British institution the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and some of Britain’s finest opera singers have recorded an album of tracks from the angriest and most rebellious songbook – Punk. Forty years after the BBC banned God Save The Queen, The Anarchy Arias is the first-ever album of classic punk tunes done in a full-blown operatic style and is an idea inspired by Sex Pistol Glen Matlock. The thirteen-track album was released in June 2017 on Universal Music.

 

The Anarchy Arias takes great punk songs of the late 1970s and retro-fits them as "operatic arias" complete with Michael Nymanesque orchestral accompaniment. Sung with gusto by Stephen Gadd—more usually heard in Puccini, Verdi, or Wagner—and backed by the forces of English National Opera, this is a crossover with bells rather than safety-pins. Step aside Plastic Bertrand: Gadd’s "Ça plane pour moi" brings the house down, while The Stranglers’ "No More Heroes" and The Sex Pistols’ 'God Save the Queen' sound almost ready for the Last Night of the Proms.