Month: September 2005

The life of an opera singer is not for the faint-hearted. Itís one of dizzying highs and lows, a crazy roundabout of heart-warming praise and soul-piercing criticism. No-one gets off lightly ó even the best in the world ó and to survive just a decade of this madness is an achievement in itself. Iíve been following the progress of American star countertenor David Daniels for a while now, so when I was asked to write a ten year retrospective on his career it seemed to me that, with a lot written already about that career, the ìhowî would be more interesting to discuss than the ìwhatî or ìwhenî. And the viewpoint that would give the most insight into how this exceptional singer came to be where he was would be: his own.