A little more than a year ago, Sir Jonathan Miller, apparently feeling underappreciated, publicly speculated that a production of Mozart’s “La Clemenza di Tito” in Zurich might be his operatic swan song. Now, however, he is everywhere.

Last weekend, Mr. Miller’s staging of Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” made an impressive return to the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He will directs Janacek’s “Jenufa” at Glimmerglass Opera in July. And on Wednesday evening, his 1998 production of “The Marriage of Figaro,” with sets by Peter Davison that suggest both the grandeur and the decay of the ancien regime, turned up at the Metropolitan Opera. This performance featured a substantially different cast from that heard last fall, including one singer making an auspicious debut.

Much esteemed in her native London, Alice Coote made a fine showing in the trouser role of the girl-crazy Cherubino. Admittedly, this is a part that all but the most flat-footed of artists can make appealing, but Ms. Coote did much more than that. Her handsome, not overly ripe mezzo reveled in the breathlessly lovesick intoxication of “Non so piu,” and in her second aria, a love song addressed to the Countess, Ms. Coote endearingly overcame the youth’s reticent beginning as his proximity to the addressee increased. In addition, the combination of artful costuming with her own figure made for a visually amiable impersonation of the adolescent.

Ms. Coote sang in the distinguished company of two women appearing in their roles for the first time this season, Soile Isokoski as the Countess, and Andrea Rost as Susanna. The Countess is the prototype for the Marschallin in Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier,” a role in which Ms. Isokoski also excels. Here she alluded to the kinship between the characters, greeting a mother and her daughters in an abbreviated morning levee during the introduction of her opening aria, “Porgi, amor.”

The touch nicely set the mood for an affecting, richly colored rendering of this expression of heartache. Ms. Isokoski’s performance of the later “Dove sono” was also a thing to treasure, not least in the reprise of the initial slow section of the aria, to which Ms. Isokoski brought an arresting pianissimo and decorations of admirable restraint – only a couple of appoggiaturas, but they were telling.

Ms. Rost delivered a first-rate Susanna. Her voice has a sparkling shimmer that helped to animate the servant girl’s music, and she phrased with an alluring yet nuanced delicacy. As her betrothed Figaro, John Relyea might have been chosen partially for his height, for he is nearly as tall as Peter Mattei, who repeated his portrayal of the Count from last fall. Their dimensions seemed to literally heighten the stakes of the opera’s theme of class conflict, and Mr. Relyea’s robust singing and determined manner enhanced his competitive credibility.

As Dr. Bartolo, the dependable Paul Plishka demonstrated that his bass is not what it once was. Jane Bunnell was a seasoned Marcellina, and Tonna Miller an expressive Barbarina. David Cangelosi made a mark in his first Met Don Basilio, but his aria was cut, as was Ms. Bunnell’s. Mark Wigglesworth, apart from some ensemble problems early on, presided over an appealing, fleetly paced performance.

“The Marriage of Figaro” will be performed again on April 15, 19, 22 & 27 at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center, 212-362-6000).