If a soprano simply survives the high-wire acrobatics that Mozart assigned the Queen of the Night character in his opera The Magic Flute, a certain respect is due. Edita Gruberová's navigation of the role's coloratura requirements and beam-clear phrasing elicits something more like awe. In the Italian opera repertoire, Gruberová has a range that includes both Verdi's grand Don Carlos and Donizetti's La fille du régiment; her work in Austrian operetta is just another aspect of her many-sided art. Catch her humor and her dramatic flair in these excerpts.