The current Indianapolis Opera season, which began weakly in September with a well-sung, cheaply designed, awkward English-language version of "The Magic Flute," graduated to greater heights with last weekend's "Tosca."

The production that ran Friday and Sunday at Clowes Hall featured lively direction and designs, including Joachim Schamberger's energizing stage direction, company artistic director James Caraher's rich work with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and F.M. Dana's multimedia scenic designs combining traditional elements with projections.

As singer Floria Tosca, Indy Opera brought back Stella Zambalis, who has been performing soprano roles at least as far back as her 1992 "Merry Widow" with the local company, but had been a mezzo earlier. If Zambalis' Tosca seemed older and more matronly than some, the passion of her voice, characterization and stage movement commanded attention nonetheless. Zambalis' Tosca worked up fits of jealousy with her lover, the artist and revolutionary Mario Cavaradossi, and seemed dangerously defiant of Scarpia, the corrupt police chief who pursues the painter for political reasons, then reveals his desire for the singer. Zambalis didn't make an especially velvet-toned Tosca, except during "Vissi d'arte," the famous Act 2 prayer after Cavaradossi has been tortured and she has been seduced, then questions why a life of art and kindness should lead to such despair.

Victor Benedetti's Scarpia seemed most memorable for the diabolical elements of his acting, from Machiavellian ploys to heartless torture. Scarpia's lyrics about going after what he wants and then discarding it defined Benedetti's portrayal.

Any tenderness in this cast was mainly found in William Joyner's Cavaradossi, who appeared quietly heroic as he hid an escaped political prisoner. His "Qual occhio al mondo," or "What eyes in the world," sung to quiet Tosca's jealousy, offered some of the loveliest moments of Friday's show.

Dana's multimedia scenic elements afforded the possibility of changing visuals without changing scenes. During Act 1, the church altar bearing an oversized Madonna sculpture was complemented by projected icons of angels or saints. Act 2, set in Scarpia's chamber in Palazzo Farnese, shifted from projected marble patterns to outdoors vistas.