- Title: Baroque'n'Roll: Polish opera star uses breakdance to lure young audiences
- Date: 13th March 2020
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) OPERA SINGER AND BREAKDANCER, JAKUB JOZEF ORLINSKI, SAYING: "We have a pretty big game on Instagram because I like it, I enjoy it, but mostly because it is easy. It's just like as you saw, I just do a little thing but I am not all the time on my phone and when I am like waiting for a bus, waiting at the airport for a plane, I just throw some stuff, boom, boom - done."
- Embargoed: 27th March 2020 14:49
- Keywords: Jakub Jozef Orlinski Opera Awards Polish srtist breakdancer countertenor opera singer rehearsal social media
- Location: KATOWICE AND WARSAW, POLAND
- City: KATOWICE AND WARSAW, POLAND
- Country: Poland
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Music,Theater,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA009C4VZ589
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: With breakdance windmills and power moves Polish opera star Jakub Jozef Orlinski makes his way onto the stage at the National Radio Symphony Orchestra Hall to perform his coloratura pieces and largos arias.
Orlinski, who specializes in Baroque music, first became famous when a video of him performing Vivaldi's 'Vedro con mio diletto' went viral in 2017. In 2019, he released a video about how he pairs breakdancing with his career as a countertenor.
With close to 60,000 Instagram followers, Polish countertenor and breakdancer, says he is trying to use social media to break down cultural barriers and attract younger audiences to classical music.
"I do think that if we want to keep this classical music alive, it is important to find new tools, how to get to the new public," Orlinski told Reuters.
The singer says social media has helped him boost ticket sales for his shows, as well, even though he doesn't treat it as a business.
The director of a theatre in Frankfurt where Orlinski gave a concert last September told him it was only the third time in his theatre's history that all tickets had been sold out.
Orlinski has been nominated at this year's prestigious International Opera Awards, known as the "Opera Oscars," for best solo recital recording. The winners of the Opera Awards are to be announced in May.
(Production: Malgorzata Wojtunik) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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