Hello! Here is Miha – the arranger of “Symphonic MUSE”, my present to my favourite band out there and their fans. 

 I'd like to share some background facts. It all started in 1998 when MTV was still a thing. I fell in love with the Muse song “Uno” in style of a “heavy Tango” and due to its originality it stuck in my heart forever. I bought their album “Showbiz” and listened to it like a maniac. (Back then I was still not acquainted with classical music, I couldn't even properly read music). I recorded it on tape for our family car so my whole family could listen to the album and soon we all became Muse fans! Especially my mom went nuts. :) Later in 2006 my family and our closest friends went to their concert in Vienna and it was unforgettable. 

 Soon after my discovery of Muse I joined the Symphonic wind orchestra Ravne (my hometown orchestra which you can see performing in this video and which made this project possible) and started playing in a band. Furthermore I received 50 CDs of classical music as a gift and through them discovered a completely new world. I was about to become a devoted musician. 

So I could say: Thank you MUSE for helping MUSIC become my MUSE! 

 Today, 20 years later, I'm a professional classical saxophonist, grounding member of Trio Klavis, conductor, composer and arranger. 

 I actually can't believe that it took less than 3 months from the first written note to this recording being published. I spent November intensively working on the score, revising and improving it. Very little sleep. But great fun! I especially enjoyed arranging the song “Sing for absolution”, it is just made for big orchestra. I don't even want to think how it would sound with a full Symphonic Orchestra! Uff... :) 

 I'd also like to apologize to Muse for not using newer songs. There are just too many good ones and it was hard to pick! The new ones will come next time, I promise. 

 I hope you enjoy our performance and do check out our similar project from last year. Symphonic Iron Maiden. And if you have any questions, please be our guest and ask.

Excellent work - sincere congratulations !

(are you the conducting "maestro" on the video ?)

Very enjoyable, despite my thoughts on this ... and please don't take this as a criticism at all, specially your wonderful effort, which deserves some credit!

My weird concern is that orchestras are afraid of electric instruments, and they should not be ... there is no reason why an electric guitar could not augment the orchestra, and vice versa, something that would help bring the orchestra up to date a bit better, and stop hiding it, and make kids go away, because it does not have the beat, or the lyrics to .... you get the rest!

Modernizing the orchestra standards is what we need to do, but folks are afraid, and it has become a sort of 1960's BEFORE Bob Dylan picked up an electric guitar .... oh my gawd ... in a folk festival! 

Folks like Mike Oldfield have shown us that the combination works, but the number of pieces around with it are so few and in most cases just supporting a fat star with using their money that they have in abundance.

I like this a lot, however I would (PERSONALLY) love to see it be less "conventional" as if it were trying to bring in the rock audience kids to the concert hall, which is not happening these days, specially in America ... almost all orchestras here, have no respect, or appreciation, for someone like Frank Zappa (even if it is an extreme example), but then, that's like so many others aren't!

Essentially, my ears want something different and new ... and it can be done with MUSE, BEATLES, Rolling Stones and anyone else ... but I think that the idea of modernizing the orchestra scares a lot of folks that they will lose their jobs to a workstation or synthesizer, and I seriously doubt that this can happen, as most of those instruments on their own are only as good as the person playing it ... thus, for my ideas, it would not sound washed out by ....

(A good example of an orchestra doing a great job with the band's work, and augmenting it with support/new material, is CARAVAN AND THE NEW SYMFONIA done in 1974. It happens to be the one album that most "progressive" folks dislike from this band, yet, it shows their classical side and how well they know music and work with it ... something that "progressive" folks have a tendency to dismiss outright, because the blue guitar is more important!