Classical or Crossover?

[Oksana]

I'm surprised at the number of people that consider Katherine a crossover artist. In my opinion, her style is completely classical. Just curious to see your views.

[kcuteus1]

She is crossover and she says so. She does not just do classical. The only way I would say she is ture classical is if she was promoted like that and if she did all classical. Storry but to me she is not ture classical. And she can get on the main chart pure classical singers do not really make it on the main chart and they are promoted a different way.

I would never call some one a pure classical singer if they did not do a all classical cd or alot of stage oprea and recrials. there are some people that stated has prue classical but now I say they are classical crossover.

[HWI]

At the moment, Katherine is a classical crossover, although classically trained.

Her voice is not quite ready to take on the rigours of pure classical, which could be one reason why she does the crossover. The other could be because she enjoys it - and she does it so well.

Keith.

[kcuteus1]

Keith I thank you say it better than I could.

[Richard]

Hello everybody!

I would say Katherine is a crossover artist from what I've heard of her CDs, but I think her voice is more suitable for classical than pop. Also I find her voice much less distinctive than Hayley's.

Bye for now,

Richard

[stephch]

Katherine is crossover ,I have to say that I like her better then hayley .Also living a dream seem's more appeling then the uk odyssey.

[roger]

For me, this question is not as straightforward as it seems. When you read the poll question, "Is Katherine a classical or a classical crossover singer to you?", I have to say she is crossover because there's no getting away from the fact that she often..... well.... crosses over from the realms of strictly classical. However, Someone then points out that Katherine's "style" is completely classical. I have to agree, yes it is.

Consequently, my truthful answer is yes to both classical and to crossover. On balance, I consider her to be more classical than crossover and have voted accordingly.

Roger

[stephch]

I would never say she is purly classical but that is only because I like to alot of purly classical singer's and those singer's are opera singer's Katherine is not an opera singer so I do not look at her as purely classical.She never did a stage opera and she sing's with a mic her voice is classical but that does not make her a true classical singer.Which is way I see her as classical crossover.

[emmettb]

Hi All,

Great poll, lots of opinions from everyone.

I went with Classical. That was my first impression from when I heard Katherine first, also when you compare her to Hayley I think her style is classical.

She seems to be good at doing both and with most of her tv appearances she seems to stick to crossover or nearly even pop, but her albums stay classical.

She probably sticks to crossover on tv, because its easier for people to pick up on compared to pure classical. This probably helps with sales.


Emmett

[Oksana]

emmettb said:

Hi All,

Great poll, lots of opinions from everyone.

I went with Classical. That was my first impression from when I heard Katherine first, also when you compare her to Hayley I think her style is classical.

She seems to be good at doing both and with most of her tv appearances she seems to stick to crossover or nearly even pop, but her albums stay classical.

She probably sticks to crossover on tv, because its easier for people to pick up on compared to pure classical. This probably helps with sales.


Emmett

I've never seen her on TV, but I agree with you that from the studio albums, she's a classical singer.

[Raymond]

I also think that she is a classical singer.

Cheers,
Raymond

PS This is my 200th post. I am very happy to be part of this forum.

[kcuteus1]

I can think of many songs she did that are not classical and yes on her cds. well meet agin is not classical and never will be not now that is and than there is over the rainbow , music of the night.

But I am not someone that would put her with the pure classical singers. I think this could be that I can liten to pure classical singers and I do hear a different. Katherine is much eazyer to linten to and if i those she was a pure classical singer I would not like her as much as that I do not think her voice is as full as theses classical singers are.

If you put her with Cecilia Bartoli there is a different.

But I think it is up to what someone think of as a pure classical singer and I can not call her that.

[Natasha]

I don't think Katherine Jenkins is a classical singer, despite everyone calling her an 'opera singer.' I think one can perform classical and opera pieces without being a classical or opera singer.

To say she was classically trained is right but actually I am very unimpressed by Katherine's breath support. Especially in the video of "Habenera" at the Classical Brit awards where she seemed to literally be gasping for air. Hayley may not have attended the Royal Academy of Music but I think her support is much better -- she breaths very silently, sometimes you can't even tell she is breathing...

Her new album will have more crossover songs and so I've voted crossover. It looks like this is the direction she's heading in anyways.

[Dave]

The problem is, there is more than one type of classical crossover singer and some classical singers also do classical crossover - even Renee Fleming has released a crossover album!

First there is the trained classical/opera singer who chooses to sing mainly popular classics... but who *can* sing more demanding arias - and without microphones, too. Katherine fits here, I think.

Then, there is the mostly untrained singer, or ex pop singer, who could not successfully sing the full classical repertoire. But a few of them (like Hayley) can sing some classical arias well, albeit sometimes in an unconventional way. And almost without exception, they have to use microphones on stage.

Katherine has an Honours degree at London’s Royal Academy of Music and started her postgraduate studies in opera but then, a lucrative recording deal lured her away from it. She is probably well able to sing all the standard classical arias for mezzo soprano and can probably do it un-miked. She *can be* a classical singer but chooses not to be. This does not mean she could compete with the top classical opera singers like Fleming, Bartoli or Netrebko - she probably hasn't got the necessary depth of study or experience and personally, I don't think she is too accurate vocally. But, she is still a classically trained singer.

So how should I vote? Well, I vote for Classical Crossover because that's what Katherine has elected to do (exclusively popular classics). But I think she's done enough formal training to be a classical singer - if she wants to be.

[kcuteus1]

But she is not a ture classical singer at this point and most of the classical singer trian for about 8 to 10 years and still do training. And she has not sing with out a min at this point and has not done a opera . And this is what I think I think she is not ready for this and if she did she needs more training and I think she is not as good as overs to be a world class classical singer but she is good for classical crossover. And there are a lot of classical train singers that I think do not have the voice for the hard classical stuff it is not just about trainer it is also about if your voice has the right tone and stuff.

There are musical theather singers that have the same training that she has . I know about of the people on the west end and broadway do.

There is this singer from the USA that is trained in Musical theare, what to shcool for 6 years for opera, and won award from the Met. And I would not call this person a classical singer as that this is not what she does. And this person was told that it is batter not to be to trianed and she thinks that some schools are over trianing people.

I am not to into over trained singers. But I do belive that having a voice chouch is important.

Bartoli she Is a wourderful singer.