The San Francisco Opera mounts a lush, plush, tuneful adaptation of Puccini's ill-fated romance between a woman of the world (a bravura Angela Gheorghiu) and a simple, naive student (Misha Didyk). Among the highlights are Gheorghiu's wondrous Act 1 performance of "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta." Puccini dismissed an early staging of his work, which translates as "The Swallow," as a "pig of an opera." He's been proven wrong. Directed by Stephen Barlow, conducted by Ion Marin.