La Scala puts on pop singer

La Scala puts on pop singer

Opera

norman lebrecht

February 20, 2023

There’s a rustle of cotroversy over La Scala’s headliner last night – an 86 year-old singer-songwriter called Paolo Conte.

He is the first non-opera singer to have a recital on the hallowed stage.

The media are murmuring and politicians are piling in.

the concert was a total sell-out.

Comments

  • Alan says:

    If the concert was a sell out then that’s the end of the story. Music is music. End of.

    The preciousness of some people is off the scale.

  • Concertgebouw79 says:

    No problem for me if he sings or plays “Azzurro”

  • Tamino says:

    Paolo Conte is not a „pop singer“. He‘s a „cantautore“ (singer/songwriter) in the good old fashioned way. A great artist.
    Stiff collars beware.

  • Matt H says:

    Paolo Conte isn’t a pop singer, at least not as I understand the word. Heavily inspired by jazz and French music culture too. He holds the highest civilian awards in both Italy and France. He’s no stranger to London’s Royal Festival Hall and UK too. Check him out if you don’t know him:

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paolo_Conte

    If I’m not mistaken Keith Jarrett gave a Free jazz recital many years ago at La Scala and the CD is available on ECM.

  • Dominic Stafford says:

    Calling Conte a pop singer is like calling Jacques Brel a teen idol. He’s a wonderful artist and a cornerstone of modern Italian culture.

  • trumpetherald says:

    “An 86 year old pop singer called paolo Conte”…..Have you really not heard of him???? He is what Jacques Brel was for France…..don´t confuse him with Bocelli.

  • Edoardo says:

    Calling Paolo Conte “an 86 pop artist” is a display of enciclopedic cultural ignorance. Maybe some fact checking and even better not writing about matters one have no clues would be a good strategy

  • Micaela Bonetti says:

    Paolo Conte, popsinger?
    Ma nemmeno per sogno.

    Paolo Conte is a (great, really awesome) cantautore.

  • TruthHurts says:

    Most of what takes place today in the world’s classical music venues does not interest the greater part of the world’s population in the least. Classical music is declining, quickly becoming a niche art form. Nothing lasts forever. That is a fact we must all admit. Those in charge of this niche are desperate. Who even cares if the Met’s music director listens to Beyoncé??? Sad but true.

  • PaulD says:

    Carnegie Hall hasn’t been the same since Benny Goodman defiled it in 1938.

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