Photo: Carol Rosegg

Times have changed since New York City Opera first presented its exquisite production of Handel’s Partenope in 1998. During the past decade, the company transitioned from general manager and artistic director Paul Kellogg’s Baroque revival into uncertainty surrounding Gérard Mortier’s regime, before finally resting on the forward-thinking management of the intrepid George Steel. It seems all too poignant, then, that Steel rounds off his inaugural season with one of his predecessor’s greatest achievements—especially since the 2010–11 season will be Handel-free.

Yet 12 years later, Francisco Negrin’s production is still as vibrant as ever, complementing the opera’s 18^th-century tradition while making it viable for 21^st-century audiences. And, as Saturday night’s performance proved, City Opera maintains another tradition of unearthing some of the freshest talent. Once again, we left the theater wondering, Where have these singers been all our lives?

The night belonged to Iestyn Davies, who played one of the titular monarch Partenope’s suitors to perfection. Pure in tone, Davies’s countertenor packed heft and heat, making for three of the evening’s most stirring musical moments. His “Ch’io parta?” left nary a dry eye in the house. As castmate Anthony Roth Costanzo noted in a recent interview for TONY, each countertenor’s sound is like a different wine—here he made good on the claim by showing off his idyllic shiraz tone in relation to Davies’s voluminous riesling.

Tannins and tessituras were an easy comparison to draw in an evening that gave us a hearty buzz. Like Costanzo, both the rioja-strong Nicholas Coppolo (who charmed us earlier this year in Gotham Chamber Opera’s Il Mondo della Luna) and the full-bodied beaujolais mezzo Stephanie Houtzeel made striking City Opera debuts. Houtzeel was particularly memorable in the final aria of the first act, having a kurtzlike moment with stag’s blood while the curtain came down. As Partenope, Cyndia Sieden had sparkling asti top notes yet fell flat in the lower passages, in which she battled with projection. Bass baritone Daniel Mobbs, a City Opera stalwart, was a wonderful familiar cabernet sauvignon. Leading the handsome sextet was Christian Curnyn in an equally auspicious debut, balancing humor with grace, reminding us of City Opera’s past—and getting us pumped for its future.