“The thrill of the initial idea of an opera house at Ground Zero seemed to have bowed to a fear of highbrow stuffiness and the burdens of a 2,200-seat venue in the cultural complex’s construction. But criticism surrounding New York City Opera’s proposal was aimed less at the institution itself — and at its innovation and its vital niche within the greater scheme of the New York cultural world — than at preconceived notions of a musty old opera house, largely filled by the elderly with the occasional sleeping grandchild in a clip-on tie, in the midst of an economically thriving Ground Zero.”