Almost as quickly as it arrived, the ban on reviews of the Metropolitan Opera in Opera News has vanished. Chalk this up as a victory for free speech. Peter Gelb’s recent attempted censorship of negative reviews both at WQXR and at Opera News prompted vicious, nearly unanimous backlash from critics and bloggers around the world who weighed in, lambasting Gelb. Some, like Norman Lebrecht, called for a Met review blackout. A @FakePeterGelb has even sprung up on Twitter. Here’s a sample of some of the reaction around the web: Continue reading →