A RISING STAR IN THE OPERA WORLD HITS FROM DOWNTOWN.

Byline: John Farrell Correspondent

FOR BARITONE Erwin Schrott, who will sing the role of Figaro for the first time in the Los Angeles Opera production of Mozart's ``The Marriage of Figaro'' beginning tonight at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, there couldn't have been a better time to be in Southern California.

Schrott, who lives outside Milan, Italy, with his wife and daughter, is not only one of the world's most in-demand baritones, but also an NBA fan.

``In Italy, everybody loves the NBA,'' he said in his dressing room the Friday after Derek Fisher's last-second heroics turned the tide for the Lakers in their series with San Antonio. And Schrott announced with a smile that he had managed to get tickets to the next game, which the Lakers won.

That smile seems to be pretty much a permanent part of Schrott's personality. There are artists who suffer for their art, but the young Italian isn't one of them. He loves life, and especially the life he has as an opera singer who travels the world to perform. His only regret is that he can't spend as much time with his wife and daughter as he would like. He had just flown into Los Angeles from Montevideo, Uruguay, where he was born in 1972. He had been visiting his parents.

``I love traveling, and I love performing,'' Schrott said. ``I am a very happy man. If you get to do work that you love, you are very lucky, and I love my work and I love to travel.

``When I am at home, I wake up in the morning and I say, 'I want to get to work right away,' and my wife will say, `You have only been home a week. Relax.' ''

Schrott is as much an actor a singer, part of the new generation of opera stars who want to do more in a performance than just sing. He has movie idol good looks: tall, handsome, ruggedly built, with a powerful handshake and sparkling eyes, his loose curly black hair falling to his collar. He also has the kind of personality that can be transmitted with just a glance.

He turns on his acting skills for a demonstration of his method, derived from Stanislavksy, of concentrating on one member of the audience to get the message across, and you see how powerfully he can express emotion. He demonstrates how he uses that technique in singing, with a few bars of Leporello's opening aria from Mozart's ``Don Giovanni,'' and, in the hardly spacious confines of the dressing room, his voice is so loud and strong you get a brief idea of how opera singers do their magic on stage.

Mozart has become Schrott's specialty, from Leporello in ``Don Giovanni'' to the Don himself, and now Figaro for the first time. His Mozart roles include Don Giovanni, which he sang with great success in Los Angeles in 2003, and Leporello and Maestro in other productions of that opera. He has sung in ``La Boheme'' at the Metropolitan Opera and in Hamburg, Germany, and has also sung with the Vienna Opera, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden and in Florence and Naples. He will return to Los Angeles next year to sing Escamillo in Bizet's ``Carmen,'' a role he will first sing in Rome this summer.

This ``Figaro'' is a new production mounted by the company, with sets designed by Tim Goodchild and costumes by Deidre Clancy. The production is directed by Ian Judge, and Maestro Stefan Anton Reck, making his L.A. Opera debut, will conduct all nine performances.

``I love doing Mozart. It suits my voice, and I think his operas are perfect for me right now,'' Schrott said. ``Of course, your voice needs some exercise, so every so often I do a role where I have to growl.''

THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

What: Los Angeles Opera's new production of Mozart's opera.

Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 7:30 p.m. tonight, Wednesday, June 2, 5, 11, 16 and 19; 2 p.m. May 29 and June 13.

Tickets: $25 to $170. Call [phone]; www.losangelesopera.com

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Uruguayan-born baritone Erwin Schrott, with Isabel Bayrakdarian as Susanna, will sing the title role in Mozart's ``The Marriage of Figaro'' at L.A. Opera through June 19.