The University News

Just an FYI, it is not a compliment to say that "big, obnoxious voices" were not present in this opera. Big voices are REQUIRED to be able to be heard in the back of the standard opera house. If one does not have a large voice, one will not tend to have an opera career (though, sadly, that is changing somewhat). Opera is intended to be larger than life, and, though you don't specify the venue where this was performed, there are no recital halls on this campus that meet the standards of a regulation opera theatre.

That you merely summarized the opera here instead of critiquing the voices, sets, direction and staging, costuming and other parts of the opera clearly indicates that you do not have a working knowledge of the art forms of either opera or critique.

The reviewer simply said that no stereotypes she listed were present. What I got out of it was that this opera wasn't stereotypical and would probably interest most students because of that.

As a bbw girl on pluscupid.com, I love operas of stereotypes, and have no idea about this one.

Given that she lists "Viking horns and blonde braids" and doesn't realize that that only comes from *one* opera...yeah.
I'm not sure I want to see something "even Paris Hilton" would enjoy.

I think that she was just trying to say that this opera in particular would be enjoyed by the common crowd; rather than an elitist who would rather keep operatic talent to a select snobbish few.

Amy Dobek, don't be self righteous and condescending. You're what turns people off from ever entering into the world of opera.

Amanda, she was listing stereotypes that people think. The writer obviously doesn't believe that operas always have "Viking horns and blonde braids", she said that that's what many people think first of when they think of opera since that particular image has been parodied many times over.

First of all, I'd like to say that the response to my article makes me happy, because it means people are talking about opera outside of the conservatory, which is the precise reason why I wrote the article.
The article was written to entertain a wide spectrum of people, and to make people actually want to go to and enjoy opera.

As most of the people reading this know, there is a only a small minority of people who love and adore opera in America, so the introduction was meant to entertain and give a satirical account on what most people erroneously think.

The inclusion of the pop culture phenom, Paris Hilton was meant to intrigue people who would have otherwise skipped over an article about opera, which is the majority of UMKC students.
I did not feel the UNEWS was the appropriate place to talk about the technique of breath support, resonance, or vocal agility, since most people wouldn't know what I'm talking about.

I have been an opera fan most of my life, and have more opera CDs than I can count. I am aware of much of the history and traditions of opera, but I'm also aware that most of my readers are not, so I try to give them something they can relate to and enjoy.

I'd also like to say that I love opera so much that I want to share it with everyone, especially people who don't know anything about it and who have a negative stereotype about it.

Another thing I'd like to point out is that the purpose of the summarization was to show readers that there are actual stores in opera that they can relate to and love, instead of just being something in another language that they can't understand.

Hopefully my article allows the UNEWS readers to know a little bit about opera, and to maybe attend one in the future.