Can this Guy Throw A Party or What?;

ALLAN ULRICH

ALL THOSE premature paeans to Lotfi Mansouri - the last chapter will be

written when he completes his final season as general director of the San

Francisco Opera - failed to mention one of the man's most savory

accomplishments: He remains the town's primo party giver.

Friday evening at the War Memorial Opera House, Mansouri threw his ultimate

bash - and he invited some of the more glamorous singers who have graced the

stage during his regime.

The one-time-only gala, a prelude to the 2000-01 season that begins in

earnest Saturday evening, wanted for neither charisma nor glorious vocalism,

maintained its high spirits for most of its 31/2 -hour duration and, as fits the

ebullient guest of honor, kept sentimentality at bay.

When the list of participants includes such luminaries as sopranos Renee

Fleming and Ruth Ann Swenson, mezzo-sopranos Olga Borodina and Susan Graham,

tenor Marcello Giordani and baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and when the

conducting roster includes Music Director Donald Runnicles, principal guest

conductor Patrick Summers and bel canto specialist Richard Bonynge, how could it

go wrong?

Sharing emcee duties were the S.F. Opera's musical administrator Kip Cranna,

retired soprano Joan Sutherland and very much active soprano Carol Vaness.

In addition, Mansouri's old college chum at UCLA, Carol Burnett, sent

greetings on videotape and narrated a Linda Schaller-produced film biography of

her Iranian-born friend, who has been associated with the S.F. Opera - as super,

director and boss - for a remarkable 38 years.

The disappointments? Mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade canceled because of

illness, which meant that a planned excerpt from the Mansouri-commissioned

"Dangerous Liasions" had to go. And soprano Patricia Racette pulled out in order

to rest before her first Luisa Miller on Saturday evening. But everybody else

showed up. In the case of Fleming, who, after gracing the premium-paying crowd

with three numbers in the first half, boarded a red-eye for New York and a

return to "Don Giovanni" rehearsals at the Met, the appearance was nothing short

of heroic.

This gala, performed before scenic elements of the company's productions of

"Mefistofele," "Ruslan and Lyudmila" and "Guillaume Tell," added up to more than

an operatic variety show. For the most part, the repertoire attempted to recall

the highlights of Mansouri's career and those of his guests at the S.F. Opera.

In the case of Fleming, that meant an excerpt from Andre Previn's "A

Streetcar Named Desire," commissioned by the company two years ago. The

neo-Straussian exit aria for Blanche DuBois, ''I can smell the sea air," is the

most appealing number from that problematic work, and it sounded even more

affecting Friday than it had in 1998. In the case of Charpentier's "Depuis le

jour," Fleming vastly improved on her shaky performance in last year's

production of "Louise."

Fleming's honey-voiced Marschallin in the Act III trio of "Der Rosenkavalier"

served as a preview for her return in the Strauss comedy in December. Graham,

the Octavian of the upcoming revival, offered ardent support. Soprano Anna

Netrebko, who looked like a billion rubles, was the charming Sophie. Runnicles

shaped the trio's arching emotional climax with notable rapture.

Another preview found Borodina in exquisite form, singing, while her hands

caressed her body almost lasciviously, "Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix," from

Saint-Saens' "Samson et Dalila." The opera is slated for next season and anyone

who saw the transfixing Russian mezzo Friday will probably storm the box office.

This, let me tell you, is one hot Philistine.

Where retrospectives were concerned, Sutherland introduced Swenson in the

final scene from Bellini's "La Sonnambula," backed by Ian Robertson's S.F. Opera

Chorus and Bonynge in the pit. The Australian diva sang in the 1963 production

here, which was conducted by husband Bonynge and staged by Mansouri, his first

directing assignment for the company. Swenson vocalized brilliantly, added some

tasty ornaments for "Ah, non giunge," yet failed to imbue the assignment with

any individual characteristics; sweetness is not enough. The lady needs a

fashion advisor - and fast.

Mansouri's advocacy of Russian opera, one of his supreme accomplishments as

general director, was honored at the beginning of the program. Runnicles raced

through Glinka's "Ruslan" Overture and Netrebko reprised her enchanting

performance of Lyudmila's Act I aria, her debut role and career highlight to

date.

No gala would be complete without company favorite Vaness. First, she

collaborated with Hvorostovsky in a somewhat raw "Mira, d'acerbe lagrime" duet

from Act IV of Verdi's "Il Trovatore." Then, the California soprano reasserted

her Verdian credentials with a supremely intuited "Tu che la vaita," Elisabetta

di Valois' grand scena from "Don Carlo," bettering her performance in the

complete opera some years ago. Unfortunately, the moment also recalled the

inexplicable decision by Mansouri and Runnicles to scrap the superior French

version of that opera, introduced so persuasively by Mansouri's predecessor.

Next, in a moment of levity, Vaness joined mezzo-soprano Judith Forst in

Rossini's lovable cat duet, in which the text, "Meow," was translated in the

supertitles (a Mansouri innovation). Both women delivered the feline rivalries

with almost purrfectly attuned buffo sensibilities.

Forst earlier collaborated with Adler Fellow Twyla Robinson in the great Anna

Bolena-Giovanna Seymour exchange from Donizetti's "Anna Bolena." The Canadian

mezzo proved a forceful rival to the doomed queen. Soprano Robinson is

promising. She possesses an unambiguous high C, but her phrasing remains far

from idiomatic.

The S.F. Opera's exodus from the Opera House in 1996-97 was recalled by

Hvorostovsky's swaggering dispatch of Figaro's "Largo al factotum," which served

as his debut at the Orpheum in the 1996 "Barbiere di Siviglia."

Puccini got his moments in the spotlight, too. Giordani lavished his lyric

tenor on "E lucevan le stelle" from Act III of "Tosca." Canadian tenor Richard

Margison offered a low-voltage "Nessun dorma" from "Turandot." Bass-baritone

James Morris proved inaudible in the quieter passages of Wagner's "Der Frist ist

um" ("Der fliegende Hollander").

To complete the evening, the audience endured an exercise in

self-congratulation called "Opera Is" by Elaine and Norman Campbell. The singers

were tenor Matthew Lord (an ersatz Mansouri) and Adler Fellows Robinson, Suzanne

Ramo, Donita Volkwijn, Elena Bocharova, Katia Escalera, Todd Geer, Kyu Won Han,

Philip Horst and John Ames.

The real Mansouri, earlier glimpsed impersonating Enrico Caruso in a

forgotten 1950s movie, finally took a bow. "This," he said with lovable

conviction, "is not work. It is not a profession. It is a life."