Classical crossover is an organic combination of musical classics and current variety music trends. In the process of development, it was enriched by achievements of other non-academic areas, where folklore occupies an important place. Despite the scale of the classical crossover as an artistic phenomenon, it is understudied in Ukrainian musicology: to date, only isolated studies have been devoted to it, in particular publications by I. Bobul, A. Boiko, T. Pistunova, H. Postoi, O. Suprun, V. Yaromchuk. Since the crossover has enormous potential as a cultural and artistic phenomenon, it requires careful study and comprehensive analysis.
The formation of the classical crossover is connected with the activation of the processes of interaction of academic music with non-academic musical trends in the second half of the 20th century, which are multidimensional and encompass the genre system, stylistic parameters and performance approaches of both academic and non-academic musical art. The search for musicians takes place at the crossroads of elite and mass culture, which is defined as "middle culture". The middle status of the synthesized directions is determined by their ambiversion, that is, the simultaneous focus on "high" and "low" types of culture, and the ambivert vectority of musical works of the "middle" type implies the presence of a double code both in the musical compositions themselves and in their performance interpretation. The variety of forms and genres arising from the interaction of academic music and its non-academic directions does not lend itself to typology, while it is possible to single out the most significant of them, among which the classical crossover, which stood out from among other types of variety music in the 1990s, has an undeniable artistic value.
The classical crossover genre includes 1) variety adaptations of vocal and instrumental miniatures belonging to musical classics, 2) academicized variety hits, 3) modern author compositions of the hit type, which have features of academic music (for example, the Italian bel canto style is imitated in the vocal crossover). Therefore, the classical crossover is an artistic phenomenon of an ambivalent nature, which arises at the intersection of academic and non-academic musical traditions and functions according to the laws of variety art; in the process of evolution, the classical crossover adapted other non-academic musical directions (folklore, electronic music, etc.). The classic crossover is characterized by an individual sound that combines the aesthetics of academic classics and variety music; in terms of genre, it is analogous to a vocal or instrumental miniature and appeals to a concert number as the basic unit of variety art.
The works of outstanding performers of the classic crossover, such as Andrea Bocelli, Alessandro Safina, Sarah Brightman, Josh Groban, Filippa Giordano, Hayley De Westenra, Dimash Kudaibergen, are considered. It is noted that representatives of the older generation (A. Bocelli, A. Safina, S. Brightman), having an academic vocal education, in their work synthesized the achievements of classical bel canto with new vocal techniques, creating their own individual style, bright musical images and becoming a standard for performers classic crossover. The work of J. Groban and F. Giordano continues the performing traditions started by their predecessors. J. Groban is known to the general public for the performance of original compositions, while F. Giordano is for unconventional interpretations of the most famous classical arias from the operas of the 19th century. H. Westenra and D. Kudaibergen expand the horizons of the classical crossover by referring to folklore.
In Ukraine, the first samples of the classic crossover appeared only in the 2000s. Singers Valentyna Stepova and Olga Chubareva began to include academicized variety hits in their concerts. Violinist Assia Akhat's work includes modern instrumental treatments of academic classics. Arina Domski is the only representative of vocal classical crossover in Ukraine. The singer presented her own interpretations of a number of classic works.
It is noted that the main reasons for the small number of Ukrainian classical crossover performers are the lack of formation of the listening audience. In the context of the transformational processes taking place in the modern Ukrainian variety and show business, there is a need to promote this direction popular in the world. In order for the classic crossover to take its rightful place in the Ukrainian cultural and artistic space, it needs comprehensive support from various institutions.
Keywords: academic musical tradition, non-academic musical tradition, classical crossover, song genre, variety vocal, show business, singer-artist, performance interpretation, folklore, postmodernism, ambivertism as a form of double coding.
