Fog lifts over channel

“When you read, and credit, the more feverish musings of the internet chatterati, there is some kind of British invasion storming the bastions of American opera. Last month, when the Metropolitan Opera’s Peter Gelb announced the appointment of Robert Rattray, a consultant with the London-based classical-music agency Askonas Holt, as ‘assistant general manager for artistic affairs’, the American opera blogosphere went ballistic, with speculation rife that British Askonas Holt artists — the company represents prominent Americans, too — would be depriving local talent of work at the Met. Last weekend, in New York and Chicago, it was just about possible to believe the paranoia was justified.” [Times of London – paywalled]