Music: American in Paris

Many a talented young U.S. singer longs to sing opera in Paris, but Edis de Philippe is the only one in this year's crop who had the bravura and the bravado to make the grade. Last week she became the first American to sing a major role in Paris' vast, rococo opera house since the war. It was Edis de Philippe's first Thaïs, and also her first flight into big-time opera.

In Massenet's Thaïs, 33-year-old Edis, trained in the bel canto tradition, revealed a good dramatic soprano voice, whose only major flaw was an occasional dry, pingless top note. She also knew...

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