50,000 People In The Rain Demonstrate How Elitist Classical Music Really Is

49,999 people + Opera Chic cheered last night the awesomeness of Roberto Bolle's free recital in Piazza del Duomo; Mozart's and Rossini's and Bizet's music, Bolle's and Ulyana Lopatkina 's and Ivan Kozlov's and Arman Grigoryan's and Vahe Martirosyan's and Natasha Novotna's and Vaclav Kunes's and Sabrina Brazzo's and Alicia Amatrian's and Jason Reilly's dancing.

Opera Chic saw a lot of kids, a lot of them, and families, an average age about 35 or 40 years younger than the people she sees at la Scala's shows down at the other side's of Milan's Galleria.

Now one has to factor in Bolle's star power, the free tickets and Jumbotrons for those too far away from the stage and all, but still if only Scala's administrators could manage to take all those people from under the rain of piazza Duomo over to la Scala, the future of classical music here would be a-OK for the next generation at least.

The audience is out there, if you take the time to charm them a little and show them that classical music is cool, and the farthest away from boring, if done right. Bolle has done that -- that's why we need his magic.

Comments

[A Real Cad]

But how many of them can read music?

[virginblogger]

Isn't it rumored that Pavoratti couldn't read music?

[Willym]

Funny I can't read music but I can listen to it... would being able to read it make it any better for me after almost 60 years of only listening?

[Henry Holland]

I'm sure A Real Cad was using one of the usual cliches that alleged "classical music snobs" throw around about the peasants, but the answer to your question Willym is: YES, absolutely. Following along with a score helps me understand the rhythms better, the harmonies too, what the composer wanted to highlight and what's in the background, the form of the piece, whether the performers are being faithful to the score (yeah, Leonard Bernstein, I'm looking at you) etc.

I could teach anyone to read music in 1/2 hour, but there's this weird bias against it, that it's "too intellectual" or somesuch.

[mezzosoprano]

Bolle is the best thing that could have happened to classical ballet right now. He is a REAL ballet star who works his a.. off and has for the last 20 years or so but instead of taking the money and leading a shallow celebrity life, he works with the U.N. and goes to Darfur, etc. Not only has he put ballet in the headlines but he is truly modest as well. He is a wonderful human being and deserves every bit of praise he gets!

[Willym]

LOL - that's me a simple Irish peasant boy with no intellectual aspirations...