Kicking off Viardot-vs-Grisi’s 2026 calendar of operatic pilgrimages, I headed west for Nashville Opera’s premiere of Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West this past Thursday, an adventure which would evolve into a bit of a physical challenge. Originally planned as a joint review between Chris Myers and I back in April of 2025 when the premiere was announced before the curtain of Nashville Opera’s production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, last week’s impending east coast ice storm threatened to make mincemeat of both travel reservations and the opera’s scheduled performances.…