By David Patrick Stearns [Philadelphia Inquirer, 25 October 2005]

The opera gods giveth and taketh singers with merciless capriciousness. And certainly they tooketh the Opera Company of Philadelphia's last season of well-laid plans demolished by cancellations. Yet at Sunday's opening production of the new season, Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera arrived with the gods rewarding us for our patience.