The paying customer always knows what to expect from the San Francisco Lyric Opera. In an operatic environment of constant change, the company holds its course — good young singers and no surprises in the staging. That approach was on display again in Saturday’s performance of Verdi’s Il trovatore at the Florence Gould Theater in the Legion of Honor. The opera boasted a few powerhouse vocal performances, a reasonable staging, and strong conducting by Barnaby Palmer.

The cast members have become Lyric Opera regulars, as has Director Heather Carolo. Indeed, she and most of the principals worked together in last spring’s Tosca. That familiarity makes a big impact on the results, and it’s one attribute of a small, local company that the major opera houses inevitably lack. In this production you noticed the cohesion and unity of purpose that comes from a lot of rehearsal time together. Everyone is doing the same opera in the same time zone.

The significance of San Francisco Lyric Opera's production of Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia is obvious before you hear a single note. A tiny local company that takes on a complicated, challenging, still largely unfamiliar contemporary opera should get a big, shiny "A" for effort. How delightful then is the experience of an excellent performance with talented young singers, an outstanding orchestra, and sterling musical direction by Barnaby Palmer.

In the cramped but acoustically fine quarters of the Legion of Honor's Florence Gould Theater (no orchestra pit and a minuscule stage, lacking even the most basic facilities), Heather Carolo managed to direct the work effectively.

San Francisco Lyric Opera set a new standard of achievement for themselves with a new production of Puccini's Tosca Saturday night at the Florence Gould Theater at the Legion of Honor. Propelled by superior acting and singing, the opera was the gripping thriller that Puccini and his librettists worked to create. The show ran smoothly without technical glitches and was well-conducted by artistic director Barnaby Palmer.

The grand passions on display in Tosca are so evident that it is easy to forget that, as in a well-made play, there is a carefully plotted windup to the big scenes, and it depends a great deal on small details. One of the strengths of this show was director Heather Carolo's handling of those details. Each made its mark quickly, and the show was set in motion with the streamlined exposition that was librettist Luigi Illica's specialty. The sacristan put a flower at the shrine of the Madonna before his prayer, anticipating Tosca. Carolo also had the idea of allowing the sacristan to share the stage with Cavaradossi during the tenor's aria, "Recondita armonia" (Hidden harmony), rather than remaining in the background. This was a more dynamic choice than "aria time" staging and brought attention to the sacristan's comments, which are the first we hear of Mario's radical (pro-Napoleon) politics.