Dear Gilles,
I'm aware of the fact that conductors are sometimes addressed as 'maestro'. To me this is not the same as addressing a medical doctor as 'doctor' as this only refers to his academic title and to most people 'doctor' is emotionally neutral anyway. 'Maestro' IMO is used to express ones respect for someone who has proven to possess exceptional capabilities as a musician.
There are only very few people in the world that I would personally address this way. The reason is not rudeness or bad upbringing, but simply the fact that traditionally there is a lot of guru-ism in the classical music business, where people are put on pedestals where they don't belong and everything they say has this wonderful ring of Truth to it that us lowly mortals are unable to grasp.
I have never heard 'maestro' used in conjunction with voice instruction. In voice instruction I have found an even greater number of 'gurus' than among conductors. Thus I find it hard to take seriously anyone who uses this term as abundantly as you do in the articles on your web site (which I have all read by the way) and it could very well be that I'm not the only one.
Respectfully,
Wim Ritzerfeld
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