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The term 'classical crossover' refers to music that has a popular sound and reaches out to a wide audience whilst retaining classical influences. It's quite a recent term, meaning that the definition is still negotiable. For example, the word 'crossover' generally refers to a song that becomes widely popular even though it's situated in an unpopular genre- here, it has a different meaning.
It's believed that the genre was sparked by Pavarott's 'Nessun Dorma' (performed for the 1990 FIFA World Cup)- opera had, and still has, connotations of being high class and only for the very highest in society, yet Pavarotti became known to all. This was an indication that classical music had a lot of potential. However, it's important to remember that the song itself does not fit into 'classical crossover'; it's an example of 'crossover', detailed above.
Classical crossover pieces can take many forms, including pop songs converted into classical pieces often by giving them a 'classical arrangement' or 'feel'- listen to Angel below (just on a side note- a beautiful version of a beautiful song!). The vice versa of this is also done, with an example being Amazing Grace, also below.
As a whole, the genre tends to attract more females than males, and are generally very specifically marketed to achieve commercial success- singers may be attractive to appeal to the younger generation, or given a clean-cut impression to appeal to the older generation. After Simon Cowell's success with Il Divo, more classical crossover singers have emerged through reality contests- names include Paul Potts and Faryl Smith.
Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiro)- Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman
Amazing Grace- Louis Armstrong
Angel- Katherine Jenkins
Pie Jesu- Aled Jones