Here’s her spot on the Today programme. She was preceded by a listener who defined himself as ‘a psychotherapist and opera director’.
Jonathan Miller, were you listening?
Click here to listen.
We’ve been given to understand that tonight’s Lebrecht…
Pablo Casals conducts a gloriously old-fashioned 1971 performance…
From the last Lebrecht Album of the Week…
The Chinese-Australian pair of comedy fiddlers have called…
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Dear Norman,
Although I fully agree with what Joyce said, I think she missed the real point. I believe it was really about artistic integrity regardless of genre, however enthusiastic her defence of genuine opera, which we are still indeed free not to like in whole or part, but surely at least to respect. The mocking Today Programme presenter, unchallenged by Joyce, seemed to think it is now acceptable to call ‘singers’ — who include a few oft-repeated out-of-context arias in their hybrid genre-free performances or recordings — ‘classical singers’ rather than ‘opera singers’. I thought the term ‘classical singer’ included ‘opera singer’ as well as ‘lieder singer’, ‘choral singer’ etc, but these are more usually referred to by their voice part and many of course are accomplished in more than one category — true ‘crossover artistes’ since they are crossing over from something in which they have been established, rather than nothing in particular.
I emailed the Today Programme yesterday with words to the same effect, but as yet without reply.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Davis
(Powys)