'Trovatore' excels

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The Washington National Opera opened Giuseppe Verdi's classic opera "Il Trovatore," this Saturday past at the Kennedy Center Opera House.

Chock-full of showy arias and, of course, the famous "Anvil Chorus," this production is distinguished by its first class cast of soloists including the District's own Denyce Graves singing the challenging role of the gypsy Azucena for the very first time (Audiences, however, can expect some cast changes after the Nov. 8 performance).

In "Il Trovatore" ("The Troubadour"), first performed in 1853, two warring brothers, Count di Luna and Manrico, clash over the beautiful Leonora. But they don't know they're brothers, since one of them was stolen away years ago by the mysterious gypsy woman Azucena. Before long, the inevitable murderous tragedy unfolds.

Miss Graves, a mezzo-soprano, proved a refreshingly different Azucena, deepening her role with a dark complexity etched with an occasional dash of humor. (Her fleeting, guilty grin when her treachery was unmasked by the Count was priceless.) Her unique, burnished-honey voice, so flashy in her earlier incarnations as "Carmen," is wiser, sadder here, possessing a tremendous capacity for nuance and repressed emotion. She has demonstrably become at last what she was destined to be -- the most significant mezzo of this generation.

As Manrico, Russian tenor Mikhail Davidoff had the power and the confidence to negotiate Verdi's complex ornamentation seemingly without effort. Adding convincing acting abilities to his rich, authoritative instrument, Mr. Davidoff endowed Manrico with a humanity that brought greater psychological coherence to Verdi's unwieldy plot.

Subbing for the ailing Wolfgang Brendel, baritone Carlos Archuleta was a delightful surprise as the dissolute Count di Luna, adding surprising ballast to his character's sometimes two-dimensional villainy. His voice, while occasionally too soft, was appealingly supple in the lower range.

In her company debut, Bulgarian soprano Krassimira Stoyanova was sensational as an uncommonly feisty Leonora, adding real fire and passion to a role that is sometimes lost in the male crossfire. In Leonora's beautiful Act IV arias, Miss Stoyanova's silvery instrument possessed at once the strength and the delicacy to articulate the composer's high figures without strain.

The Washington National Opera Orchestra is expertly helmed in this production by Music Director Heinze Fricke, who is returning to the company for the first time in many months. The instrumental color was always right, the offstage choruses remained in tempo, and the entire ensemble performed flawlessly. Bravo.

Alas, in addition to Maestro Fricke, the company also chose to bring back Belgian designer Benoit Dugardyn's dismal postmodern sets created for its 2000 production of the work. Its sliding, guillotine-like, faux-wood walls of gloomy gray are highly efficient for rapid scene changes and sound reflection. But the production's unrelieved post Cold War tedium, accented by too-dark lighting, is rapidly becoming a clich.

Deconstructing classic opera has been fashionable in Europe now for well over a decade. But as with many contemporary European attitudes, we are best off without them in this country where it still remains possible to find hope and promise even when facing life's darkest challenges.

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WHO: The Washington National Opera

WHAT: Giuseppe Verdi's "Il Trovatore."

WHERE: The Kennedy Center Opera House

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Nov. 2, 5 and 11; 2 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Nov. 8 and 13.

TICKETS: $45 to $290

INFORMATION: 202/295-2400

MAXIMUM RATING: FOUR STARS