I am not INDIFFERENT to the the idea of solo vocalists. Whoever said that? Not me.
It is not practical to represent a vocal soloist in samples, except crudely, because of the infinite variation of every single musical element on an instant-by-instant basis by even a mediocre singer. And since everyone is now used to recordings of great singers, it becomes even harder. If you want a soloist, you are wasting time to use samples. Especially since a good (live) one can be recorded very practically. However, to get a choir is another matter. There it becomes immensely difficult in practical or monetary terms. Also, when the voice is confined to an ensemble in a choir it becomes possible to represent what is done by the singers with samples. And there is no choir currently available that uses actual legato samples. All of them are single note samples with some processing (as in East West) to fake legato. So to create a full legato sample choir would make a lot of sense. And it does not yet exist. But to think that with sample solo vocalists someone can program Nessum Dorma is a joke.
BTW if you would like to hear very good solo vocalists sampled try out the "Diva" by Bela D Media. It is very good, though it reveals the simple fact that the only thing that can be done with a soloist is a glorified single note sample set, and then large chunks of performance with legato and syllables etc. that are completely frozen in place and can only be used "as is.".
Though as i have said before to get more samples is always a good thing...