San Francisco Opera's "La Forza del Destino" concluded its run ronight with a truly memorable performance. Everybody in the large cast did well, but there were three outstanding artists who made the near-capacity audience in the War Memorial very happy indeed. Nicola Luisotti, whose conducting debut here three weeks ago set the premiere on fire, slowed down a bit, and let up slightly in intensity, but he led a performance of precision and beauty, reaching a heavenly peak in the Act 1 Madonna of the Angels scene, with a veritable perfection of balance, tempo, dynamics; the interaction of orchestra, men's chorus and Leonora (Andrea Gruber in excellent if not completely consistent form) creating a heartwrenching impact. Orlin Anastassov's Father Guardiano is for the ages: the 29-year-old Bulgarian bass has a gloriously natural way of singing, assuasive music - warm, mellow, bright - is just pouring out of him, effortlessly, enchantingly. And, once again, concertmaster Kay Stern "sang" the best Leonora I ever heard, her solo of the opera's great theme filling the house with uncanny, crystalline beauty. Add to the Luisotti-Anastassov-Stern trio Roland Aeschlimann's bizarre but grand sets and Andrea Schmidt-Futterer's rainbow costumes (in black and white, that is), and that was more than sufficient onto the night. Jill Grove's Preziosilla and Zeljko Lucic's Don Carlo were good as ever, Vladmimir Kuzmenko's still-uncomfortable Don Alvaro sounded at least acceptable tonight, and the Opera Chorus (especially the men, when ordained) was often at its best. Given this truly good night, it may sound strange, but there is some relief in seeing "Forza" go, certain not to come back for many years, if ever. Even with a seasoned opera fan's split brain of focussing on music and disregarding idiotic plots, "Forza" is just galling, more and more over the years. It's amazing that no one in the audience ever screams at Leonora in the first scene to stop stalling or her father will eventually hear the tenor, however weak the voice may be... all the ensuing unpleasantness to be avoided, saving four hours of grotesque suffering, and surely Verdi could have used the music somewhere else. Janos Gereben www.sfcv.org [log in to unmask]