The Three Tenors:  Threat or Menace?   Does this quadrennial wallow
in sentiment contaminate classical music, or does it bring in new 
listeners?  Is it a quick cash in, or just a couple of guy soccer 
fans out for a fun evening?
 
If I remember correctly, the show is Friday July 10, but check 
a TV listing before you set those VCRs.

16 responses total.

There's now a "Three Countertenors" CD.

And I once heard a "Three Baritones" spoof on NPR sometime.
("I feel pretty<grunt>
  Oh so pretty<grunt grunt> ...")
Fortunately they only took it a couple of lines further.  (The format
of the spoof was an ad for the actual event, so it faded out into
talk.)  It was cute.

Oh, yes.  As far as the actual posted topic, I have no firm opinion.  8-{)]

I haven't listened to the three tenors as a group. I hope I'm beyond that.
But all three are fine singers, and anything, ANYTHING, that helps to develop
an audience for serious music is a good thing. 

Is the western orchestrated music known as classical the only serious music?

Depends on how you're defining "serious."  Bob Dylan was more
"serious" than many classical composers.  Which is more serious:
Blowin' in the Wind, or The Nutcracker?  

"Serious" is, in this case, the term a lot of people came up with as a
replacement for "classical".  It probably has at least as many faults as the
term it's replacing, but, well, *some* name is needed, & there's not a lot
of choice.  (Myself, I say "classical".)

Other classical musics are also serious, not just the western ones.

rrr

r # 4 & 7 Exactly my poiint with that question.

Channel 56, Detroit's PBS station, aired the Three Tenors concert about six
times in two days.  The repeat broadcasts were loaded with pledge
breaks.

I hate those hard-sell sessions for pledges on the PBS stations. Generally
I make tapes of the programs I like, and fast-forward over the other stuff.
But, to return to the topic, the great thing about the Three Tenors is that
they're showing that there's a real audience out there. Cecilia Bartoli is
another one, a brilliant singer, with a lot of enthusiastic fans. Like me.

I give the three tenors credit for popularizing operatic music. I'd rather
enjoy an opera, myself.

Isn't three tenors equal to thirty dollars?
(just asking)

Speaking of opera, can anyone recommend opera companies within driving
distance of AA? It's seemed like a desert compared with New York State, where
Glimmerglass in the summer and Syracuse Opera in the winter were really
outstanding. I haven't been to Detroit, where the programs seem to be nothing
but the old, familiar warhorses. Ditto for the New York City travelling
company's annual visit here. Gilbert and Sullivan are just dandy, but I
wouldn't call them grand opera. What else is there? Any suggestions?

John, I don't have time to prepare a list right now... 
a quick cruise through the opera item  ( item:music,21  or 
item:classical,10 ) may offer some hints.  And no matter what I suggest,
I don't know what's going to get you past a repertoire of the 
old warhorses.  I think Michigan Opera Theatre was a little more 
adventurous before they bought their new opera house; but I remember 
the audience discomfort with Szymanowski's KING ROGER echoing through 
the rest of the season  (buzz buzz "Wasn't that Polish opera awful?"
buzz buzz) and I don't expect them to get more adventurous than 
THE FLYING DUTCHMAN in the next decade.
 
Is Cleveland within driving distance?  We've gone to see an opera
with their company.  Adrian has a cute little opera house which 
stages one or two shows a year: look for Opera Lenawee on the web.
Grand Rapids has a company; Mike McNally will have to tell you more
about that one.   Toledo seems to do exactly one show per year, and 
it always conflicts with something for us.
 
Your best hope for getting beyond the Top 20 opera is probably going 
to be U-Mich School of Music.  They mount two productions each year.
Some are very mainstream, but sometimes they dig into the catalog:
DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES, TURN OF THE SCREW, ALBERT HERRING, 
THE BOOR, to name some off the top of my head.

  My sister and I have been buying season tickets to the Opera Grand Rapids
  productions for a couple of years now (five, I think..) (and in recent
  years my father has joined us as well..)

  I generally enjoy their productions but I'm an opera newbie and relatively
  easy to please -- it sounds like you're both fairly particular *and* looking
  for something beyond the ordinary popular repertoire.  Given that, I don't
  think you'd be that happy with OGR, they tend to stick to the most popular
  classics (which has been good for us so far, as it's given me a chance to
  see them for the first time but the charm of that is starting to wear off
  already -- this coming season they're repeating "La Boheme" which was
  performed only four or five years ago..)

The Three Tenors are appearing in Detroit this summer.
They will be performing at Detroit's cultural shrine.
that acoustical gem, Tiger Stadium.
 
This is actually quite a coup for the Michigan Opera Theatre, as 
the Tenor show is only doing three concerts worldwide this year, 
and this is the only one in America.  We don't plan to go.

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