According to the video itself, the song is Magic Bird of Fire as performed by the Salsoul Orchestra, apparently based on Stravisnky’s Firebird Suite.
Wow, that was great. Anyone know how he did? I don’t know much about opera(I’ve only been a few times) but it seems that he should have a career for sure.
Not really. While certainly not bad for a car phone salesman (or whatever), it’s really not that good.
It is, in fact, extremely hard to have an operatic career. He’s not nearly good enough.
Woops. I believe this is correct. I suggested the right song to the wrong video. Mea culpa.
That did make me laugh - although it went on longer than need be.
I’m curious. Would you mind giving a more detailed critique of his performance? What specifically were his weaknesses?
It’s hard to get too detailed without sounding harsh. Let me say that his performance was still moving, and still remarkable for what it is: a shy, apparently awkward guy singing far better than anyone would expect, and shattering expectations. I don’t mean to diminish that.
That being said, his voice is fairly deficient in technique. His vibrato is inconsistent in both rate and width. There is at least once when he straightens out entirely. This is indicative of either tension or improper and inconsistent support. His top lacks ping and thrust and sounds to me like it is being produced by pushing, rather than relying on head register production. His high B at the end, despite the female judge’s reaction, is extremely unstable. There are other support issues: he generally lacks legato line, and there are inconsistencies in phrasing that are indicative of a lack of control. He also carries massive tension in his body. The fact that his entire body shakes in time with his vibrato indicates either tension or a certain amount of artificial control over his vibrato (or both). And, while it is somewhat difficult to judge when the performance is done amplified with canned accompaniment, his voice sounds very small to me. I don’t think that he could fill a reasonably sized space without amplification, especially with an orchestra in front of him.
I found the performance rather unmusical, and his Italian was generally pretty bad.
Again, in the context of what it is, we should appreciate what he did. However, in the context of a serious operatic career, he is far from ready. I don’t think many people understand just how competitive the opera world really is. I have friends who are far better than Paul who work at Starbucks and have difficulty getting roles at small regional companies (I like to think that I’m better than Paul, but I’m a baritone, and besides, it’s immodest). Opera Theatre St. Louis, a small second tier company, has some 1500 people audition for about 25 ensemble spots every year.
All of this is with the caveat that I’m judging based on about a minute of singing. I’ll leave open the possibility that future performances will be better. As I understand it, this all happened only a few days ago.
Incidentally, I find it amusing that so many of the comments on YouTube are along the lines of “move over Pavarotti”, considering that his career is more or less over (and he hasn’t really been that good since the '80s) and he isn’t really the iconic Calaf (who sings Nessun Dorma in Turandot). That would be Franco Corelli.
Let’s set aside for the moment whether he’ll ever break into opera. I suspect that success in opera, as in all the arts, has as much to do with politics and patronage as with talent and technical skill. But how much of what you criticized (with appropriate delicacy, I thought) can be attributed to a massive case of nerves? Also, how much is easily cleared up by the learning of this or that technique? I ask because, despite whether he is technically as good as Corelli, his voice has a beautiful sound to it as far as I’m concerned and his demeanor is well suited for the stage.
fachverwirrt I am curious to hear your impression of the one I linked to (post 10). It’s an even shorter snip but it sounds great to me. I would like to hear from someone with knowledge of the subject. I was interested to see the clip because the last time I saw her sing was in a high school musical twenty years ago. Seems like she has found her niche as a professional, mainly in Yiddish and baroque operas from what I can gather on the web.
At the top, maybe, to a degree. There is a threshold, however, beneath which patronage and politics don’t make much difference. At my level, for instance, the only really political element is where you’re from, in the sense that opera companies (especially regional ones) don’t like to hire locally. Beyond that, you really need to have a certain level of skill to get to the point where politics matter at all. Until you have name recognition (which means having been hired for talent and vocal skill) you need to rely on talent and vocal skill.
Some of it certainly could be nerves. To me, his top still seems underdeveloped, and his voice as a whole rather small. On the other hand, all we really have to go on is what we see, and based on this, he’s not there yet. I’m willing to reserve judgment until I see more, however.
Of course, he can always study and get better. I’m speaking in the here and now. His voice is quite pretty in the middle and upper middle. It’s the extremes that things start falling apart (this is one reason I’m not so willing to attribute it to nerves; it’s too stable in the middle).
I’m not familiar enough with the style to make much of a judgment. When she sustains a tone, I do hear what sounds like an ideal baroque voice. I might complain that it sounds like she’s straightening her tone in moving passages, but that could very easily be the style or personal choice.
Your comments have been edifying, Fachverwirrt. Thanks.
I know nothing about singing, but why wouldn’t an opera want local singers?
ETA: Given that there is local talent, that is.
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