Alex Ross on City Operaís fall season

New York City Opera opened in February, 1944, at the height of the battles of Anzio and Truk. If skeptics thought it frivolous to start an opera company in the middle of a world war, Fiorello LaGuardia straightened them out: the music-loving Mayor believed that opera was essential to city life, and he wanted lower- and middle-class New Yorkers to have it at affordable prices, without pretension.

In the Land of Verdi, Where Egyptians Are Italian

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/17/arts/music/17aida.html

Soprano Taking Chances as a Feisty Wood Nymph

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/17/arts/music/17daph.html

A Revival That Can Hold Its Own

http://www.nysun.com/article/21564

Poise & Mastery

http://www.nysun.com/article/21563

The Last of the Opera Buffa Genre

http://www.nysun.com/article/21565

Tchaikovsky classic revered by director, conductor of piece

http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1129369090179170.xml&coll=2

Le Figaro Interviews Christoph Eschenbach

http://www.lefigaro.fr/culture/20051015.FIG0083.html?153157

Opera: Le nozze di Figaro

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14936-1823975,00.html

Cecilia Bartoli’s Alarming Passions

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/arts/music/16midg.html