Ilana Walder-Biesanz, based in Houston, Texas, is a longtime opera fan and critic with a particular affinity for opera seria, trousered mezzos, and unhinged directorial choices. After an undergraduate degree in engineering from Olin College, she ran away to Europe for an M.Phil. in European Literature and Culture at Cambridge (with a thesis on La clemenza di Tito) and a Fulbright year investigating contemporary stagings of classic theater and opera in Germany. By day, she is CEO of the education nonprofit National Math Stars. On non-opera nights, you can find her ballroom dancing, assembling historically accurate outfits for reenactments, or vegging with her wife (Ellen) and their two cats (Cherubino and Muñeca).