I went to photograph the final dress rehearsal of Lucia di Lammermoor tonight. And once again I was astounded by the vocal capabilities of the performers. There was one point where the lead soprano was singing so loudly that I could feel my chest vibrate. Now granted I was only in the sixth row, but this was *unamplified*. To experience the singing of someone with that much volume and power to their voice is awe inspiring. Later, while the character was in a delirium, she was lying flat on her back singing effectively to the lights and ceiling over the stage - not to the acoustic tiles in front of the stage. Her volume was still enough to be heard throughout the theater. It was amazing.

As for so called screeching, all I can think is that the person claiming to have heard such has either never *listened* to opera, never heard a decent soprano, or is inept with language and cannot adequately describe what they hear and so fall back on the word "screeching." Yes, in the arias tonight there were some high notes (very few, in actuality) that cause me to wince because of their pitch and volume, but the tones were so pure and clear that no intelligent person would have considered them "screeching."