“It’s an extremely difficult sing for Ophelia [in Hamlet],” [Simon] Keenlyside said. “It’s right at the extremes of the upper register of a soprano. It’s very difficult and also it demands stage presence, charisma and theatrical abilities as well. You can’t just stand and sing it these days, despite what our critics say.”–aolnews.com
I regret to see him apparently playing along with the phoney-baloney idea that opera in the not so long ago past was a matter of “stand and sing.” It wasn’t. The idea is used to play up the merits of contemporary singers who by and large aren’t so interesting or so good as the singers of the 1950′s and 1960′s.
