In response to Ian Crisp (and others): >What I haven't heard yet is how the good people of Vienna feel about him >arriving to take charge of their opera. Are they thrilled? Delighted? >Struck dumb with horror? Fleeing to the hills? ... My .02 cents worth (and in Canadian money these days, that's not much): I have just returned from Vienna where I heard Ozawa conduct a fabulous Pique Dame with a dream cast (Domingo, Gorschakova, Gorr, Hvorostovsky and Leiferkus) which will remain one of the highlights of my opera-going career. The next week he conducted a (very) mediocre Ernani. The orchestra played its heart out during the Tchaikovsky, with especially sonorous strings; it sounded like a totally different ensemble for the Verdi, uninterested and inattentive. In both instances he received prolonged applause both entering and leaving the orchestra pit from the audience which seemed (at least in my sections up on top) to be composed mostly of locals. Sandra Alston University of Toronto Library ([log in to unmask])