A favorite intermission topic: Do "crossover" phenonema such as the Three Tenors draw new audiences to classical music, or do they — as I've frequently heard insiders assert — serve only to cheapen the art? An interesting passage from David Patrick Stearns's profile of the brilliant young bel-canto tenor Lawrence Brownlee: "The world around Brownlee heard talent in his voice long before he did, starting with a choral director in his native Youngstown, Ohio. As with so many singers who hail from smaller metropolitan areas, the voice appeared before his interest in opera did. If anything drew Brownlee to this kind of singing, it was the Three Tenors, who inspired him to win vocal competitions with their blood-and-guts arias...."
