By ANTHONY TOMMASINI [NY Times, 24 March 2007]

Not many singers today face the pressure that Ben Heppner must feel. His lean, burnished and powerful voice makes him the closest the opera world has right now to an ideal Wagnerian heldentenor. The Metropolitan Opera is not alone in counting on Mr. Heppner for “Tristan und Isolde” (which he will sing next season). And he is poised to portray the impossible-to-cast title role in “Siegfried.”