The American soprano Danielle de Niese, has told the Daily Telegraph newspaper that the era of the "fat lady" stereotype in opera is over. Or rather that it has no basis in fact, though it might linger in the media and people's imaginations.
It's an interesting point, and comes from a singer who made her name as much on her seductive stage presence, in her breakthrough role as Handel's Cleopatra at Glyndebourne, as on her vocal talents, impressive as they are. And De Niese, who has (the newspaper tells us with some relish) just performed in "a racy production involving a lesbian affair" of Calisto, in Munich, claims that singers now come in all shapes and sizes and there is no real basis in the parodic image of the fat diva any more.
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