DOMINGO STILL KING, BUT `IDOMENEO' NOT ROYALTY.

Byline: David Mermelstein Correspondent

WITH TENOR Placido Domingo as the Los Angeles Opera's general director, works suited to his talents will naturally figure prominently in its schedule. But Domingo is 63 and cannot comfortably sing many roles now. Signature parts like Otello are out, and commissioning new material for him hasn't gone well.

Under the circumstances, ``Idomeneo,'' which began a 2 1/2-week run on Sept. 8, seems like a reasonable choice to open the company's 19th season. The opera offers Domingo a big title role as a king and father and doesn't require much heavy lifting in the vocal department. It also happens to be by Mozart.

The downside is that ``Idomeneo,'' which the tenor has sung at New York's Metropolitan Opera and elsewhere, is a tough work to stage. Though it has come down to us as the first of Mozart's major operas, it is written as ``opera seria,'' a 17th- and 18th-century style most modern audiences find formal and even stilted. ``Idomeneo'' is not ``The Marriage of Figaro or ``The Magic Flute.''

Which isn't to say there isn't good music here. Indeed, there's plenty of it, and one of the few bright spots in this dreary production from Flanders Opera is conductor Kent Nagano's fleet handling of the incandescent if not overly familiar score. Without being insensitive to the singers, Nagano refused to let his orchestra, reduced to Mozartean proportions, be merely a backup band. He varied textures intelligently and used dynamics judiciously. The woodwinds sounded especially good.

The opera is essentially the story of a king, Idomeneo, who makes a hasty bargain with the gods that if he's spared death in the water, he'll kill the first person he sees on shore. Unfortunately, that person turns out to be his son, Idamante, who has troubles of his own. He's trapped in a love triangle, having fallen for Ilia, a captive Trojan princess, when he ought to be marrying Elettra, daughter of Agamemnon. Idomeneo thinks maybe he can outwit Neptune, but the gods can't be cheated. They can, however, be placated by self-sacrifice, and the opera concludes on a happy note for all but the rejected Elettra.

As for the singers, opening night should have been dubbed Veteran's Day, with Domingo and soprano Veronica Villarroel, a company favorite, the only people on stage evincing real commitment. Domingo may have seemed weary at times - wouldn't you, contemplating sacrificing your son? - but his distinctive baritonal timbre couldn't be quashed. The old gloss may be off the voice now, but Domingo, unlike his rival Pavarotti, has always been a fine actor, and he remains one.

IDOMENEO - Two stars

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

When: 7:30 p.m. tonight, Friday and Sept. 23, 2 p.m. Sunday and Sept. 26.

Tickets: $25 to $190. [phone] or www.losangelesopera.com.

In a nutshell: Placido Domingo does well in a star vehicle, but the production is uninspired.