Nadine Sierra stars as the eponymous lovable, betrayed innocent in a new production of Luisa Miller. Freddie De Tommaso appears as the suitor tricked into believing she has played him false, with deadly consequences. The 14th of Giuseppe Verdi’s 26 operas, Luisa Miller was followed by the long-lost lost cause called Stiffelio—and then, in short order, the amazing hat trick of Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, and La Traviata. With those perennial favorites, Luisa Miller shares the composer’s genius for ravishing melody, instinct for drama, and sympathy for characters out of step with the society they live in. The nervous electricity of the overture sets the scene for cruel cat-and-mouse games to follow. Apart from the lovers, the players include the soprano’s retired-soldier baritone father, a model of decency and integrity (George Petean); the tenor’s tyrannical bass father (Roberto Tagliani); that man’s criminal consigliere, another bass, who is after Luisa (Marko Mimica); and a mezzo young widow, who is after the tenor (Daria Sushkova). Spoiler alert: nobody wins. The designer-director Philipp Grigorian goes in for garish stage pictures with a contemporary carnival flair—hardly what Verdi anticipated, but let’s keep an open mind. Michele Mariotti conducts. —Matthew Gurewitsch