PHANTOM OF THE OPERA star Josh Piterman releases EP

Acclaimed Music Theatre star Josh Piterman’s EP Loving You is available now!

Josh has been working consistently on Australian and UK stages over the past 15 years. His past credits include being a part of international pop opera group The Ten Tenors, Tony in the 2010 Australian production of West Side Story, Bustopher Jones/Gus/Growltiger in the 2015/16 Australian season of Cats, Corny Collins in the UK tour of Hairspray and Gerry Goffin in the 2017/18 Australian tour of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. His critically acclaimed West End debut came as he took on the coveted role as The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera in 2019/2020.

Recorded between London and Melbourne, the new 4 track EP is a musical collaboration with UK friend, producer, and songwriter Steve Anderson, who he began working with throughout the first lockdown of 2020. Anderson has had a highly successful career and a rich history of working with some of the world’s most applauded pop artists and bands including Kylie Minogue, Michael Jackson, Sting, David Bowie, Take That, Westlife, Steps, Delta Goodrem and Paul McCartney.

Loving You features 4 covers expertly reinterpreted by Josh and his unique vocal style: operatic classic “Caruso”, originally written and performed by Italian singer songwriter Lucio Dalla, contemporary classic “Fix You” by Coldplay, “Cinema Paradiso” by legendary film composer Ennio Morricone written as the love theme for the film of the same name, and “I Want To Spend My Lifetime Loving You”, a duet with West End star Aimee Atkinson, originally recorded by Tina Arena and Marc Anthony for the film The Mask Of Zorro.

In August Josh will reprise his star turn West End debut as The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera for the very first time at Sydney Opera House, and then Arts Centre Melbourne from October.

How did you select the songs for the EP?

Josh: It was quite a rigorous process. Literally hundreds of songs were in the first list and bit by bit they were cut down to 50, 30, 20, 10. Multiple songs were road tested until these 4 were chosen.

Which track was your favourite to record?

Josh: I think Fix You was my favourite to record. It was during lockdown when I was really exploring a lot of self-work and existential stuff. The version of this song includes some instrumentations like ‘sound bowls’ that are probably more akin to something you’d experience in a yoga or meditation class. But it all connected to where i was at personally at the time and the practices i constantly draw upon to connect to something deeper. A man looking in the mirror of himself and saying “I will try to fix you”.

What do you find are the biggest differences between singing as The Phantom and singing for your album?

Josh: Well, for starters, singing live as opposed to singing into a recording mic are two different skills. There’s a lot of nuances that can be derived in a recording studio and processes of play and experimentation over a period of time, with the arrangement and the vocal. In Phantom the music is tried, tested and set (for good reason, it’s absolutely brilliant) so the nuances are found more in characterisation and exploring the man.

What can listeners expect from Loving You?

Josh: They can expect diversity. There are a lot of different vocal tones I explore on this EP. From almost opera to pop. What interconnects the 4 songs is that they all sound intensely cinematic. Like they belong a big film score. Hans Zimmer & James Horner were big inspirations for this project. I wanted to take classical crossover music out of its known world (songs like The Prayer & Time to Say Goodbye) and into something audiences could connect with either consciously or sub consciously. Film does that. Secondly it explores 4 unique love stories. Heartbreak, self-discovery, magic vs reality and the notion of soul connection where we are destined to find someone in any place, space or generation and we all connect with love.

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For more details and streaming links, visit Josh’s website.

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Header image credit: Stephanie Spatafora