I need to make a few things clear from the outset: 1) I am not a connoisseur of opera; 2) I have really enjoyed most of the operas I have attended over the years; and 3) I think the popularization of opera through the efforts of the likes of the " Three Tenors " and Andrea Bocelli is wonderful.

But when " popularizing " crosses over the line to become a commercial rip-off, no one benefits - not even the artists, who may reap an immediate financial windfall but in the end do great harm to the fans and the art. Such was the case with the recent Bocelli concert at Boston's FleetCenter. Thousands of Bocelli fans paid good money (high-end tickets went for $400) to be in the presence of this darkly handsome blind tenor as he sang for them, in person, (all too few of) the songs that they had come to love from listening to his CDs.

I attended with my wife and two of our friends. We had paid $195 per ticket to sit in what are called, though are anything but, " premium seats. " From our vantage point, way above the stage on the stage-left side of the arena (just below the first tier of the private boxes, for those familiar with the FleetCenter), Bocelli - seen without the aid of binoculars, which we foolishly didn't bring - appeared to be about the size of an ant standing on your picnic blanket. (Of course, even if we'd had binoculars, they would have been of little help: after contorting ourselves to see around the hideously unattractive thick wires hanging in front of us from speakers to stage, we would still not have been able to see Bocelli, who always stood in the same place except for the numerous times he walked on and off the stage with his hands limply at his sides. It was a position that left us primarily with a view of the back of Marcello Rota as he conducted the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.) I can only imagine what the view was like for those who had paid only $135 and $75 to sit even further away and/or higher up than where our $195 tickets placed us. And frankly, if those who had paid $400 per ticket were seated with the same sightlines we had, they merely enjoyed a closer view of Maestro Rota's back - so they probably are (or should be) twice as pissed off as I am.

One final point about the performance: there was, for our viewing pleasure, a jumbo video screen (which actually didn't look so " jumbo " from our vantage point, and which also demanded an upward craning of the neck to see) on which was projected an as-might-be-seen-on-TV version of the concert. Of course, if I had wanted to watch Bocelli on TV, I wouldn't have had to pay $195 for a seat from which to do it. And what I would have seen on TV would have been far better produced and directed than what the reasonably competent FleetCenter director put on the jumbo screen. (It is at times like these that you are thrilled to make pledges to keep WGBH-TV broadcasting.)

So, since " viewing " the concert was a practical impossibility, listening to - or hearing - it became the prime consideration. You can sort of talk yourself into the idea that listening to Bocelli sing while even distantly in his presence has some merit. A rationalization for having been duped into paying the absurdly high ticket prices, leaving the comfort of your home, driving to the FleetCenter (some people took limousines), paying $17 to park your car, and then (if you didn't bolt early) spending a very long time trying to exit the massive garage.

Wrong.

The FleetCenter is absolutely no place for an opera singer to perform. For Bocelli, performing in this venue was an injustice to his talent, to his art, and to his fans. Even with what one imagines (or at least hopes) is the best system that sound engineers could provide for that environment, both Bocelli's voice and that of his accompanying soprano, Cecilia Gasdia, suffered continuous distortion. From the omnipresent echo-like quality to the tinniness that struck at Gasdia's high notes and the muddiness encountered when the orchestra and singers were at their biggest and fullest, closing my eyes and just listening only made me wince and wish for my CD.

This is not about being a purist or a snob. Opera and the magnificence of the great singers' voices - something that I truly marvel at - should not be debauched in the name of greed and " popularizing " by presenting them in arenas made for sporting events, circuses, and rock and roll. Tickets to the finest of operatic performances, in the best of opera houses, are relatively more expensive than tickets to most other musical or theatrical performances. (Although with the ticket prices of all other live performances skyrocketing, the gap could be closing.) It is so for good reasons: both the greatest performers and the venues suitable to experiencing them at their best are few, and those venues most certainly are not modern-day cow palaces like the FleetCenter. While sitting in the seat farthest from the stage at the Metropolitan Opera House won't provide you with an up-close-and-personal visual experience, you can, if you forget your binoculars, at least be carried away by the wave of beautiful sound. The alternative? Boycott these rip-off concerts and instead get the CDs or DVDs, or watch on TV. And if you don't have your heart set on Pavarotti or Bocelli, support our local opera companies, where you might just be surprised at how pleasurable and affordable this art form can be.

Issue Date: April 5 - 12, 2001