Katherine Jenkins: Opera vs. Crossover

Music is for everyone. That is one of the few things I actually do believe. And though my listening time is dominated by opera and classical music, I still think that Freddie Mercury and Karen Carpenter were two of most wonderful vocalists to ever graced the planet... never mind that neither could be classified as an opera or even a classical singer. As much as I enjoy interviewing opera singers and impresarios, I also find it delightfully fascinating chatting up rock musicians and even a classical-crossover singer.

Yes, a classical-crossover singer... what a howl-inducing notion to many in the classical/opera circle! Somehow 'crossover' has become something of a dirty word among more than a few of the normally refined and (even) rational opera lovers. They despise classical crossover as a music genre and hold nothing back in expressing their contempt at the 'pretty figures in tight-fitting dress who dare to sing classical and opera arias with the help of a microphone to the (obviously) earless audience who dare to actually enjoy their performances'. With the success of the latest star of the crossover music scene, Katherine Jenkins is the current favorite target of these subset of opera fans' melodramatic ire.

Katherine Jenkins, as many of us would already know, is one of the most popular classical-crossover singers of the day who is also serving as a mentor in the British reality show, Popstar to Operastar airing on ITV1 and ITV3 in the UK. The Welsh beauty graduated with with honors and a music teaching diploma from the Royal Academy of Music (which, I note, makes her quite more musically trained than many of her very vocal critics are), though she has never sung in any opera performance... Nor has she publicly classified herself as an opera singer (at least not yet. She did state her intention to go into opera after turning 30 yrs old (which would mean sometime after June 2010).

What prompted me to write up this essay, however, is the fact that I can't seem to escape the flood of anti-Jenkins vitriol no matter where I go to discuss classical/opera music on the internet. Be it blogs, classical music fora, article comment sessions, or Youtube, hang around long enough and someone will show up bitching about how the likes of Jenkins are dumbing down opera and classical music.

To which I say spucatum tauri!

I don't know Katherine Jenkins... So I'll have to make the distinction between not liking the way she is marketed from not liking her as a person (I neither like nor dislike the gal).

For what it's worth, I've never seen her referring to herself as an opera singer. It is her fans that are doing it for her without her explicit consent. And people aren't blamable for what their admirers do (Steffi Graf wasn't to blame for the stabbing of Monica Seles, and Jodie Foster wasn't to blame for the shooting of Ronald Reagan either).

I don't consider Ms. Jenkins an opera singer for the very good reason that she has never sung in any opera performance (nor sung unamplified in a proper Arienabend the way real classical singers/recitalists do). While I do find the marketing of appearance over vocal ability rather disturbing (though I note that Ms. Jenkins herself is hardly responsible for it. She's just the current star made that way), I do wonder how many of her detractors would turn down the millions for the opportunity to do what she does - give her best (if barely adequate) performances of the music she likes in artificially acoustically enhanced setting while looking good and being adored by thousands of people who may or may not be able to distinguish good singing from not so good one.

After all, this is entertainment. People do have the right to enjoy not-all-that-technically-or-dramatically-stellar performances if they so choose. And singers also have the right to sing whatever they want! Nobody is forced to enjoy or appreciate it.... You always have the choice to not attend her concerts or switch to another television channel!

Being quite well exposed to the abundance of excellent opera singers, I don't hold Ms. Jenkins' renditions of operatic arias in high esteem (close your eyes and listen to the following clips in succession and see if you can hear the difference between mediocrity and excellence: clip 1 and clip 2). Therefore, I don't seek out Katherine Jenkins' classical-opera clips on youtube. I haven't the arrogance to mind her fans' admiration at their web pages and youtube clips. It only aggravates me when a Jenkins fan would feel it necessary to drop in on clips of real bona fide opera/classical singers to pooh-pooh the artists. Somehow, though, many classical/opera fans appear afflicted with an irresistible urge to do exactly that to the lady. WHY? Why can't we just be content with liking and not liking different artists for ourselves? Why are some of us compelled to exhibit this need to dictate what others can or cannot sing or like as well?

We classical/opera fans tend to dislike being thought of as a bunch of egoistical artistically tyrannical snobs. Well, do we keep on earning that morally degrading label or do we start earning a more reasonable image - one that is built on constructive criticism and enthusiastic appreciation of the many great classical-opera singers of today rather than on mis-aimed knee jerk reactions toward what other people like. How many of the young audience who had not been exposed to classical music and opera before became alerted to the genre via their exposure to crossover singers? I dare say a lot more than what some opera fans could bring themselves to admitting.

I had another re-read of Eileen Farrell's autobiography, Can't Help Singing, the other day and couldn't help thinking; how many of the Farrell-like singers have been prematurely discouraged away from attempting classical and opera singing because of all the unfair criticism and personal attacks leveled on today's classical crossover singers (for those who may not be familiar with her, Farrell was perhaps the greatest pop-classical crossover singer of the mid 20th Century. She had a highly successful run as an opera singer, but gave it up because of her distaste for the acrimonious backstage politics of opera compared to the more cordial world of pop music)?

In the time when classical music and opera have a hard time competing for market share with the hipper pop music stars, why are so many of opera's loyal fans engaging in counterproductive practice of alienating potential new fans away by sniping at their idols? Why aren't we instead learning to benefit from the increase level of perceived hipness generated by these crossover singers/programs and enticing more of the young consumers to give opera a good try? What is so wrong with being hip anyhow? There are many wonderful young opera singers today who can also pass for a supermodel on their bad hair days... and many more whose average look is enhanced into supernatural beauty at the sound of their voice and vocalism.

Why bitch about how people clamor to see Katherine Jenkins or Il Divo or Hayley Westenra when you could be raving about the exquisite sonic gold flowing out of Renee Fleming's mouth or the lust-inducing richness of Elina Garanca's voice (and her blond tress), the heart-throbbing hunkiness (whether he is singing or not) of Jonas Kaufmann, the mesmerizing quality of Joyce DiDonato's bel canto singing or Vesselina Kasarova's ability to vocally melt your stereo into a puddle of well-cajoled liquid goo. Opera and classical music have a lot more to offer than just a bunch of grouchy loud fans!