CommentMarch08 - Page: 1 of 1

Westenra, 20, like Charlotte Church and others, has achieved international fame blending an operatic voice with a pop style in her CDs. Some in the world of opera, Dame Kanawa included, believe that singers, who follow this route early on in their careers, are not being true to their craft. They not only sing with a microphone, but their CDs have decidedly non-operatic titles, like “Odyssey,” and “Pure,” and “Celtic Treasure.”

While we agree in part with Dame Kanawa, we might part company on the larger question. While not all opera singers make it in the world of opera, fewer still are successful crossing over into the pop world. But those who do, do rather well. Ms. Westenra’s first classical album, “Pure” sold two million CDs worldwide. Not bad for a twenty-year old who also happens to have a pretty Jennifer Aniston face and trim figure to enhance the overall package.

Truth be known, it’s not easy for a singer with a classically trained voice, man or woman, to make it in the pop world. For example, while I think the world of Jose Carreras, when he sang Tony in “West Side Story,” conducted by Bernstein himself, it was – well, awful! It just didn’t work. This is not to say that it can’t be done; have you heard the sensual, sultry jazz voice of soprano Renee Flaming? Rather we’re simply pointing out that making the crossover is difficult for classically trained singers.

Dame Kanawa may be right when she says that in a few years these young singers will be gone from the pop stage, and they may have eroded their operatic voices as well. Still “fake singers for the new generation” is a bit harsh.

It may just be that the new generation of singer who survives in the crossover category, actually serves as a guide for younger people and might actually prompt some to take a second look at what traditional opera is all about. In that sense the crossover singer may be better viewed as a bridge – a necessary and welcome asset in our efforts to make opera more accessible to a wider audience.

A recent story out of China concerning a pilot project to reintroduce traditional Chinese Opera in a few elementary and middle schools in local provinces made international headlines when teachers and students objected to the revival of the old art form, wanting, instead, more contemporry music to be taught.

We suspect Tan Dun, composer of the Met's multi-million dollar non-melodic "The First Emperor," must be scratching his head. What? Non-melodic music is disdained? Yes, even in China, Peking Opera is out.

When Dun's opera made its premiere in New York in January 2007, the disdain for the score was near universal, from critics who usually swoon over abstract novel scores that challenge audiences.

Martin Steinberg for ASSOCIATED PRESS and ABC NEWS called the Met’s production of the $2-3 million “The Last Emperor” a “flawed work” asking, “Where were the memorable melodies to take home?” Still, Steinberg thought it “was a worthy endeavor.”

Anthony Tommasini, writing for THE NEW YORK TIMES thought “Mr. Tan’s score [was] an enormous disappointment,” noting that the music “gives soaring melody a bad name.”

Philip Kennicott, writing for the THE WASHINGTON POST, noted that the story “drags on too long.” The music, he wrote, “grows tiring after a while,” observing that it had “coherence” that “held together through the recurrence of familiar motifs . . . [b]ut only occasionally rises above the sort of music that opera composers deploy to work their way through text.” In the end, he wrote, “audiences will likely be pleased to have heard the new opera, but unlikely to return for a second evening.”

Clive Barnes of the THE NEW YORK POST wrote that “]i]t’s a brave try – especially in its moment of eerie, moody lyricism – but the twain never quite . . . mingle.”

Tim Smith of the THE BALTIMORE SUN observed that it was “a visually spectacular effort, engaging, and not entirely successful opera.” It was exciting at first, he noted, but by the end of the evening, “some of the magic had worn off. . . The opera is neither eventful enough (at least by Western norms) nor propelled by enough character development to warrant the length.”

Jeremy Eichler, THE BOSTON GLOBE, observed that “while there is plenty of imaginative writing, especially with the Eastern instruments, ‘The First Emperor’ comes off as a mammoth ship drifting uneasily among all its influences, and it never quite finds a port dramatically or musically.” There were “fascinating moments,” Eichler wrote, “but not quite enough to carry the evening.”

Benjamin Ivry of THE NEW YORK SUN, wrote of “a fatal dullness, or a near fatal one,” which is “a hard thing to overcome.” Ivry asked if it would last, and answered, “I’m afraid I can’t be confident.”

Why do we bring this up now? Why, indeed! Mr. Dun brought to the United States an opera that will enjoy little success, and cost millions to make. The style is rejected in his own country and, if past reviews are any indication of future trends, the Mets revival of this disaster will meet similar criticism this year. If an audience shows up at all it will be ONLY becxause the headliner is, again, Placido Domingo.

Heads should have rolled when Dun presented the Met with his abysmal score. More heads should have rolled when after being promted to retool the score, Dun did nothing and the Met went along. Here's the point: audiences worldwide crave good opera with moving, melodic, sweeping scores, and when they don't get it, they move on -- especially the young.

It's a message Mr. Gelb et. al. should have picked up on sooner. The audience deserved better. Here, again, we renew oour call to Mr. Tan: retool this awful opera, and absent that, a suggestion for the Met: shelve it.