In Atlanta Opera’s 29-year history, only one Wagner opera has ever been performed: “The Flying Dutchman.” The first time around, in 2002 at the Fox Theatre [….] Now the company has returned to the same opera and has rented the same production to close its 2008-09 season. The dramatic improvement in talent -onstage and in the pit- is a measure of how many leagues they’ve traveled in just a few years.[Baritone and Soprano] in their long Act 2 duet, their sympathy with each other and conductor Arthur Fagen lifted the show to a spiritual realm.
Pierre Ruhe, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 30, 2009
Arthur Fagen, who has become the most frequent conductor here since the company’s riesumazione, has also seen the quality of this orchestra’s playing improve drastically. Whatever brought this on, it’s certainly quite welcome… Finally, the orchestra was able to get beyond worrying about just getting through the playing and staying together, and respond to Fagen’s dramatically sensitive reading. He coddled his singers, but found time for intense displays of emotion when the orchestra was playing alone.
James A. Paulk, Wagner Notes, New York, May 2009