MALFITANO: BIG VOICE, HEALTHY CHOICE : AMERICAN SOPRANO'S LIFESTYLE, WORK ETHIC BELIES MYTH OF THE OPERA STAR'S LIFE OF INDULGENCE.

Byline: Scott Duncan Orange County Register

The glamour, the high notes, the swooning divas: Opera looks grand from the outside.

On the inside, it can mean a lot of hard work, especially for singers who last beyond those first, heady seasons.

Catherine Malfitano is one of those long-distance singers, one who has remained at the top of her profession since her debut in the 1970s. Her work ethic belies the myth of the opera star's life of indulgence.

The American soprano, who sings Butterfly in L.A. Opera's ``Madama Butterfly,'' opening Tuesday, adheres to a strict diet: no meat, alcohol or coffee.

She doesn't smoke. She lifts weights at a gym and jogs or fast-walks regularly. She postponed a press interview this week to track down a health-food store in Pasadena.

``I walked in and said, `Ah, I'm home,' '' she said.

Opera is known for singers who allow their bodies to grow as large as their voices. Little wonder, given the vagaries of the successful opera singer's daily life: constant jet travel, rich restaurant food, rehearsal schedules that allow little personal time, the fear of voice-threatening colds or flu that keeps singers safely cooped up in hotel rooms.

``I support my health by eating right, exercising and sleeping well, but I'm not a hypochondriac,'' Malfitano said during a break in rehearsals in Los Angeles. ``I mean, I don't get scared of drafts or talking into the telephone.''

As to the ``legendary fat ladies'' as Malfitano calls them, they have their place. ``There are singers who have glorious instruments, and we love the sound of their voice so much we kind of ignore the whole package,'' she said.

``Some people come to the opera just needing glorious voices, and more power to them. But frankly, I don't come to the opera for that.

``I can be very thrilled by a great voice, but for me, what I come for is to be blown away by the experience of the piece. I want to forget these people and be sucked into the characters and their lives.''

Thus, the Malfitano regimen. While traveling, she usually rents a house or apartment with a kitchen, where she prepares her own vegetarian meals. When stuck in a hotel, ``the first thing I do is clear out the minibar,'' she said. ``I need the refrigerator.''

Malfitano, in her 40s, remembers years in Europe making her fresh salads in the bathroom and eating out of a salad bowl in her lap in bed. ``I used to keep the fruits and veggies in the bidet,'' she said with a laugh.

This is all not only to keep herself in shape but to develop the stamina and healthy living choices to endure life on the road.

``I didn't come to this in two weeks or two years,'' said Malfitano, who is married to Stephen Holowid and mother of a 9-year-old daughter, Daphne.

``It's been 20-plus years of singing and traveling, and by now I know myself pretty well.''

Vocally, Malfitano has also enjoyed the longevity that comes from the willingness to train. Early in her career she was known for the more lyric roles of Mimi in ``La Boheme,'' Susanna in ``Marriage of Figaro,'' Violetta in ``La Traviata'' and Juliette in ``Romeo et Juliette.''

But eight years ago, Malfitano decided to move into some vocally heavier roles she'd always wanted to sing - Salome, Tosca and Butterfly, to name a few, all powerful female characters with operas named for them.

To do so, she had to take apart and reassemble her vocal technique in midcareer - something few singers are willing to do.

``It was very unnerving to put myself in the position of student again,'' she said. ``But my voice was growing and I wanted more. And I knew that to really be able to do it I needed to restudy my technique.''

Malfitano undertook Salome, a role for which she also began working with a personal trainer, so she could perform the Dance of the Seven Veils and still have the breath to sing Strauss' long musical lines.

Salome has become one of her most popular roles; she's sung it in Berlin, Salzburg, New York, Chicago, Paris and London, and recorded it with conductor Christoph von Dohnanyi and the Vienna Philharmonic. Tosca is another specialty; it was Malfitano who jumped off the Castle Sant' Angelo on that live, internationally televised production of ``Tosca'' shot on location in Rome in 1992.

She also has been active in contemporary opera. She originated the role of Trina in William Bolcom's ``McTeague'' in 1993 in Chicago, where she also reprised Samuel Barber's ``Antony and Cleopatra.''

After her debut as Butterfly in Berlin with conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli, she was invited to sing it in just about every important opera house in the world. Her most recent Butterfly was seen on a national telecast from the Metropolitan Opera. Her debut at San Franciso Opera in the role this season drew effusive critical praise for her ``glorious'' singing and her portrayal of a character ``who had lived and suffered a lifetime by the age of 15.''

That's another illusion of opera. Puccini's Japanese heroine is supposed to be a demure 15 when she is married to the American Navy Lt. Pinkerton, only to be deserted with her child, Trouble.

But Puccini wrote a role for Butterfly that is anything but lightweight. It requires a mature soprano that can sustain dramatic singing for much of the opera's duration. A new film of the opera directed by Frederic Mitterand stars a 23-year-old soprano from Shanghai, Ying Huang.

Singing into microphones on a sound stage is one matter; quite another is filling halls of more than 3,000 seats, unamplified, over an orchestra for most of an evening.

You don't see too many a young Butterfly, Malfitano says, ``because they have to be able to sing it.''

So, opera singers must create the sense of youth even though they are much older than the character. Malfitano says she was greatly influenced by watching some of the great dancers in her youth.

``I saw Carla Fracci dance `Giselle' in her 40s. It was a privilege to see her. And she portrayed a young girl on stage in a totally believable way and gave it magic.''

Malfitano, who grew up on New York's Upper West Side, came of age in an artistic household. Her mother was a dancer and a child actress in Hollywood; as Maria Flynn, she was the original choice for the daughter in ``Lassie Come Home'' (1943) but was judged too tall (Elizabeth Taylor got the part). Joseph Malfitano, her father, was a violinist at the Metropolitan Opera.

Now a mother herself, Malfitano says it has contributed to her growth as a singer. ``I don't know about the physiological side, but certainly on a spiritual side.''

``It gave me a tremendous sense of freedom and liberty. It was a birth of myself as well as my daughter.''

It was at that time that Malfitano decided to rededicate herself to vocal study and expand to new roles. And Daphne, like Malfitano, is getting a very cultured childhood. She even appears in small nonsinging roles on stage with her mother, including Trouble in ``Madama Butterfly.''

Daphne recently was on stage in Chicago with Malfitano in a Janacek opera but did only one performance run as Trouble.

``She did it once and then she became her mother's daughter,'' Malfitano said.

``She said, `I won't wear that wig! I won't wear that costume!' ''

THE FACTS The show: Los Angeles Opera production of ``Madama Butterfly.''

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

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Friday, Sunday, May 29, June 4, 7; 2 p.m. June 1.

Starring: Catherine Malfitano as Cio-Cio San, Luis Lima as Pinkerton, Rodney Gilfry/John Atkins as Sharpless, Suzanna Guzman as Suzuki.

Tickets: $22 to $120. For information, call [phone].

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Photo: ``I can be very thrilled by a great voice, but for m e, what I come for is to be blown away by the experience of the piece. I want to forget these people and be sucked into the characters and their lives,'' says soprano Catherine Malfitano, starring in L.A. Opera's ``Madama Butterfly.''