MACBETH

Those of us who keep an eye on the comings and goings of singers at major opera houses around the world, have known that Friday’s debutant, Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian, was going to be one to watch. And it was. No worries about whether her voice would translate from Europe’s smaller houses to the Met’s enormous hall: Grigorian may have been singing Puccini’s Cio-Cio-San/Madama Butterfly this time around, but she’s a well-schooled Lady Macbeth and Turandot as well, bringing a notably large...

No matter how many “star” performances the Met manages to muster in the course of a season, there’s nothing quite as exciting as the Laffont Grand Finals Concert—formerly known as the Met’s National Auditions Finals—which took place this past Sunday afternoon for its 70th season, when we got to hear up-and-comers who might have knocked our socks off at the concert itself or could at some time in the future....