Classical musicians almost never reveal ambitions for working in the rock music idiom (some of them may actually harbor secret wishes in that direction but they keep them closeted). The reverse is much more common - unfortunately. Evidence has shown that the demands of orchestral music are simply beyond the average or even above-the-standard rocker. Zappa was a singular exception, but then his entire band work can be seen more as compositions for an electric ensemble rather than rock or pop songs.
Having said that, I must mention
Karl Jenkins (ex-Soft Machine) and
Tony Banks of Genesis as pleasant surprises. Jenkins' by now large body of work in the Adiemus project and as a solo composer may irritate many with its user-friendly blend of the sacred, the ethnic and the romantic, but I find it competent at worst and downright inspired/inspiring at best. Banks has only one orchestral work,
Seven, under his belt so far, but it's good enough to mark him as a composer worth keeping tuned into. It may be blatantly neo-Elgarian, British post-pastoral and whatever, but it's also gorgeous and movingly sincere.
But the one (ex-)rocker who has really impressed me lately is
Jon Lord, the former keyboard player with Deep Purple and Whitesnake. I was aware he has a classical education in music, but the sheer quality of his orchestral work took me totally by surprise. So far I've listened to three of his classical albums:
Durham Concerto,
To Notice Such Things and
Beyond the Notes. All three are full of very well composed neo-classical, shamelessly romantic music that is richer than Jenkins' and more skilled than Banks' outings. There is more where those three came from and I'm looking forward to hearing them as well.
I can't but recommend you give Lord's orchestral work a try. His music communicates well, satisfies artistically and comes with enough emotion to keep you trapped. It is a wonderful breach of the "rockers should stick to rock" law and Lord should indeed be praised :)
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