The Washington National Opera, because of the “national” in its new name, is supposed to stage at least one American opera per season. It is apparently fulfilling that obligation this year with a recent opera by Nicholas Maw, a British composer who has for several years been living here in the Washington area and teaching at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore.

This new production of Maw’s tragic opera, Sophie’s Choice, is the American premiere of the work, which met with considerable critical disapproval after its 2002 world premiere in London, as described in the preview by Stephen Brookes in the Post yesterday. Some of the reasons for the critical failure of the opera, which sprawled to over four hours, are clear in the interview that Nicholas Maw gave to Gail Wein before the world premiere. Most of the criticism was centered on the unwieldy libretto, adapted by the composer from the 1979 novel by William Styron, perceived to be too long and full of obtuse language.

Maw has been working on the opera in one form or another since then, preparing a concert suite based on the music, first performed by the Peabody Symphony Orchestra two years ago. For this performance at WNO, Maw has made significant alterations to his score, some of which amounts to drastically reducing the role of Wanda, a member of the Polish resistance who tries to enlist Sophie’s help. Truth be told, he probably should have eliminated the role altogether, because what is left is hardly necessary at all. Expanding a story with music as opera does requires that it be dramatically very focused. Having heard the dress rehearsal earlier this week, I can say that the result of this reshaping is a much tighter opera, which allows one to enjoy the music in Maw’s signature neo-Romantic style, but not be overwhelmed by the breadth of the story.

The premiere of the Washington National Opera’s new production of Sophie’s Choice opens tonight at 7 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Tickets are still available.