Daniel Okulitch.

YOUNG BASS-BARITONE Dan Okulitch's most recent operatic credits include his debut as the lead in Calgary Opera's Canadian premiere of Dead Man Walking. However, his singing career began when he was 12 years old and played Amahl in the same company's Amahl and the Night Visitors.

"Played" is the right word to refer to Okulitch's performances. For his successful audition for Schaunard in Baz Luhrmann's Broadway version of La boheme, he recalls he "dressed in my sassy black leather pants and electric blue shirt and leather jacket. I had been waiting tables at the time, and had a pocket full of $1 bills. Schaunard bursts in the door throwing money around, so I did that, and I was bounding about like a mad fool--on the table and the piano.

"The thing I have worked on most strongly is to be compelling dramatically, easily believable," he adds. "I want to be the type of artist who demonstrates all aspects on an equal level. I think if anything contributes to my getting work, it is being myself."

In fact, he's been steadily employed since 2001, the end of his formal studies. After two years at Calgary's Mount Royal Conservatory, he became a second-semester sophomore at the Oberlin Conservatory, where he obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees. After a summer in San Francisco Opera's Merola program, he capped off his studies with a University of Cincinnati Conservatory Artist Diploma.

From singing eight shows a week on Broadway, Okulitch learned to pace himself, exercised his acting muscles--and obtained a visa. During Dead Man Walking, he sang while doing push-ups and took the taxing emotional journey with the whole cast. Despite the tough physical and mental toll, he says he enjoyed contributing to the dialogue on a vital social issue.

From that role have come enticing offers, including the title role in Don Giovanni for Opera Ontario in the fall. He will sing Masetto in the same opera in March for Vancouver Opera, Olin Blitch in Susannah with Boheme Opera, N.J., and will appear as a detective, Gert Osterland, in the world premiere of Thomas Pasatieri's new opera, Frau Margot, with the Fort Worth Opera in 2007.

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Above all, though, Okulitch is grateful to Calgary Opera General Director and CEO Bob McPhee. "A young artist needs those daring godfather figures to gamble on their talent."