symphonies around the world.”

The second challenge would then be to determine exactly which songs should be included in the show. No easy task with 25 years worth of material to comb through.

“What we came to focus on was that the show would really focus on the lyrics, the story and telling that story through the songs,” explained Taylor, “The show has some brand new music, there’s some music that’s from the catalogue and then there’s some really deep cut songs which had been written but never released to a broad audience.”

By taking this approach Hanson have created a show which they describe as “a powerful musical statement” which “brings together the full power and scope of a symphony with the focus of pop craftsmanship all in one dynamic performance.”

Mar 4-5. Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point. $99-$129+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.sydneyoperahouse.com