The self-styled baritenor Michael Spyres researches forgotten corners of the operatic repertoire with a fire that fuels incendiary revivals. We’re thrilled to see him in any context—but there’s no denying that Gaspare Spontini’s very grand, very stately, yet very passionate La Vestale belongs to the Vestal Virgin heroine, whose crime is to admit a Roman general (Spyres) into the forbidden chamber where she guards the sacred flame of the Republic. With its many allusions to Napoleon, the opera was a cultural landmark of the First Empire, dedicated to Josephine, and revered by Berlioz for Spontini’s orchestral mastery. But tastes do change, and the current Paris Opéra revival is the company’s first in nearly 150 years. (It’s done better at La Scala, thanks at one time to Maria Callas and at another to Riccardo Muti.) For the homecoming, the company has called in the American director Lydia Steier and the South African soprano Elza van den Heever, who collaborated on a revolting but hard-hitting Salome here two seasons back. Who knows what sparks they’ll strike. —Matthew Gurewitsch