By Jeremy Eichler [Boston Globe, 2 December 2008]
The Boston Early Music Festival attracts crowds from near and far for its biennial productions of Baroque opera. But offering one big, splashy presentation every other year has made BEMF seem like more of an occasional visitor to the opera world rather than a serious player. To firm up its opera credentials both at home and on the national scene, the organization has hired Gilbert Blin as an in-house stage director and it has launched a new series of chamber operas to be performed annually in Jordan Hall.