Upshaw is also one of the few operatically trained singers to sound convincing in so-called crossover repertoire.

NPR: Soprano Dawn Upshaw Awarded MacArthur Grant

Wailing even more operatically are several cameo figures who have been able to exercise some influence under the present arrangement, but whose parties might be wiped out if a new law were to give Italy an entirely first-past-the-post system.

ECONOMIST: Italy

First seen on Broadway in 1994, "Passion" is a Proust-flavored, operatically intense musical whose central character, an unattractive and terminally ill woman named Fosca (Ms. Kuhn), develops an uncontrollable obsession with Giorgio (Ryan Silverman), a handsome young soldier who is in turn involved with Clara (Melissa Errico), a young married woman.

WSJ: Theater Review: The Subtle Joys of Small-Scale Sondheim

From the time tenor Jim Cornelison operatically belts out our national anthem (or Canada's) to the times they pump up the volume to "Chelsea Dagger" by the Fratellis to celebrate a Blackhawk goal, a home game at the United Center is usually loud, usually SRO and usually bigger than Bieber and Beyonce rolled into one.

CNN: Blackhawks making history whether you like it or not