Bass-ic Boris

TAKE IT FROM AN OLD BORIS GODUNOV HAND: Every time you see the opera, it's different. Though Modest Mussorgsky's historical epic has long been considered the quintessential masterpiece of Russian musical theater, whenever it rolls into your local opera house, somebody seems to have been mucking with it. The scenes are never in the same order; the orchestrations never sound exactly the way you remember them. Sometimes your favorite love duet has vanished, along with the beauteous heroine Marina and her entire native country of Poland. Afterward, you pore over the program notes to figure out what just happened.

But one thing is always certain: If Boris is being performed, the presenting company has acquired the services of some superlative bass or bass-baritone. San Diego Opera, which opens its 2007 season on January 27, offers no exception, thanks to a local favorite, bass Ferruccio Furlanetto, who sings the title role here after becoming the first Italian to portray Boris in Russia.

The part demands histrionic and vocal skills of nearly superhuman dimensions. "As a singing actor, I am totally taken by the sound of the Russian soul," says Furlanetto. "Though I am only a filter between the score and the audience . . . I feel the drama under my own skin. One has only to let the drama enter his own veins and make this character live again, suffering his agony, enjoying his moments of serenity with his kids, to be caught up in the desperation of his worries and fears."

San Diego Opera is using a version of the original 1869 score, which means it should have seven scenes instead of nine (as in the 1872 version). There will be no beauteous Marina (so no love duet), no Poland, and the orchestrations will very likely be by Mussorgsky instead of Rimsky-Korsakov. And stage director Lotfi Mansouri may have some ideas of his own.

Four other major offerings follow Boris: Saint-SaÎns' Samson and Delilah (February 17-25), Verdi's Il Trovatore (March 24-April 4), Berg's Wozzeck (April 14-22) and Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro (May 5-16).

Celebrated mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves makes her company debut as the lock-shearing Philistine Delilah in Samson and Delilah - one of her two signature roles (that Spanish vixen Carmen being the other). Tenor Clifton Forbis sings Samson. Designed by Douglas Schmidt, the sets offer soft romantic views of the biblical past, but itís the final collapse of the Temple of Dagon that sets the audience cheering.

Alban Berg's atonal, expressionistic Wozzeck may scare away some ultraconservative opera-goers, but, directed by Tony Award- winning Des McAnuff, it's certain to be the theatrical event of the season. Franz Hawlata sings the title role.

San Diego Opera general director Ian Campbell has come up with fine casts for both the Mozart and Verdi operas. Figaro features Richard Bernstein in the lead, with Pamela Armstrong as the Countess, Mariusz Kwiecien as the Count, Isabel Bayrakdarian as Susanna and Sarah Castle as Cherubino. The conductor is Edoardo Muller, who also conducts Trovatore with Paoletta Marrocu as Leonora, Nicola Rossi Giordano as Manrico, Alexandru Agache as the Count di Luna and Marianne Cornetti as Azucena.

See sdopera.com for complete information, or call 619- 533-7000.

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