If you are concerned about people growing old around you, just keep looking for fresh faces to hang out with. We got this bit of wisdom not from Gavin Newsom (who got it from Willie anyway), but from James Schwabacher. One of Schwabacher’s initiatives was to co-found the SF Opera Merola program, now in its 50th anniversary, a training program-slash-talent-search for opera singers that lasts all summer.

Schwabacher sadly passed away in the middle of last year’s edition, but the new kids (mostly in their 20s), they are all right. His legacy is safe and secure. We saw last week-end an excellent performance of Rossini’s La Cenerentola (that’s Cinderella in Italian) at the Cowell Theater in Fort Mason. Before we dig into that, a few PSAs: there are three more opportunities to catch the Merolini, and the next one is for free in the Yerba Buena gardens (Sunday, July 29th, 2 p.m.). So go check what they are about, and if you like it, you can go back to either Cowell Theater for the world premiere of Hotel Casablanca, or the Gala that concludes the program in the War Memorial Opera House (last year’s note here).

Pictures by Kristen Loken. Above, first row from left to right Daveda Karanas, Sam Handley, Ani Maldjian, Paul La Rosa, Daniela Mack, Alek Shrader, and holding the apples: Tom Corbeil, Kenneth Kellogg. Below: mostly the same singers in different combinations and Padmé Amidala.

World premiere of a new opera? Man, these kids are fearless! The composer of that one is Thomas Pasatieri, you’ve heard his orchestrations in a bunch of movies, like American Beauty and The Shawshank Redemption, and with such Hollywood connections, you’d think he’d have a spiffier web site (though we do need more doves in this world). That’s his ninth opera, so he’s not only the Litte Mermaid guy. His vocal work has been recorded by the most prominent singers, like, and admire how all this ties nicely together, Merola program alumni Thomas Hampson.

The Cinderella story: it’s about diamonds in the rough, and we had plenty of sparkling performances on Friday. Daniela Mack is Cenerentola, toiling in the ashes by the fireplace, singing longing songs about princes coming over and picking honesty and kindness over pride and arrogance. Mack has a luminescent stage presence. Her wide white smile and big bright innocent eyes give her that movie star quality: you cannot help but notice her. It does not hurt that she reminded us of Natalie Portman. She has a sweet voice, which resonates deeply in the mezzo-range, and displays some agile coloratura in the higher range.

Her voice matched handsomely that of tenor Alek Shrader. Rossini wrote their love duets so that they meet in the same range of the scale. In those delicate moments, Shrader’s voice took an almost feminine hue, and they meshed so intimately that for precious little instants, we could not identify which voice was whose. Mack and Shrader had such chemistry that we would not be surprised running into them walking up Haight street holding hands.

Even though it’s a drama giocosa, that is, a love story with jokes, the cast does not overdo the slapstick shtick. They find a just medium between having fun on stage and letting the love story unfold with a modicum of credibility. Rossini would have appreciated: he was telling a real love story. He took away the magic of the Perrault tale and replaced the midnight pumpkins and the fairies flippity-flapping their wings in a sea of glitter by a cohort of king advisers, scheming in the background.

One of them, Alidoro (Matthew Moore), hovers over the performance like he was introducing the twilight zone. Matthew Moore gave his character a devilish twist, which tinted the religiosity of some of his arias with a dark, intimidating overtone.

The other, Dandini (Paul La Rosa), provides deadpan comic relief. He is a smooth baritone servant who pretends to be the prince for a while, and make the most of the opportunity. The acting chops of all must be commended, but he elicited the the more response from the audience.

That last statement is a bit unfair to the two step-sisters: Ani Maldjian and Daveda Karanas. Maldjian went through the program last year (we saw her as the Princess in Transformations) and the experience pays off: a tiny perky soprano, she knows what she is doing. Completing the main cast of characters, bass Sam Handley was Don Magnifico, the step-dad of Cenerentola, with a deep booming voice and a commanding demeanor.

The only mild disappointment came from the pit: everything was not in sync for Friday’s performance, under the baton of Martin Katz, whose instructions seemed more expressive than accurate. The simple set changes by rotation some big wheeled contraptions. It’s pretty minimalist, but quite effective. We were just curious as to why the stage was surrounded by a fleur-de-lys freeze: there’s no French royals up there, and if anything, the prince’s outfit looked like it belonged to Albert de Monaco.

We leave you with an aria of the opera which is just too beautiful to not be included.