Prize
San Francisco, California, United States | SELF
Music
Press
Perhaps it's a sign of these chilling, uneasy times, but there seems to be an opera-meets-electro thing happening right now (looking at you, Austra), and I'm not about to complain. The removed digital synth laid over with dramatic, emotion-packed operatic vocals is a shivery, highly effective combo. Local digi-folkster Prize knows this firsthand. A classically trained musician, she fled the world of strict opera and meshed her given skill with the digital toys of the future. Plus, she threw in a dash of Victorian cabaret.
This weekend at Hotel Utah she premieres the music video for her song “Terror Machine” – machine, check, high drama, check – off The Split EP, recorded by Ian Pellicci at Tiny Telephone. At the show you can expect a gothy carnival of lasers, lights, and shredded lace.
- San Francisco Bay Guardian
Diva-rific tall drink of water and classically trained singer/songwriter Sophia Santulli is the founder of Prize, a new electro-rock band with an operatic flair. Years of vocal study enable Santulli to slip easily between soaring coloratura and powerful, full bore, rock and roll. With a backing band of classically trained musicians, including Justin Riberio on guitar and Liujing Liu on keys, Prize’s emotional urgency makes for a thrilling live show, including their recent gig at the Red Devil Lounge in San Francisco. - MVRemix
Discography
Surprise Box- 2012
The Split EP- 2011
Photos
Bio
Sophia Santulli is singer/songwriter/producer at the helm of Prize. This explosive siren earned a Masters in Vocal Performance from San Francisco Conservatory alongside her first self-release (The Split EP, 2011), delighting rock clubs across San Francisco with her six-piece chamber-electro outfit. Impatiently, she decided to not only write and sing, but produce the entirety of her first full-length album, Surprize Box! a feat of bravery within the bubbling boundaries of burgeoning bedroom-pop. Santulli went with an analog recording process for the vocals with Cookie Marenco at OTR studios, further carving out her dedication to excellent singing without the slick bells and whistles of pop. The bells and whistles all hang in synth form on her minimal and bouncy beats, mastered by EDM heavyweight Glenn Morrison. Prize has played at clubs all over San Francisco and Oakland alongside local luminaries such as Religious Girls, Metal Mother, Fire in the Hamptons, Mortar and Pestle, Ownership, and Chelsea TK and the Tsigane Society. Prize sets out on a West Coast tour in April 2013.
Sophia initially dipped into the SF indie scene as a backup singer, performing and recording with artists such as Third Eye Blind, John Vanderslice, The Dodos, Two Foot Yard, Thao Nguyen, and Tidelands at venues including Great American Music Hall, Davies Symphony Hall, Swedish American Hall, Palace of Fine Arts (Noise Pop 2010), and SFMOMA with Minna Choi's Magik*Magik Orchestra. Prize is also a guest vocalist on electronica artist Ladder's (Below Zero) upcoming album. Having already sung operatic leads locally and abroad, she continues to sing with alternative groups such as Classical Revolution and Opera On Tap as well as her own alt-classical recital series debuting March 2013, "Les Heroines" featuring some of the most captivating young opera singers and fashion designers in the area.
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