The Enright Files: Opera singers on their place in a grand tradition
Many of the best opera singers are Canadian — Measha Brueggergosman, Barbara Hannigan and Ben Heppner
Opera may have a reputation for being the domain of the highbrow — a marker of the snootiest kind of sophisticated and affluence.
But it hasn't always been that way. In the 19th Century, for example, Italian and French opera were sneered at by the populist entertainment for the hoi polloi.
The same music is as transcendent today as it was then.
The greatest opera singers in the world turn the words and music of Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, Bizet and others into some of the most sublime sounds one will ever hear.
Many of the best opera singers today happen to be Canadians who hail from places very distant from the world's most celebrated concert halls.
This month on the The Enright Files: conversations with opera singers about their art and their place in a grand tradition.
Guests in this episode:
- Measha Brueggergosman is a Canadian soprano
- Barbara Hannigan is a Canadian soprano
- Ben Heppner is a Canadian tenor and host of CBC Music's Backstage
- Renee Fleming is an American soprano
** The Enright Files is produced by Chris Wodskou.