Glimmerglass Opera recently announced that Francesca Zambello would take the reins as the company's new general and artistic director. For diehard opera fans, this was not unlike announcing that film and television director J. J. Abrams planned to run the Charcoal Corral, the adorable mini-golf and drive-in movie complex on Silver Lake. That's a slight exaggeration, since Glimmerglass is an internationally known summer opera house, but the point is: Zambello has star power. She's staged plays on Broadway, and she's directed dozens of world premieres. She speaks five languages, and is friends and neighbors with soprano Renee Fleming. Zambello plans to make significant changes at Glimmerglass next season. We'll get to those later. In the meantime, you have the rest of this summer to see four operas. They are generally excellent.

I had a good feeling when I walked into the Alice Busch Opera Theater and saw the long neck of a theorbo jutting out the orchestra pit. This Baroque instrument, expertly handled by Michael Leopold, laid a funky, percussive groove during Handel's "Tolomeo." Glimmerglass is offering the first professionally staged performance of this opera in America, and it is creative, wondrous, and visually spectacular. In the 18th century comedy, set in Cypress, stage director Chas Rader-Shieber gave full flight to imagination, pulling in contemporary objects and gestures that had the audience laughing out loud. Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo is breathtaking as Tolomeo, singing long, sustained lines with polish and ease. Joelle Harvey, as his love Seleuce, produces a light, creamy soprano voice that transports the audience, especially in her duets with Costanzo. Steven LaBrie plays Araspe, the feckless king of Cypress, with forceful, red-blooded conviction. But soprano Julie Boulianne steals the show. In the role of Elisa, the king's lovesick sister; she pouts and swoons with arch sweetness. In one delicious moment, she holds a drumstick and sings of a happy little bird that flies forth. Surprise follows surprise. Delightful.

Glimmerglass trains a kind of farm team for major-league opera companies, the Young American Artists program. This year its members are presenting Aaron Copland's only full-length opera, "The Tender Land." There were a few balance problems. The cast was occasionally overwhelmed by the orchestra. Lindsay Russell plays Laurie Moss, a high-school girl on the eve of graduation day. With a radiant upper register and 5000-watt smile, Russell is irresistible. Andrew Stenson as Martin, the migrant worker who wins her heart, offers a steely, resonant tenor voice. "Tender Land" reveals raw responses to the passage of time. If you are touched by cosmic grief, you may be reduced to a quivering mass by Copland's luminous score.

From the tangy opening notes, Puccini sets a melodramatic tone for "Tosca," a standard and much-loved opera about two lovers trapped in a snare of political and sexual intrigue. Adam Diegel (as the aristocratic painter Mario Cavaradossi) and Lise Lindstrom (singing the role of the singer Floria Tosca) are well matched as the lovers. Diegel offers a fresh, powerful voice threaded with light. Lindstrom dazzles with fiery, agile singing. She quivers and slumps with each new setback, defying the villain Baron Scarpia, who attempts to blackmail her into bed. Baritone Lester Lynch portrays Scarpia's lusty, cruel character with a relaxed air, as slow and purposeful as a boa constrictor. His commanding baritone voice thrills, especially at the end of the first act, as he sings of his physical desire for Tosca in church, during a Catholic service. Even with so much compelling singing, the pacing of this "Tosca" feels static and its final revelation rushed.

Conductor David Angus hit the ground running in "The Marriage of Figaro." It's by composer Wolfgang Mozart with a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, and it's a marathon for singers and audiences, lasting more than three hours. ("Too many notes," remarks Emperor Joseph II to Mozart in the movie "Amadeus.") The plot is ridiculously complicated, but that doesn't matter. You'll like the characters, and the music has the sunny, direct appeal of a Gilbert and Sullivan show. Patrick Carfizzi (Figaro) brings impressive range, a magnificent voice, and a light touch to the role. As his fianc�, Susanna, Lyubov Petrova delivers a radiant, pure tone with comedic joy. Time stands still when Caitlin Lynch sings. Her honeyed tone and sweetness of expression as Countess Almaviva goes straight to the heart. Throughout "Figaro," there are familiar arias exploring different kinds of love, but the glory of Mozart's opera is the ensemble singing - that is, the twining of voices in contrasting parts. It's an absolute beauty.

The company's incoming executive director Francesca Zambello is hoping opera fans will come to think of Glimmerglass as the American Bayreuth, the Bavarian summer festival that draws Wagner fans from around the world. But opera, it seems, is not enough. She's already announced that the name "Glimmerglass Opera" will be changed to "Glimmerglass Festival" in 2011, and she's bringing in leading dramatic soprano Deborah Voigt to sing in an unamplified production of the Irving Berlin musical, "Annie Get Your Gun."� Voigt will also serve as a mentor to the young singers who work at Glimmerglass.

It's a stretch to call the journey from Rochester a day trip; it takes about three hours to get there. But it's worth it to see world-class opera in a Middle Earth-like setting. �Make time to explore the swamp on Lake Otsego behind the theater. A raised boardwalk will lead you into a marsh humming with dragonflies, herons, and flying squirrels. The path back leads you to a place where opera is very much alive.

Brenda Tremblay is the morning classical music host on 91.5,WXXI-FM, streaming at wxxi.org.