The more alarmist among us could very easily run around right now shrieking “American opera is dying!” and only be accused of a minimum of exaggeration. There are pockets, certainly, where the art form is thriving, but the carnage of the last few years – Opera Cleveland,the Hartford Opera, Opera Boston and the Baltimore Opera Company have all shuttered relatively recently, and New York City Opera is on life support – is hard to overlook. The Academy of Vocal Arts, however, just keeps rolling along. (FULL ARTICLE: Jessa Crispin, Philadelphia Daily News)