Music: Catch the Rave

NO ONE attracts hoopla like singers,

over whom critics and music-lovers tend to go a little nuts. Pianists, violinists, and conductors all have their day, but it is the singers who give the world fever. Sometimes the excitement is entirely justified; other times, less so. At the moment, there is an astonishing number of young or youngish singers who are creating waves of enthusiasm. It pays to look in on a few of them, to see what all the fuss is about.