Last season, when Ben Heppner cracked a few times in an otherwise beautifully sung run of Met Meistersingers, opera groupies started burning up the chat rooms speculating that he had run aground vocally. (On The Beat).

Last season, when BEN HEPPNER cracked a few times in an otherwise beautifully sung run of Met Meistersingers, opera groupies started burning up the chat rooms speculating that he had run aground vocally. The rumors intensified when he was forced to cancel the bulk of a much-publicized North American concert tour. Now Heppner is back--"back big time," he says--for a run as Enee in the Met's new production of Les Troyens, conducted by JAMES LEVINE and directed by FRANCESCA ZAMBELLO.

"I couldn't care less what people say," he says. "What I had was...." There is a long pause. "I think I'll probably talk about it in greater detail in another interview at some point. I went through a serious patch, and it was difficult. I had to stop and fix the thing. You will notice some changes." He sounds happy, relaxed and confident. He'd better be--Enee is a killer role, not only because of its daunting tessitura but because of its schizoid design. "It's like it's written for four different people," says Heppner. "You have the big entrance in the very beginning, which is spinto and declamatory. You have other places that are quite easy and baritonal. And then the thing that causes most of us to lie ...