By ANNE MIDGETTE [NY Times, 26 November 2006]

A soprano opens her mouth to sing an aria and stutters, bringing out little fragments of a beautiful melody. A mezzo coaches a baritone, constantly interrupting to instruct him in proper technique. A tenor, auditioning, opens his mouth and falls silent. “Don’t you have anything that’s not by Mozart?” says the conductor he is auditioning for. “I can’t stand Mozart either,” the tenor says.