The leading American baritone Thomas Hampson appears to have done his reputation no end of good (not that it needed much polishing, let’s face it) with a gracious and yet eloquent and robust defense of his art form on the BBC’s HARDtalk program. The television show espouses a confrontational house style and interviewer Sarah Montague had clearly been instructed to put Hampson on the spot about the popularity and expense of opera.
