". . . screeching (to my ears) sopranos. . . ."

Listen to a recording of Renée Fleming singing the "Song to the Moon" aria from Dvorak's Rusalka. If this is "screeching," then I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my life listening to such screeching. This is only one soprano singing one aria (out of hundreds, maybe thousands, of possible combinations of sopranos and arias) that does not (to my ears) screech.

It's really unfortunate that so many people, when they hear a soprano singing in her upper register, put it down as "screeching." Some of the most beautiful music ever written was written for the soprano voice—some, the very highest soprano (coloratura) voice. They wouldn't say the same thing about a flute or a violin playing the same notes. Why "screeching" then? Well, maybe some people just don't like the sound of the human voice.

AND—one of the reasons that opera tickets are so expensive is that, with most operas, for the price of one ticket, you're getting a half-dozen or more highly trained singers, a whole chorus, sometimes a bunch or dancers, and a full symphony orchestra, and they're all doing their thing in a sizable theater complete with sets, props, and more often than not, period costumes. And all the backup personnel such a production requires. Whadeeyawantanyway? Egg in your beer?

For several years running my wife and I were season ticket holders for Seattle Opera (fourth largest opera company in the country, by the way), and saw everything from La Bohème to Norma to all four of Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungen operas (all four "Ring" operas in one week—my ears were happy—it was hugely magnificent!—but my butt sure got sore!). Probably some thirty or forty operas altogether. It's best live, because you get the full experience, but it is pricey. But having seen a lot of it live, I can thoroughly enjoy opera on television, such as "Live from the Met" on PBS.

I can understand a person not liking opera. But when that same person simply writes it off as "drivel," that's just plain ignorant.
Don Firth