'AIDA'S' UNEVEN CAST LACKS ENERGY.

Byline: David Mermelstein Correspondent

It's no accident that the Los Angeles Opera is opening its 15th season with its first-ever production of Verdi's ``Aida,'' for this grandest of grand operas is here marking a significant occasion with the assumption of tenor Placido Domingo as the company's artistic director. And to cement the symbolism, Domingo himself is conducting the opera.

Too bad, then, that this co-production with the Houston Grand Opera never achieves the distinction it so clearly seeks. Doubly disappointing is that this ``Aida'' (running intermittently at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion though Sept. 28) marks the company debut of soprano Deborah Voigt, who attended high school and college in Orange County and whose appearances on the world's great stages have elicited largely rapturous remarks.

But Voigt's success in Wagner and Richard Strauss is not echoed in her portrayal of the captured Ethiopian princess turned slave well, to be sure, her strength never flagging, her tone rich and evenly produced. But Voigt expresses little passion for this part; she never persuades us that matters are dire - that Aida's true identity may be discovered, that her love for a sworn enemy, Radames, may be revealed. Even in the patently moving aria ``O patria mia,'' she seems strangely unmoved.

Sadly, Voigt is not alone in her apparent ambivalence. This entire production suffers from progressive lethargy. Domingo is partly to blame, as he frequently fails to summon appropriate ardor in a score full of impassioned, and occasionally martial, music. For its part, the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra plays blandly. (Domingo conducts only through Sept. 17; William Vendice, the opera's chorus master, leads the orchestra Sept. 20-28.)

The one true bright spot in an uneven cast is South African tenor Johan Botha, whose big yet agile voice claims a full, ringing sound. In his company debut as Radames, he makes even the well-worn aria ``Celeste Aida'' seem fresh. And unlike Voigt, his voice always rises above the orchestra.

As Voigt's rival for Radames' love, Amneris, mezzo-soprano Nina Terentieva plays the scheming princess to the hilt. Unfortunately, her voice frays as the drama progresses. Bass-baritone Simon Estes (also making his company debut) pushes his voice as Aida's father, Amonasro, but he brings welcome gravity to a production much in need of grandeur. Company stalwart Louis Lebherz, a bass, sings the King of Egypt stolidly and, mostly, solidly. As the high priest Ramfis, Finnish bass Jaakko Ryhanen brings resonance and some real personality to his part.

Little positive can be said of the physical production, designed by Pier-Luigi Pizzi. A series of panels that look like giant art deco elevator doors slide to reveal various spare sets, none of which impresses. Neither cut-rate Cecil B. de Mille, a la Franco Zeffirelli, nor something more innovative, Pizzi's sets create a void that's never filled. And his costumes might just as well serve a Wagner opera as Verdi, many looking positively medieval.

Stephen Pickover's lame direction only further dulls this effort. Setting up a series of lifeless tableaux, he robs this production of potential drama, often undercutting the music in the process. Scenes that should be fraught with tension have none; Pickover utterly botches the Nile scene, for instance. And in the opera's more over-the-top moments, the director creates only half-hearted spectacle. Choreographer Daniel Pelzig helps matters by mustering relatively interesting steps for the ballet sequences, but there is nothing groundbreaking here, either.

The facts

--What: ``Aida.''

--Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

--When: Tonight and in repertory through Sept. 28. Call for dates and times.

--Tickets: $65 to $180. Call [phone].

--Our rating: Two stars

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Deborah Voigt's vocal skills are solid, but she lacks the passion to properly portray an enslaved princess in ``Aida.''