Eve Queler & Aprile Millo in 1990. Photo by Beatriz Schiller

Eve Queler’s Opera Orchestra of New York (OONY) concluded its season of opera at Carnegie Hall, on April 20, with a staged concert presentation of Amilcare Ponchielli’s “La Gioconda,” starring Aprile Millo— erstwhile singer of bel canto and early Verdi—in this most dramatic of Italian soprano assignments. It is difficult to imagine an interpreter of Gioconda today who would sing this title part with greater commitment.

As Ponchielli and “Tobia Gorrio”/Arrigo Boito’s tragic Venetian street-singer-turned-mistress-of-an-official-of-the-Inquisition, Millo emoted expansively. One can carp about some details of this, Millo’s first Gioconda, but must note her command of the grand, late 19^th century style and, generally, of her instrument. If she failed to offer a ravishing pianissimo at the end of “Enzo adorato! Ah! come t’amo” ; in Act One, missed a line (“Chi son tu chiami?”) in the Act Two duet with Laura, simplified the coloratura in the final duet, and produced some less than fully focused top notes, in her favor, beside the assured diva attitude, were a full-throated lament at the end of Act One, high notes that rang out over all in the ensembles, and the chest tones she used unsparingly in a thrilling “Suicidio!” Sparks flew during her fourth act encounter with tenor Marcello Giordani, as Enzo. And when, in a concert hearing, has anyone ever died, dagger in hand, quite as graphically as Millo did?

Maestra Queler led the solo singers, Dallas Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and Opera Orchestra in such a stirring account of this grand opera that the trappings of a fully staged performance—costumes, scenery, dancers, and so on—were scarcely missed. Stage direction by Ira Siff (La Gran Scena Opera’s Mme Vera Galupe-Borszkh) certainly helped. Singers acted and interacted; all props were in place—rosary beads, guitar, quill pen, and vials of poison and sleeping potion; and there were masks for Laura, in Act One, and Gioconda, in Act Two.

Although the first act dance, the furlana, was bright, but somewhat heavy-footed, Queler’s Dance of the Hours had the required delicacy— no dancing hippos here—and then verve. The chorus and soloists made a mighty, if less than precisely coordinated sound in “D’un vampiro fatal,” the concerted finale of Act Three. Some annoying musical omissions—what were once so-called standard cuts—must be mentioned—Gioconda and Enzo’s solo verses near the end of Act Two, part of Alvise and the chorus’ exchange before the ballet and, as discussed above, some of Gioconda’s contribution to the final duet.

Giordani was announced as “recovering from a cold and ask[ing the audience’s] indulgence,” but his performance as Enzo needed no apology. His tenor sounded strong and clear in his entrance music, ringing high notes dotted his part and, in “Cielo e mar,” he paid graceful tribute to the sea, the sky, and his love. Singing in a warm mezzo-soprano, Milena Kitic, as Laura, held her own in the love duet with Giordani and rivalry duet with Millo and outshone Luiz-Ottavio Faria, as Alvise, in their dramatic scene. She did not hit the final note of her aria, “Stella del marinar!,” dead on, but neatly salvaged it with a diminuendo.

Baritone Anooshah Golesorkhi, as the villainous spy, Barnaba, delivered a formidable, but nuanced address to the ducal palace—“O monumento!”--and jaunty song of the sea--“Pescator, affonda l’ esca.” Faria’s Alvise resolved to punish his errant wife, Laura, in a “Sģ! Morir ella de’!…Lą turbini e fanetichi” ; sung in a woolly bass, when more pointed tone was needed, but surprised by capping the aria with a bright climactic high note. Replacing Elena Obraztsova as La Cieca, Gioconda’s blind mother, Sheila Nadler expressed gratitude to Laura, who saved her from a lynching, in a “Voce di donna” limned in imposing, cavernous contralto sound, with little ease at the top, but solid low notes. Bass Andrew Gangestad, as a monk, issued a resonant call to Vespers near the end of the first act. Carlos Conde, James Archie Worley, Gaston Rivero, and Ihn-Kyu (Daniel) Lee completed the cast.

OONY’s next offering is a recital of music of Dargomyzhsky, Donizetti, Glinka, Liszt, Mercadante, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky, sung by soprano Olga Makarina, with pianist Yelena Kurdina, at Carnegie’s Weill Hall on April 29 at 8 pm. The company’s next season at Carnegie will consist of Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del West,” with Millo, Carl Tanner, and the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, on November 22; Thomas’ “Mignon,” with Stephanie Blythe and John Relyea, on April 7, 2005; and Weber’s “Der Freischütz,” with Sandra Moon and Johan Botha, on June 6.

Carnegie Hall 57^th Street & 7^th Avenue

Tickets $25-115

April 29 tickets $35