Bartoli’s triumphant L.A. return

There were wild cheers, ecstatic faces, standing ovations and five encores. No, the scene wasn’t the Grammys show Sunday night at Staples Center. It was Cecilia Bartoli’s recital for Los Angeles Opera that afternoon at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

The great Roman mezzo- soprano was making her first Los Angeles appearance since 1994. Her local recital debut took place at Pasadena’s Ambassador Auditorium way back in 1992. Orange County heard her in 1995 and 2001. And that had been it. So not surprisingly, she was greeted deliriously Sunday, like a long-lost family member. She gave back like a generous lover.

Contrary to expectations, Bartoli did not sing anything from her new album devoted to arias by Mozart’s contemporary, Antonio Salieri, although she signed copies of the CD after the performance. Instead -- accompanied sensitively throughout by Sergio Ciomei -- she offered songs and arias by Bellini, Donizetti, Pauline Viardot, Delibes, Bizet and Berlioz.

She sang Bellini’s lovesick “Ma rendi pur contento” (If you can bring happiness) with purity, evenness and endless line. She broke hearts with Rossini’s “L’esule” (Exile), with its recurring vision of a lost homeland.

You could believe she was the grand vamp whose irresistible attraction “even made Pompadour tremble” in Rossini’s “La Grande Coquette” (The Magnificent Coquette). Or the timid adolescent lectured by a querulous insect for not stealing a kiss from his beloved in Bizet’s “La Coccinelle” (The Ladybug).

As for the bravura arias -- “Nacqui all’affanno, al pianto” (I was born to sorrow and tears) and “Riedi al soglio” (Unto the throne return) from Rossini’s “Cenerentola” and “Zelmira,” respectively -- Bartoli made them look easy. But elsewhere, occasionally, she squared her shoulders to let you know what Olympian effort and dedication performing of this caliber really takes.

At all times, she connected with the audience with an electricity and immediacy that won hearts as well as admiration.

A font of inexhaustible energy, she gave five encores: the dazzling first section of Riccardo Broschi’s “Son qual nave ch’agitata,” Handel’s “Lascia ch’io pianga,” Rossini’s “La Donna,” De Curtis’ Neapolitan song “Non ti scordar di me” and Montsalvatge’s “Canto negro.”

Despite her beneficence, the capacity audience was reluctant to let her go. We’d all been waiting for such a long time.