Who’s that? Pol Pot after anglicizing his name?
Can you find me a working link of Connie the six year olds final performance?
can’t wait to see the extreme makeover in a few months
I don’t know much about opera but he sounds very good to me.
I have had several in my family and church watching these threads and emailing youtube links all over.
Great job. This has been the first “Idol” type show that I have watched in many years. Clean, refreshing, does not seem staged at all.
Watch for it to get copied around the world many times.
Thank you for the link... He seems to be a shy guy... All the attentions he got must be overwhelming for him...
Awesome!
I watched Pavarotti’s performance of the same aria, obviously his voice is much richer, but Paul is such a “Cinderella guy.”
This will get lots of people interested in opera.
I’m so thrilled for him!
DO NOT MISS THIS ONE -— http://youtube.com/watch?v=26PL-0BaJfY
But...
(There's always a but...)
And I know this isn't going to make me popular, but...
The "Cinderalla story" that I believe aided his win significantly has a few problems. I so wanted to believe the whole unassuming, shy cell phone salesman blowing the world away with his undiscovered operatic singing abilities. I still want to believe it. But, sadly, it's not entirely true.
In 2001 Paul Potts sang the part of Don Carlos in the BATH OPERA's production of Verdi's Don Carlos. This is from Paul Potts' biography entry on the Bath Opera website:
Paul Potts (Don Carlos) is a relative new comer to Grand Opera after an apprenticeship in Gilbert and Sullivan in Bristol.. His claim to fame is his 1999 appearance on Michael Barrymore's My Kind of Music. This was followed by singing for Bath Opera in Turandot as Prince of Persia and Herald. He has since performed with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and spent three months touring Northern Italy as a soloist, training under top teachers Mario Melani and Svetlana Sidrova. He has been invited back for a concert to be recorded and also for a masterclass with Luciano Pavarotti. Future plans include a summer tour with the RPO.
So, he's been professional trained and he has been singing professionally for some time.
The Sun had an article yesterday about the controversy. Here's an exerpt:
But yesterday angry viewers told how they felt DUPED after details of Paul’s classical training emerged.I'll bet anything that the show's producers knew all of this all along. They had to. I'm also sure that they intentionally crafted Paul's image to be just what we thought it was. Just what I wish it really was.Far from being a shy amateur, Paul has received extensive singing training.
He was a regular with Bath Opera, where roles included the lead in Verdi Don Carlos.
He spent two summers touring northern Italy with a major opera school and took master classes with top stars.
He even got to sing in one hosted by his idol, Luciano Pavarotti.
Paul isn’t even a newcomer to TV talent shows. In 1999 he won £8,000 on Michael Barrymore’s My Kind Of Music.
The Sun was flooded with calls from readers who felt conned.
Matt Young, 33, said: “On the show there has been no mention that he performed in front of Pavarotti.
“It is dishonest of the programme makers. The show is supposed to be all about undiscovered talent but it seems Paul’s talent was recognised a long time ago.”
Julie Shepherd, 29, of East London, said: “My husband and I are absolutely fuming. We feel duped. We voted for Potts and are thinking about asking for our money back.”
Last night Paul defended himself, claiming he was just an “ordinary bloke.”
He said: “I am not a professional. I’ve never been paid for my singing, all the training I’ve received I paid for myself, and I grafted hard to do so.
In total I have spent about £2,000.
“The judges said I was an ordinary guy doing an ordinary job and that is absolutely true. I have worked at the Carphone Warehouse for three years.
“The tour I did in Italy was part of a course, it wasn’t professional.”
It's too bad, really. It made a cool story.
Yea Paul!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope we get to see is performance before the Queen.
When will that be, do you know?
Oops, just read the answer to my question, he sings in Dec.
Here’s hoping he comes to the US for some appearances!
Paul Potts sings Hillary!!! http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1851925/posts?page=1
I am completely thrilled over Paul’s success. Look what happens to a man who is true to his own dreams! Only in a free country can such a thing come true.
Hey, I’ve paid a small fortune for voice training, and have sung twice in recital for Barbara Dever of the Metropolitan Opera. (In case you don’t who she is, she’s sung professionally with Pavarotti and Domingo, and works regularly with Zubin Mehta. She’s a true world-class talent, and said I had a golden glow!)
Training and working in opera is extremely expensive. It is essentially a rich person’s art. Most of the up and coming talent are beautiful, rich, and privileged young people who can afford to fly from city to city on auditions, and spend summers paying to perform in workshops in Europe’s many small opera companies. Lessons are expensive (mine are $120 per hour, and most people pay more for big name teachers — twice a week.)
And forget about recording if you’re a serious opera talent. The studios no longer pay to hire orchestras to back you up and they certainly do not pour the capital into recordings that have little chance of selling in the millions. Years ago, such recordings were very common. No more.
The exceptions are humble, gifted people like Potts who scrape by, sacrifice, and build whatever career they can purely on work and merit.
Potts participated in the show precisely on its own terms — finding undiscovered talent and making them into stars.
God bless that wonderful man and his wife. I wish him a long and prosperous career.