A STRONG SEASON FOR L.A. OPERA.

Byline: Rick Mortensen Staff Writer

Eager to put this season's setbacks behind it, Los Angeles Opera announced Wednesday the company's 2003-04 season, its most ambitious to date.

The season will include a world premiere, five new productions of existing operas and two revivals for a total of eight operas. It will be the first season that the opera does not have to share the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with the L.A. Philharmonic, which will move to Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Artistic director Placido Domingo announced the season at a press conference following brief remarks by Marc I. Stern, L.A. Opera's CEO, who added chairman to his title in December, two months after the sudden death of previous chairman Leonard Green.

Green's death was mentioned by Domingo as one of three major challenges the company faced this year, the other two being the cancellations of ``War and Peace'' in October and ``Coronation of Poppea'' this month, and subsequent difficulties with their replacements. Both Domingo and Stern praised the company's ability to mount successful replacements for these productions.

But the focus of the press conference was the future, and L.A. Opera will open next season in September with two adventurous productions.

In honor of the bicentennial of composer Hector Berlioz's birth, L.A. Opera will open a new production of his ``The Damnation of Faust.'' Achim Freyer, the director/designer responsible for last season's avant-garde staging of Bach's ``Mass in B Minor,'' will direct and design the new ``Faust'' production.

Four days later, L.A. Opera will present the world premiere of ``Nicholas and Alexandra,'' composed by Deborah Drattell and chronicling the rise and fall of the last Russian monarchy.

Drattell had written the role of Alexander for Domingo, but at the tenor's request she recast him as Rasputin, requiring her to rewrite the latter part for a tenor and the part of Alexander for a bass/baritone. Rodney Gilfry will originate the role of Alexander.

``I have to say he made the right choice by wanting to be Rasputin, said Drattell. ``The most interesting character is Rasputin.''

Acclaimed Russian conductor Mstistlav Rostropovich will conduct ``Nicholas and Alexandra,'' and Anne Bogart will direct. Bogart is one of three female stage directors slated for this season. Lucinda Childs will direct a new production of Christoph Willibald Gluck's ``Orfeo and Euridice'' in October, and Marthe Keller will direct Gaetano Donizetti's ``Lucia di Lammermoor'' in November.

Another noteworthy director on next season's roster is Robert Wilson, who will direct his production of Giacomo Puccini's ``Madama Butterfly'' in February. The 1993 production re-created its Japanese setting with an all-natural set and intricate lighting cues.