Charlene Baldridge | Noticias del Centro

Time flies for opera lovers, who can believe it’s been almost 50 years since the establishing of San Diego Opera (SDO). The well-run, highly successful company opens its four-opera 49th season at the Civic Theatre January 25 with Ruggero Leoncavallo’s great one-act tragedy, “Pagliacci.”

A great choice for first-time opera goers, it’s the one in which the titular clown, Canio, sings an aria about donning his costume (“Vesti la giubba”), laughing on the outside while crying on the inside because his young wife Nedda is cheating on him. He stabs her to death during a performance of the commedia in which they both appear, horrifying villagers and flushing out Silvio, the baritone she loves. Pagliacci dispatches him as well, and the curtain falls on one of the Italian verismo period’s best-known and most parodied operas. Say what you will: it is luscious.

Directed by Andrew Sinclair, the “Pagliacci” company includes American tenor Frank Poretta as Silvio, Romanian soprano Adina Nitescu as Nedda, American baritones David Adam Moore as Silvio, and Stephen Powell as Tonio. Franco-Canadian Yves Abel conducts the San Diego Symphony. The opera is sung in Italian with English supertitles. Additional performances: 7 p.m. Jan. 28 and Jan. 31 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb, 2.

Also featuring an international company, Gaetano Donizetti’s comical “The Elixir of Love” follows Feb. 15, 18, 21 and 23. Moldovan soprano Tatiana Lisnic portrays Adina, a wealthy young woman beloved of Nemorino, Italian tenor Giuseppe Filianoti, who takes the magic elixir touted by Dr. Belcore, who is portrayed by the great American buffo bass-baritone John Del Carlo, who sings regularly with the Metropolitan Opera and made his SDO debut in 1978. Others in the company are American baritone Malcolm MacKenzie and San Diego-raised soprano Stephanie Weiss. Karen Kamensek conducts and Stephen Lawless directs.

Giuseppe Verdi’s less familiar and wondrous “A Masked Ball” plays March 8, 11, 14 and 18. It stars riveting Polish tenor Piotr Beczala, also a Metropolitan Opera regular, in his first return since debuting here in La bohème. He sings the role of Swedish King Gustav III, beloved of Amelia Anckarström (Bulgarian soprano Krassimira Stoyanova, referred to as “the Stradivarius of sopranos”), who is the faithful wife of Count Anckarström (Greek baritone Aris Argiris). In her SDO debut, extraordinary American mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe portrays Mme. Arvidson and Korean-American soprano Kathleen Kim debuts in the trouser role of Oscar. Massimo Zanetti conducts and Lesley Koenig directs.

April 5, 8, 11 and 13 marks the return of the popular SDO production of Jules Massenet’s “Don Quixote,” once again a vehicle for the amazing acting and vocal talents of renowned Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto. Argentinean bass-baritone Eduardo Chama returns to charm audiences as Sancho Panza, and German mezzo-soprano Anke Vondung makes her role debut as Dulcinea for the first time. Karen Keltner conducts, Keturah Stickann directs, and Kristina Cobarrubia is the choreographer. It’s a far cry from and ever so much deeper than the familiar Broadway musical.

This season’s not-to-be-missed event is a single performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Requiem” at 7 p.m., March 20. At press time, fewer than 200 seats remained, so hurry on this one if you wish to partake in what’s bound to be a fine performance by Stoyanova, Beczala, Furlanetto and Blythe. Conducted by Zanetti, the “Requiem” features the San Diego Opera Chorus, the San Diego Master Chorale and San Diego Symphony.

The really good news, according to General/Artistic Director Director Ian Campbell, is as follows: “We’ve got some great operas this year and some extraordinary singers. Opera in the cinema may be grand, but when you come to the Civic Theatre you get to watch the singer you want to watch, not the shot determined by a director. Aurally and visually, opera in the opera house is a totally different experience.”

For further information regarding the singers, conductors and productions, to hear excerpts, and to purchase single or season tickets, go to sdopera.com or phone 619-533-7000. Single tickets range from $45 to $200. Some sections are sold out, so hurry.

Charlene Baldridge moved to San Diego from the Chicago area in 1962. She’s been writing about the arts since 1979, and has had her features, critiques, surveys and interviews included in various publications ever since. Her book “San Diego, Jewel of the California Coast” (Northland Publishing) is currently available in bookstores. She can be reached at [email protected].