Mezzo-Soprano J'Nai Bridges Gives Her Great Big Story To CNN

"J’Nai Bridges knows that most people perceive opera as being an artform for the elite. Because opera was traditionally catered towards nobility, many today still don’t feel welcome. Bridges wants to change that. The mezzo-soprano is a rising star in the opera world, with starring roles on stages around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera House and the San Francisco Opera. When she’s not belting out arias, she’s going to local schools to give students a chance to experience an opera, or teaching masterclasses at colleges. As a Black, female artist, Bridges knows the importance of showing children—especially BIPOC children—that classical music is possible. As Bridges says, when she walks into a room or onto a stage, her goal is to 'change minds, heal hearts, and make music.'" Watch the video after the jump. 

Bringing Opera Singers To Television Shows At What Cost?

Future popera star: Bradley Wisk

"Maybe the production team for The Bachelor and The Bachelorette has a newly acquired taste for high Cs and Wagnerian levels of personality conflict, but this reality-show franchise has suddenly made a habit of casting aspiring opera singers. The newest edition of The Bachelorette premieres Monday night, with tenor Bradley Wisk included among the initial 25 contestants vying for a rose from 'bachelorette' Andi Dorfman. On Wisk's website, the 32-year-old singer says that he was a student of Giorgio Tozzi at Indiana University and then received his master's degree at Manhattan School of Music. But over the past few years, he's been shopping himself around as more of a aspiring 'popera' performer, complete with backup dancers. If you're curious to hear Wisk in action in pure classical mode, we've dug up a video of him singing the ever-popular 'Che gelida manina' aria from Puccini's La Bohème. Maybe Wisk's turn on The Bachelorette — regardless of how many roses he accepts along

Pursuing opera over roses: Sharleen Joynt

the way — will provide just the kind of media exposure that he seems to be seeking for his own, not-so-highbrow career. But he might also want to heed the words of Sharleen Joynt, the young soprano who recently, and famously, decided to leave The Bachelor of her own accord partway through taping. Joynt is no Miss America talent-competition-level dilettante, and, unlike Wisk, she's a hardcore opera singer. This past season, she's been covering Strauss' Arabella at the Met. Her teacher in New York, Ruth Falcon, has also taught heavy hitters like Deborah Voigt, Sondra Radvanovsky and Danielle de Niese. A shakily recorded video of Joynt singing 'Grossmächtige Prinzessin' from Strauss' opera Ariadne auf Naxos in Heidelberg, Germany, is just stunning." [Source] Read the full story here.