IT'S SINGER VS. STAGING IN THE L.A. OPERA PRODUCTION OF 'FIDELIO'.

Byline: >BY DAVID MERMELSTEIN

The Los Angeles Opera opened its 21st season this past weekend with two soaring works exemplifying human aspiration at its humblest and most humane:

Beethoven's "Fidelio," the composer's only opera, and Verdi's "Requiem," a devotional piece by a composer practically synonymous with opera.

"Fidelio," which opened on Saturday night, is scheduled to run through Oct. 6. The "Requiem" was given only a single performance. Conducted by Placido Domingo, the company's general director, it was dedicated to the memory of two people close to him, Edgar Baitzel, who had been L.A. Opera's chief operating officer until his death in March, and Luciano Pavarotti, the great tenor, who died last week.

Given company music director James Conlon's impressive conducting of "Fidelio," it would be gratifying to call this production a success. Unfortunately, director-designer Pier'Alli's staging, originally mounted in Spain, proved confounding.

To be fair, "Fidelio" is a complex and imperfect work. Its high-minded themes of fidelity (hence the work's title), honor and courage, as personified by the heroine Leonore, are set against a broadly comic love triangle. Thus as Leonore disguises herself as a man (Fidelio) in an attempt to free her unjustly imprisoned husband, Florestan, she must also fend off the jailer Rocco's daughter, Marzelline, who desires Fidelio (unaware that she's a woman). At the same time, Jacquino, the prison gatekeeper, pines unrequitedly for Marzelline.

Yet even if one cuts Pier'Alli's production some slack, it remains bizarrely schizophrenic, its second act chockablock with vertigo-inducing CGI (courtesy of Sergio Metalli) and inexplicably at odds with the first act's simple realism.

Seemingly inspired by the "Matrix" films, the director depicts the evil governor Pizarro's dungeon as a blue-hued video-game-like netherworld -- imagery that persists even after the action returns to the prison courtyard, where freedom is celebrated from behind a scrim embossed with what looked like jet-engine parts hurtling through space.

The pity is that Pier'Alli's scenic excesses and directorial shortcomings undermine a fine cast. No one in this production is less than satisfying, and many are far better, starting with the show's star, soprano Anja Kampe as Leonore. Though she didn't always project forcefully, especially in ensembles, Kampe provided a tonally alluring, amply nuanced characterization.

Soprano Rebekah Camm endowed Marzelline with a consistently plush sound.

And baritone Eike Wilm Schulte proved an attractively voiced Pizarro, though his costuming and stock gestures found him teetering on caricature.

Naturally the voice of the great Finnish bass Matti Salminen is neither as supple nor as muscular as it was in 1990, when he last sang Rocco here. Yet he remains a literally towering presence. More important, he husbands his vocal resources admirably.

The evening's big discovery was tenor Klaus Florian Vogt, whose Florestan was well worth waiting for -- the character doesn't appear until second act. A strapping and handsome figure, Vogt possesses the light but virile voice historically associated with this role.

Another source of joy was the L.A. Opera Chorus, now in the capable hands of Grant Gershon, who also serves as music director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Gershon used to work for L.A. Opera (1988-94), and his return, as associate conductor and chorus master, is most welcome. Together with Conlon, he is clearly moving the company not just forward, but also upward.

Mermelstein is a freelance writer.

FIDELIO - Two and one half stars

>What: L.A. Opera opens its season with Beethoven's "Fidelio" conducted by James Conlon and starring Anja Kampe, Matti Salminen and Klaus Florian Vogt.

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

>When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, 29 and Oct. 3; 2 p.m. Sept. 23 and Oct. 6.

>Tickets: $20 to $238. [phone]. www.laopera.com.

>In a nutshell: A confusing, off-putting production undermines good singing.