Opera Lovers Check This Out
 

If you haven't heard about this yet, check out this link:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA

WOW!

There have been a couple of loooooong threads about Paul and his main competition - connie the 6 yo. (paul won).

Bravo!

Thanks, that was amazing!

Classic example of British dentistry, too, though...

StCirq - That's part of the fun of watching a diamond being formed.

Yes, TravMimi:

Drills and all....

Shades of Jussi Bjoerling! Hard to tell just how good is good from just one aria, and a blockbuster one at that, but the voice quality is there. Learning to sing a complete opera is another story indeed. However, this guy has a "high roof" and a beautiful lyric-spinto voice.

I would like to hear him do Che gelida manina and E lucevan le stelle.

For some reason, men from Wales can sing. Having heard two male voice choirs in my touring of Wales, I have come to the conclusion that it must be something in the water!

I will say this, where the Welsh genes predominate in my family, there is also musical talent!!

wow Artlover that was great to see.
I hope he make it or at least gets enough exposure to be offered some thing to get him into opera for a living somewhere.

Hi, artlover!

Thanks for posting!

Goosebumps time! ((y))

Youtube also has Placido Domingo doing the entire aria, instead of just a piece of it.

Great aria! Great singing!

...and I think he is adorable, besides having a golden voice.

Oh well, is anybody serious here, or am I going to be the only one? Shades of Jussi Björling, that one was really good. Rather, shades of how Jussi Björling would sound today, would he still be alive (last Feb. 2nd, he would have celebrated his 100th birthday). As for this poor guy, Mr. Potts, wouldn't it be better for him and, above all, for his deplorable audiences, if he chose to sing "Home, sweet home" or the like?
Please: if anybody really thinks this has anything in common with a satisfying rendition of Nessun dorma, go to www.francoisnouvion.net, click on "Tenors' index", and on "Tenors singing Nessun dorma" (you need to register, but it's for free); Nouvion has about 150 different Nessun dorma versions of REAL singers there. Just listen to, say, Bonisolli, Ferrauto, Giacomini, Kullman, Raichev, Schock, Valente, to get you started; or check out Simándys great version (on the same website, filed under East European tenors, and under Simándys name)... and you can also compare with Jussi Björling. If you're not completely deaf, you'll realize what a hopeless & completely voiceless crooner that Mr. Potts is...

Sorry, didn't manage to hit the apostrophe button: Simándy's...

franco: you sound like Frank Rich, the "Butcher of Broadway". :)

I'd say the truth is somewhere in the middle; he's hardly a "voiceless crooner", but he's not a polished operatic performer either. I think that's rather the point.

But there is something about the Welsh. Not just the famous boys choirs, or the pop singers (Tom Jones is Welsh) but the talkers. Dylan Thomas and Richard Burton come to mind. If there ever is another voice like Burton's I expect it to come from Wales as well.

Am I the only one who thinks he should sue his parents for his name?

I am an opera lover. I have checked out the link. I'm with franco on this one.

Well come on now no one said he would be get to the Met and we aren't judging him against the great tenors.

But don't you agree it certainly is nice to have him supported even any appreciation of opera on network TV is nice to see?

I think he has a big problem...he has a voice too big to be a crooner or a pop singer...and too small to be an opera singer. This is a problem because it puts him in "nobody's land".

massagediva, excellent point. I keep thinking of Pol Pot when I see his name.
kenderina, you may be right, too - for contemporary pop singing. Bing Crosby, though, to name a legendary crooner, had a voice big enough to sing in a live broadcast with Ezio Pinza (one of biggest operatic voices ever) without sounding ridiculous... check out this: http://www.archive.org/download/otr_...2EzioPinza.mp3

I know Bing Crosby !! Yes, he had a wonderful voice :) But today's music world (or industry) works a bit different...it's all about business if one wants to earn a living from singing. And the kind of songs old crooners sang..don't sell very much nowadays (unless you are Michael Bubble or the like). At least, here in Spain. I know a guy with a powerful voice who loves to sing ballads , and despite he has two cds on the market..he is having a hard time to make himself known. His manager say that people wants to dance and have fun, not sit down to hear a guy sing.

great stuff

Let me add that if some of you don't feel like listening to the entire Crosby show but are just interested in Pinza, start at about 12:15 in that sound file; first, Pinza sings alone, and then comes a gorgeous medley they're doing together.

DH--who is an avid opera lover and musician--agrees with franco. I'm (admittedly) a bit tone death, but still think this it is terrific to see something like this on television. DD--also a big opera lover--made an interesting point--wonder if an audience in the U.S. would have had the same reaction.

IMO this was incredible just to see how moved the audience was--a shining example of "the aesthetic experiene"!

Well I don't think we can judge a self taught guy on the strength of a piece of an aria sung in a barn of a hall.

He did well on Nessun Dorma. I was more impressed with the audience and its reaction.

As for Jussi Bjoerling, I was fortunate enough as a young man to hear him perform in the Albert Hall. That was 50 years ago! But the great Swedish tenor lives on in my CD collection. Too bad he died of a heart attack (or whatever) before stereo came into wide use. I never thought vinyl records did him justice and often CD remastering made his voice sound far more brittle and edgy than it really was in live performance.

And yes, Jussi sang Nessum Dorma that evening.

I think we are being a bit peevish here. The guy was living his dream. He knew why he was there, and he seemed to know full well who he was. He makes no pretense at being the next Franco Farina or Fabio Armiliato.

Let me put it this way: I live in a university town where there is a good school of music. I have heard no student tenors since I have been here that could have knocked off even part of Nessun Dorma as well as Paul did.
I don't think our faculty tenor voice teacher could either!!

I think the guy needs to be supported, not castigated for having the talent to do what he did. Tell you what, you try it! And get ready to duck the cabbages.

There are other threads here on fodors about Paul and they seem to like the fact that he is, indeed, living his dream and that his arias are heartfelt which makes it appealing and heartwarming.

I would agree it is exactly his heartfelt emotion that grabs people, and he appears SUCH an underdog. Italians may not be known for backing underdogs, but Brits & Americans are. Also, it was nice to see opera get some mainstream positive attention. However, Paul has a super long way to go before he can be taken seriously as an opera singer of the quality of Bjorling! Or, my personal favorite as Calaf (the character who sings "Nessun dorma"), Franco Corelli. But it is endearing watching him try....

I fully agree Paul had a heartfelt emotion, and even if it's just for that...maybe someone gives him the chance to learn. There are lots of people with wonderful voices (I know some) that have not a bit of interest in singing and they seem to sing like a waiter says the menu of the restaurant. Emotion is important :)