Merola finale displays talents of vocalists — and young director

The Merola Grand Finale — the procession of operatic solos and duets that concludes the San Francisco Opera Center’s summer training program — represents an annual challenge for a stage director.

Over the decades, I’ve never seen the job dispatched with the elegance, verve and sheer theatrical imagination that Aria Umezawa brought to it on Saturday night in the War Memorial Opera House.

Among them were countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, whose rendition of Gluck’s “Che farò senza Euridice?” boasted a formidable combination of tonal sinew and expressive depth, and mezzo-soprano Tara Curtis, who brought a commanding presence and robustly colored tone to Cassandre’s Act 1 aria (“Malheureux roi!”) from Berlioz’s “Les Troyens.”

The title character’s prayer from the final act of Wagner’s “Rienzi” elicited a gleaming, potent performance from tenor Kyle van Schoonhoven, marked by suave phrasing and tonal freshness.

Soprano Adelaide Boedecker, joined by tenor Isaac Frishman, brought graceful vigor to a scene from Donizetti’s “Linda di Chamounix,” and tenor Amitai Pati and baritone Andrew G. Manea concluded the first half of the evening with an ingratiating account of the great duet from Bizet’s “Pearl Fishers.”

For one delightful final touch, the final offering, from “Die Fledermaus” of Johann Strauss Jr., was accompanied by slides from the young artists’ weeks in San Francisco — in performance, in master classes, posing with donors and friends.