# TIO is cancelled



## IgorS (Jan 7, 2018)

This is opera removed their youtube and facebook pages. Pity, it was interesting.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

This is very strange. They seemed excited about their recent growth on YouTube and Facebook in their happy New Year post and gave no indication that they were going to stop. I wonder what happened. I can imagine it was a lot of work (and frustration) to maintain it, but I can't see why they wouldn't leave their YouTube page up and just not update it if they were quitting for that reason. I'm pretty sad though. They did excellent work.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Wow, wasn't expecting that! I did enjoy their videos.  
I found that they criticized singers that I never really liked and gave explanations whereas before I was not really able to explain why I did not like certain singers.

Nevertheless, I was somewhat skeptical of certain things they did and wonder if any of it had to do with why they are apparently gone:

- Their sometimes overly simplified explanations.

- Their failure to take sound quality of the recordings into account when comparing singers. This person made this interesting video trying to explain it, although I was never sure that I completely agreed: 



Here he is apparently apologizing to This is Opera: 



Confusing flip flop 

- Their promotion of Silver Singing. 
This was the big one for me. I just couldn't help but think is this obscure person who advertises lessons from some pitiful dubious looking blog page really the only teacher who knows how to teach opera singing correctly? I highly doubt it. I wonder if he was the anonymous person behind the channel, promoting some sort of scam by deceptively using truth to promote his crazy business. I know that's just a guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was true at least somewhat.

- Their promotion of Saioa Hernandez.
The video they used to promote her was something that looked like a person in the audience recorded (really poor sound quality). When I looked up other recordings of her (better sound quality) on YouTube and Google Play Music, I thought she just sounded like the singers the channel criticized.

- Their failure to give anything but vague credentials.

I found these links: 
https://newschoolsinger.com/2020/01/12/this-is-opera-have-cancelled-their-youtube-channel/

https://newschoolsinger.com/2020/01...ins-openly-marketing-their-business-ventures/

I think this person was trying to find out who was behind the channel.

I am thoroughly confused. 
Perhaps someone can address these skepticisms (some of which were other people's skepticisms also) or provide any other information for us.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

adriesba said:


> - Their sometimes overly simplified explanations.


This is hard to address unless you are more specific.



adriesba said:


> Their failure to take sound quality of the recordings into account when comparing singers. This person made this interesting video trying to explain it, although I was never sure that I completely agreed:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Even if he were correct about distortion, it only applies to a tiny little bit of what TIO does. Does anyone seriously think that the only difference between Kirsten Flagstad and Lise Davidsen is distortion on the microphone? No, one sings in collapsed head voice and the other does not. That's not just about "squillo". You can hear that Flagstad's voice is infinitely more solid. Also, it doesn't account for developed lower registers in older female singers, and lack of the same in modern singers. Finally, what about bad old singers? Why doesn't Placido Domingo sound huge and "chiaroscuro" on live recordings like Del Monaco if that's all it is? Why doesn't he sound as big as Nilsson when she demolishes him in their Turandot duet? And why are there old non-chiaroscuro singers? Where is Lily Pons' distortion to make her voice huge and low larynx? Finally, the guy doesn't sound that good in the "enhanced" version anyway.



adriesba said:


> - Their promotion of Silver Singing.
> This was the big one for me. I just couldn't help but think is this obscure person who advertises lessons from some pitiful dubious looking blog page really the only teacher who knows how to teach opera singing correctly? I highly doubt it. I wonder if he was the anonymous person behind the channel, promoting some sort of scam by deceptively using truth to promote his crazy business. I know that's just a guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was true at least somewhat.


Silver is a voice teacher with an acerbic online personality, yes, but what he has to say makes sense in terms of its content. Furthermore, his students are impressive. You can listen to the results yourself. It is not just recording device. He takes a church tenor and makes that into a huge baritone sound or whatever. Now, the true test is if his students can sustain that over a career and get good reviews from audiences (not critics, who don't know anything).
Also, if you want to get a sense of Silver, listen to this interview he did. He sounds like a totally reasonable person who is passionate, but logical, thorough, and can actually demonstrate what he talks about:







adriesba said:


> - Their promotion of Saioa Hernandez.
> The video they used to promote her was something that looked like a person in the audience recorded (really poor sound quality). When I looked up other recordings of her (better sound quality) on YouTube and Google Play Music, I thought she just sounded like the singers the channel criticized.


They were critical of her sound except for her chest voice. She does not coordinate it into her head voice, so she has collapsed head voice, yes.



adriesba said:


> - Their failure to give anything but vague credentials.


If they are correct, who cares what their credentials are? Being a renowned vocal coach doesn't mean you know what you are talking about. The people they drew from, Stanley, LoMonaco, etc., are certainly credentialed, though not well known.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I wonder if they were faced with legal action, or just physically cancelled.

(There's a lot of internet censorship out there, i've seen people's blogs pulled suddenly for no reason, just because they were exposing some pretty shady dealings.)

N.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

The Conte said:


> I wonder if they were faced with legal action, or just physically cancelled.
> 
> (There's a lot of internet censorship out there, i've seen people's blogs pulled suddenly for no reason, just because they were exposing some pretty shady dealings.)
> 
> N.


Indeed. I also wondered if somebody prominent complained or threatened a suit. But that still doesn't really explain why their website is gone too. (Well, a lawsuit would, but not complaints to YT and FB.) I haven't found any information yet. Nobody, including Silver (looked at his FB page), seems to know what the deal is.

Of course, their detractors are declaring victory.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

TIO just made a video with an explanation (vague): 




Apparently something personal that they don't want to give details about, I guess. I hope they can come back.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Very, very odd!

N.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

Glad it's not a suit or a hack. I'm also glad to hear that they have all their material and could re-upload it if they chose. Am happiest of all to hear there's at least a chance they will come back. Their wording is mysterious. I won't speculate, though, since I've already been wrong when speculating about this. Just good to have an update.


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