On Tue, 22 January 2002, Karen Mercedes wrote:
> I frankly detest Church, Bocelli, et al. But I cannot agree that they are
> either stealing existing listeners from the opera audience, nor that they
> are diverting potential new opera audience members from listening to
> "real" (vs. "pseudo") opera.
I understand what you're saying, and I agree with you on the whole. I don't
argue that they're stealing existing classical listeners; what I'm talking about
is confusing the public. Current practices with regard to the "pseudo" singers
severely skew public perception with regard to what opera and other forms of
classical music actually are, and to a certain extent makes efforts to educate
people about classical music that much harder. This, in the long run, *will*
affect sales of "real" classical music, because kids are going to grow up with
singers like Boccelli and Church as their only exposure to the stuff.
I don't care if the Hensons want to put together a Muppets Opera Arias disc -
just put it in the right section of the store, comedy or children's, and don't
market it as classical music. Confusing the public hurts everybody in the long
run. Why? Well, let's put it this way - I'm still arguing with my dad over
whether or not Elvis Presley singing a song to the tune of "O Sole Mio" means
that he "sang opera". The public is *very* easily confused.
Richard
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