By ANTHONY TOMMASINI [NY Times, 13 February 2006]

When the appointment of Peter Gelb as the next general manager of the Metropolitan Opera was announced in 2004, die-hard opera buffs who knew of him as a crossover king in the recording industry were predictably dismayed. What would he do at the Met? Commission an opera from James ("Titanic") Horner? Cast Charlotte Church as Lucia di Lammermoor?