The Celebrity Soloist; 'Core' classical artists sell themselves as well as sing.(Danielle de Niese)

Byline: Tara Pepper

A self-confessed member of the MTV generation who admits to having Coldplay on her iPod and a pronounced "pop-culture side" to her personality might not seem a likely candidate to become one of opera's most feted young stars. But Danielle de Niese, 25, won international acclaim for her bewitching performance as Cleopatra in last summer's production of Handel's "Giulio Cesare" at Glyndebourne. This month she's reprising the same role in the same venue, wowing audiences once again with her prodigious musical talent and sensitive, captivating voice.

De Niese is just one of the rising stars revitalizing the dusty old industry genre known as "core" classical music. Until recently, producers assumed that the only way to expand the classical market was by introducing pop beats, flashy light shows and scantily clad singers. No one cared about another traditional recording of Brahms or Beethoven--and the production costs were steep. Highbrow classical artists shied away from the publicity machine, demanding that the music should stand on its own. Now, says Bogdan Roscic, recently appointed managing director of Decca, one of Universal Music's two classical labels, "the old way of doing things is gone. Successful artists understand that it is not only the music making that sets you apart. It is also the personality of the artist and their ability to communicate what they do in many nonmusical ways that make them stand out."

Above all, individual style is broadening classical music's canon. Soprano Anna Netrebko's album "Russian Songs," which will be released in October, is an unusual and personal selection of arias from Russian opera. Trumpet prodigy Alison Balsom's new CD, "Ca-price," due out in September, transforms well-known works such as Paganini's violin Caprice No. 24 and Debussy's solo flute piece "Syrinx," transcribed for her instrument. Not content with reviving the forgotten arias of Antonio Salieri in 2003, Cecilia Bartoli recently launched "Opera Proibita," a collection of little-known works written during the early 18th century, when opera and theater were banned in Rome. "This field, in which everything has been recorded twice or more, needs a more personal approach," says ...