Popstar to Operastar

Popstar to Operastar is a British television programme in which pop stars were trained to sing opera. The show began airing on ITV on 15 January 2010 at 9pm.[1] The show was repeated on TV3 Ireland on Saturday evening.[2] The programme was produced by Renegade Pictures.

Popstar to Operastar
GenreReality
Presented byMyleene Klass
Alan Titchmarsh (2010)
JudgesKatherine Jenkins
Rolando Villazón
Simon Callow (2011)
Vanessa-Mae (2011)
Meat Loaf (2010)
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (2010)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes12
Production
ProducersEmma Greenhalgh
Jamie Wiggins
Production locationThe London Studios
Running time90 minutes
Production companyRenegade Pictures
DistributorRenegade Pictures
Release
Original networkITV, STV, UTV
Picture formatPAL (576i)
Original release15 January 2010 (2010-01-15) –
10 July 2011 (2011-07-10)
External links
Website

With the show being a singing competition, it featured (some) appropriate judges: (Mexican tenor) Rolando Villazón, (Welsh mezzo-soprano) Katherine Jenkins, (pop singer) Meat Loaf and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. Villazón and Jenkins also mentored the contestants giving them the songs to sing during the live shows. Meat Loaf and Llewelyn-Bowen were critic-judges, who talked about their performances. However, after the first series, it was announced that Meat Loaf and Llewelyn-Bowen would not be returning as judges. Their replacements were confirmed to be actor and opera-director, Simon Callow and classical singer/violinist, Vanessa-Mae. The presenters of the show were confirmed to be Alan Titchmarsh and Myleene Klass with the non-operatic "Dies Irae" from Verdi's Requiem as the theme tune. However, for the second series, Titchmarsh did not return to the show. The winner of the first series was Darius Campbell and winner of the second series was Joe McElderry.

The first episode of series 2 brought in 5.98 million viewers bringing the show its highest ratings to date. Each week the results show featured a guest performance, normally an operastar singing to promote their upcoming album. For every vote cast, money was donated to the Nordoff-Robbins charity. The winner also received a payment for a charity of their choice.

Format

The show is an opera-singing competition in which eight celebrity singers who are known for singing pop music compete through the competition and try to win the title of the show. Each week they are trained by professional opera stars (mentors); who teach them how to sing opera. The acts all perform live, giving a performance of their operatic song in an effort to impress the public, who will vote for them to keep them in the competition. Each performance is shown both live on television and in front of a live studio audience. The two singers with the fewest public votes are in the bottom two and get the chance to sing again, however their previous performance are "forgiven and forgotten" and the judges vote based on their sing-off performance who should stay and go. During the first series, if the judges vote went to a tie, it would go down to the public vote, however during series two the head judge will get to decide who stays in the competition after the sing off, if it is a tie. The head judge changed every week. However, if the judges vote against the contestant to stay in the competition they will be eliminated. A proportion of the revenue from the telephone votes is donated to the Nordoff-Robbins music therapy charity.[3]

Judges and presenters
Series 2 new judges, Vanessa-Mae and Simon Callow

Once the show had been announced, there was a lot of speculation over who would be on the judging panel. However, it was later confirmed that the show's judges were to be Katherine Jenkins, who would also mentor the contestants, and Rolando Villazón who would mentor as well. Meat Loaf and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen were also confirmed to be judge critics, who would judge the contestant's performances only and not mentor the acts. All of the four judges critique each performance.

Jenkins and Villazón mentor the acts, training the pop stars in the art of opera singing; bringing them out their comfort zone and training them to sing in an operatic voice.

It was then later confirmed that Myleene Klass would present the show, however she was revealed as a co-host and Alan Titchmarsh was confirmed to be the other co-host of the show and they would present it together. However, after series 1, Alan Titchmarsh confirmed that he would not return as the co-host of the show and Klass would present the show as a solo presenter.

After series one, it was confirmed that Meat Loaf and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen would not be returning as judges and would instead be replaced by Vanessa-Mae and Simon Callow.

Judges

Presenters

Series 1 (2010)
Main article: Popstar to Operastar (series 1)

Popstars
Popstar Solo/Group/Band Status
Alex James Blur (Bass guitarist) Eliminated 1st
Vanessa White The Saturdays Eliminated 2nd
Jimmy Osmond The Osmonds Eliminated 3rd
Danny Jones McFly Eliminated 4th
Kym Marsh Soloist/Hear'Say Eliminated 5th
Marcella Detroit Shakespears Sister Third place
Bernie Nolan The Nolans Runner-up
Darius Campbell Soloist Winner

Series 2 (2011)
Joe McElderry, winner of series 2.
Main article: Popstar to Operastar (series 2)

Popstars
Popstar Solo/Group/Band Status
Midge Ure Ultravox/Soloist Eliminated 1st
Jocelyn Brown Soloist Eliminated 2nd
Melody Thornton Pussycat Dolls Eliminated 3rd
Andy Bell Erasure Eliminated 4th
Joseph Washbourn Toploader Eliminated 5th
Claire Richards Steps Third place
Cheryl Baker Bucks Fizz Runner-up
Joe McElderry Soloist Winner

References
  1. "Popstar to Operastar gets set for primetime". STV. 15 January 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
  2. "Popstar to Operastar". TV3 Ireland. Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
  3. "Popstar to Operastar - charity". itv.com. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
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