Detroit. (North America).(Michigan Opera Theatre)(Opera Review)

Michigan Opera Theatre opened its season with a huge new Il Trovatore production so stylistically eclectic, it seems to have everything any opera could want. Designers Dejan Miladinovic and Mileta Leskovac offered a succession of outsize, impressively executed symbols--huge wagon-wheels, an enormous stained-glass window, massive chains, a giant portcullis. These were suspended above the otherwise traditional locales and action. So there were the usual castle walls, but these could turn translucent, to reveal giant shadows cast on them from behind (a serenading troubadour, a writhing witch, duelling swordsmen, etc.), and there were even (strangely unhelpful) lines from the source play, Gutierrez's El Trovador, projected as surtitles during the scene changes. But the thing Trovatore's story cries out for so desperately--cohesion--was utterly lost in protracted scenic changes, and the performance (Oct. 12) suffered. Giuliano Carella led a strong, idiomatic musical presentation. The company's orchestral and choral forces were excellently prepared, and the cast ranged from very good to outstanding.

As Ferrando, young bass Valerian Ruminski started off with an immaculate delivery of "Abbietta zingara." Though this aria seems impractical writing on Verdi's part, requiring more suppleness than most basses can deliver, Ruminski proved Verdi knew precisely what he was doing. As Leonora, soprano Indra Thomas began with a handsome "Tacea la notte," sang increasingly well all evening and ultimately won the singing honors of the evening with a ...