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ABT's Giselle was the kind of glamorous, old-school ABT night of yore. You sensed the entire company leveled up for the occasion. One hopes that Smirnova will return in the future.

It’s only her third performance of role, and her New York debut, but it was so polished that Brandt immediately jumped to our writer's personal short-list of great Giselles.

This revival of the Met's 30-year-old production of Aida had a disappointing debut in the title role but Dolora Zajick's reign as Amneris is still a force of nature.

Netrebko met the audience’s high expectations, as she does every time, conquering the challenges with her remarkable artistry. 

The Metropolitan Opera’s now 29-year old production of Aida is still standing and still looking good. Gianni Quaranta’s gigantic sets – floor-to-sky-statuary, regal-looking staircases, a couple of horses, wise/exciting use of the stage elevator to change scenes (causing, unfortunately, a glitch the other night which delayed the final scene for a few minutes), costumes (by Dada Saligeri) mostly of

The return of the Met's Aida was a joyous celebration of the art form with excellent singers and orchestra doing what they do best against the backdrop of a traditional but effective staging.

Verdi’s Aida has been performed over 1,000 times at the Metropolitan Opera, making it the most commonly revived work after Puccini’s La bohème. Because Aida is so regularly programmed, I usually walk rather than run to see this opera.

Read our review of Gianni Quaranta's production of Verdi­'s Aida in its 2009 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.