Photo By Cincinnati Opera

Antonello Palombi, sings the role of Cavaradossi.

The "L" words are in order when discussing the Tosca that opened Cincinnati Opera's 86th summer season Thursday night at Music Hall: Lush. Lustrous. Lyrical. Oh, yeah, and a couple of "T" words: Traditional. Totally traditional.

Soaring sets. Soaring music. Soaring emotions. Every thought, every pose and every gesture Technicolored up to several times larger than life. Or as a serious opera lover might put it: Enough's enough, too much is way better and much too much is what opera's all about.

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..........Almost as notable was the debut of tenor Antonello Palombi as the artist-activist Cavaradossi to whom Tosca gives her heart, her support in his resistance to a corrupt government and his aide to rebel Angelotti (Wayne Tigges) -- and for whose lost love she ultimately gives her life. Most of Palombi's major appearances have thus far been in Europe; on Thursday's evidence, time will quickly build a U.S. rep for him.

He sang with both nuance and authority -- well in the Act One arias and especially well in the sequence with Tosca in Act Three .........

So this is a Tosca out of the fond memory books, not something for the record books. No new ground was broken, but familiar territory was traveled with enormous style. Grade: A