By Martin Bernheimer [Financial Times, 3 October 2005]

They might as well have called the show — and I do mean show — Zerbinetta auf Naxos. The non-capacity crowd at the Met roared on Thursday for a pretty newcomer, Diana Damrau. Portraying Richard Strauss's eternal coquette, she sounded phenomenal. Apparently no one had told her that this is one of the most difficult challenges ever inflicted on a coloratura soprano. She found no ascent too high, no embellishment too complex, no test too long.