Opera may have a reputation for being the domain of the highbrow — a marker of the snootiest kind of sophisticated and affluence.

But it hasn't always been that way. In the 19th Century, for example, Italian and French opera were sneered at by the populist entertainment for the hoi polloi.

The same music is as transcendent today as it was then.

Barbara Hannigan (left) in the role of Agnes for the opera "Written on skin" by George Benjamin in the Prinzregenten Theater House in Munich, southern Germany, 2013. (Matthias Schrader/AP Photos)

The greatest opera singers in the world turn the words and music of Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, Bizet and others into some of the most sublime sounds one will ever hear.

Many of the best opera singers today happen to be Canadians who hail from places very distant from the world's most celebrated concert halls.

This month on the The Enright Files: conversations with opera singers about their art and their place in a grand tradition.

Guests in this episode:

Measha Brueggergosman is a Canadian soprano

is a Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan is a Canadian soprano

is a Canadian soprano Ben Heppner is a Canadian tenor and host of CBC Music's Backstage

is a Canadian tenor and host of CBC Music's Backstage Renee Fleming is an American soprano





** The Enright Files is produced by Chris Wodskou.