popmeetsopera
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Bocelli is NOT an Opera Singer
This is such an ill-informed article full of sour grapes. It is dated, but still online, so I'll comment. First of all, Andrea Bocelli's voice is rich, resonant and has got a baritonal touch and is thus more than suitable to deliver the aria Nessun Dorma. Since there is evidence of him singing it, it is quite comical to write about his "inability" to do it. What is even more funny is that the author of this article criticises that Bocelli's top notes sound flat (which may be the case in some instances) while praising Mario del Monaco as a good example, a singer who's top notes were notoriously flat, surely in a much more noticeable way than Bocelli's ever were. Garret writes that Bocelli is a "joke" to anyone who knows about the art of singing. Franco Corelli thought of Bocelli as a great singer and gave him support and advice. I guess he must have been a joke as well then. Bocelli may not be considered an Opera singer because it is not his main occupation. So what. Mario Lanza was also not an Opera singer by this definition. Indeed, they both have/had far more lucrative things to do. There are thousands of Opera singers who go totally unnoticed in this world, but there is only one Andrea Bocelli. If a suitable teacher is available, almost anyone can learn the technique required to sing Opera, it doesn't mean that the person has got talent. Mind you, contrary to the author's belief (who I bet does not know how to sing Opera or teach operatic singing), Bocelli does have technique, otherwise he would not be able to sing the way he does. The author states that Bocelli has got no connection to the text, which he claims to be the foundation of artistic singing. Well, Maria Callas disagrees with him. Probably another "joke". Callas was of the opinion that one must only listen to the music in order to understand the expression within. The secret does not lie in the text. Otherwise, anyone who can read would be able to sing expressively, including Garrett. Well, that's not happening anytime soon. The author thinks that there is a "vacuity of emotion" in Bocelli's singing. How pseudo-elitist and ridiculous. Andrea Bocelli's style does simply not consist of screaming in your ear like some contemporary artists like to do, but he has got a nuanced, refined and natural style matching that of a tenore di grazia, much like Tito Schipa, Alfredo Kraus or Juan Diego Florez for example. If you don't have the ability to appreciate fine wine but instead prefer Coke (aka loud screaming, thinking it is dramatic and expressive and therefore great artistry) then don't bash others. Instead, you should take a step back and try to learn and understand. The reason I think that many people love Bocelli's singing is because the timbre of his voice is extremely beautiful, deeply expressive and comes across as very natural, personal and touching. Not even one in a million voices are like Bocelli's, it is that special. Ok, enough Internet for today!— November 21, 2019 12:35 p.m.