A sold-out Miller Auditorium welcomed the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra's 1998-1999 season opener with deserved clamorous applause Friday night. The object of the enthusiasm was a semi-staged concert presentation of Georges Bizet's celebrated opera "Carmen." Thanks to the combination of marvelous performances from all concerned - particularly the stupendous singing and acting of Angela Horn in the title role - the program enjoyed total success.

Helping the KSO bring the opera to energetic life was the always fine Kalamazoo Singers Opera Chorus, guided by director Thomas Kasdorf, along with the talented Battle Creek Boychoir, directed by Brooks Grantier.

But blending the local groups and several outstanding professional soloists was the task of the KSO's maestro Yoshimi Takeda, perfectly teamed with stage director William Appel, Western Michigan University professor of music. The orchestra, in midseason stride, rarely has sounded better, both in longer orchestral sections of Bizet's score and in accompanying the vocalists. Meanwhile, Appel again confirmed his first-rate directing by eliciting interesting, mostly believable blocking from the singers in the melodic score.

Using only the rudiments of a set in front of the full orchestra and large chorus, Appel succeeded in conjuring up the imaginative world of Bizet's Spain as dominated by Carmen, the gypsy seductress of striking beauty and infinite treachery. That role was fully realized - vocally and dramatically - by Horn, a late replacement as Carmen. After Friday's show, it is unimaginable that another singer could do that role better. She was the consummate Carmen - vivacious, a natural actress and an expressive singer with a splendid vocal instrument.

Micaela, the innocent country girl who is Carmen's foil in the opera, was sung with beauty and convincingness by Elena Kolganova, whose high register was secure and pleasing. Ian DeNolfo as Don Jose evidenced a tenor of power if not always subtleness. His high notes at times reflected shakiness and pitch discrepancies, particularly with pianissimos. But with fortes he succeeded fully, providing an especially passionate conclusion to the performance when pleading with Carmen to return to him and his love.

Genaro Sulvarin as the toreador Escamillo sang with a manly timbre but lacked the acting skills of most of his colleagues on stage. Joseph Schreck was fine as Morales, as was Donald Hartmann as Zuniga, the captain of the guards. Very good were Mellissa Thorburn as Mercedes and Amy Van Roekel as Frasquita, two of Carmen's gypsy companions.

Despite the overall tragic tone of Bizet's opera, levity was found in wonderful stage business, as with Carmen's flirting with Takeda by tickling his back during one of her seductive arias with Don Jose. Further, the mocking boys enacted by Grantier's boychoir brought laughter and pleasure as they play-marched about the soldiers during the early changing of the guards.

But it was Horn's brilliant acting and singing that melded the different elements into gold in this "Carmen." Expect to see and hear much from this performer in the future.

Finally the new seats in Miller Auditorium indeed are firmer and more comfortable than the old, even if Horn's affecting performance kept members of the audience on the edge of their seats throughout a thoroughly enjoyable production.