RIGHT AT HOME WITH L.A. OPERA.

Byline: Reed Johnson Daily News Staff Writer

Like the Chicago Bulls or the latest Hollywood blockbuster, professional opera relies heavily on a handful of marquee players to pay its bills.

Pavarotti. Domingo. Ramey. Fleming. Bartoli. These are the Michael Jordans and Meryl Streeps of the opera world, and their brand-name presence often can mean the difference between box-office failure or success.

But in recent decades a number of U.S. opera companies have recognized that it takes more than a superstar in a clown suit or horned helmet to create a consistently strong repertory ensemble.

While most companies aren't above chasing high-priced free agents, several of them, including L.A. Opera, have been quietly buttressing their ranks with up-and-coming home-grown talent.

This week, when the 12-year-old L.A. Opera opens its new season, two graduates of its Resident Artist program, both closing in on major international careers, will be making prominent homecoming trips to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Bass-baritone Richard Bernstein, a University of Southern California grad, will play the macho toreador Escamillo in Bizet's effusive ``Carmen,'' opposite Placido Domingo as the lovesick soldier Don Jose and Jennifer Larmore, making her highly anticipated on-stage role debut, as the headstrong femme fatale.

``I grew up here on the stage of the L.A. Opera,'' says Bernstein, 32, looking every inch the Latin Lothario in a black shirt, black striped trousers and rakish goatee. Later this year, he'll be returning to the Metropolitan Opera to play the title role in ``The Marriage of Figaro.'' He'll also be the lead in Rossini's ``Semiramide'' at the Teatro Regio in Turin, Italy.

``This is where I began, this is where my roots are, this is where I hope to sing for the rest of my career,'' he says.

Fellow ex-Trojan Paula Rasmussen also has been associated with L.A. Opera for a decade while expanding her career to Paris; Glyndebourne, England; and New York. In Massenet's ``Werther,'' which opens Wednesday, she'll be co-starring as Charlotte, the young woman who obsesses Goethe's doomed Romantic hero, played by Mexican tenor sensation Ramon Vargas.

Like Bernstein, Rasmussen regards L.A. Opera as her artistic family of origin.

``It's like going back to your parents' home,'' says the California-born mezzo-soprano, familiar to local audiences as Cherubino in ``The Marriage of Figaro'' and Minerva in ``The Return of Ulysses.'' ``You've gone and seen the world and you want to share that news. But you're still the baby. You could sell a million CDs, but you're still the baby.''

Later this season, Greg Fedderly, another resident artist alumni, will return to his alma mater as the wide-eyed suitor Alfredo in Verdi's ``La Traviata.'' Last season, L.A. Opera regulars got to see him in two hefty roles, as Rodolpho in ``La Boheme'' and Tamino in ``The Magic Flute.''

Meanwhile, two women - soprano Catherine Ireland and mezzo-soprano Megan Dey-Toth - have been added to the current crop of resident artists, making a total of five. (The men are tenor Charles Castronovo, baritone Malcolm MacKenzie and bass-baritone Jamie Offenbach.) All will be seen frequently at the Dorothy Chandler this season.

Close to home

For L.A. Opera's administrators, these reunions are gratifying occasions. Besides helping young singers hone their careers, the resident artist program has enabled a relatively young company to acquire the patina, if not quite the polish, of older international companies. By grafting top-drawer talent like Domingo and Larmore onto a local ensemble, L.A. Opera has steadily increased its number of performances, to 55 this season (up 10 from last year), and its subscription base (up 2,000 from last year).

Those kinds of numbers help Peter Hemmings sleep better at night.

``Some of my colleagues go `shopping,' '' says Hemmings, L.A. Opera's dry-witted, London-born general director. ``They go on trips to Europe and around the country.'' Hemmings says he finds it ``much more rewarding'' to recruit and nurture emerging talent, particularly when it springs from native soil.

Not so long ago, launching a professional singing career in Los Angeles was akin to launching a professional water polo career in Death Valley. Locals like Carol Vaness, Marilyn Horne and the late Arleen Auger all had to escape to New York and Europe to further their ambitions. At the time, there was no professional opera company closer than San Diego.

``There was a time in the '60s and '70s in Germany when 30 percent of the singers were American,'' says Hemmings. ``And many of those singers came back with their voices in tatters and their careers in ruins.''

Following in the path of New York City's Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera and a handful of older programs, L.A. Opera set up its resident artist program in the late 1980s. Its purpose was to give young singers a chance to earn a steady paycheck while building up their repertory of roles.

While the two-year program constitutes an apprenticeship of sorts, it's hardly for novices. Selection is highly competitive, and those chosen arrive bearing strong credentials.

Christopher Hahn, L.A. Opera's artistic administrator and former head of the San Francisco Opera Center, describes the salaries as ``extremely competitive'' with those of comparable programs, which typically run anywhere between $20,000 and $30,000 per season.

While under contract, from mid-August to mid-June, resident artists take master classes, understudy leading roles and are assigned substantial parts themselves.

They also absorb plenty of avuncular advice, solicited and otherwise, from Hemmings and his staff. Pace yourself. Don't try to do too much too soon or you'll burn out. Save those five-hour Wagnerian roles for midcareer.

Special relationship

Though the West Coast still lacks an established musical conservatory on a par with the Juilliard in New York, it does have several respected university vocal programs at USC, UC Santa Barbara and CSUN. These have become fertile recruiting grounds for L.A. Opera talent scouts.

``We try to hear, between us, most of what's going on,'' Hemmings says. ``I think we haven't missed many real talents. Then you see someone who turns up at the Met auditions and you say, `Where the hell have they been?!' ''

Hahn says it's still not always easy persuading young singers there's culture west of the Hudson River. But L.A.'s growing cultural wealth has made the city a more attractive option for many.

``It's a sad fact that many singers in New York are often out of work because the competition is so high,'' he says. ``Singers may look askance at L.A., but once they get here they don't often leave.''

Rasmussen, who was born in Sacramento and grew up on the Monterey Peninsula, appreciated having a safe L.A. harbor after finishing college, rather than diving straight into the shark tank of New York.

``I've had a lot of people tell me in semi-bitter tones that I had it made,'' she says. ``Most of my friends in that position don't sing very much anymore or sing infrequently. You can really get beat up in New York.''

Often, resident artists say, it's a boon simply working around world-class mentors. Bernstein remembers one of his first opening nights, when he had to perform a big aria, how Domingo took him into a dressing room and played piano while coaching Bernstein through the score.

Dey-Toth, who joined the program last month after spotting an ad in a music trade publication, says she'll ``never be intimidated by singing in a large theater'' after working in the cavernous Dorothy Chandler. She's even getting paid enough to send extra money back to her husband, a teaching assistant in Philadelphia.

``It's like the most I've ever made,'' says the UC Santa Barbara graduate.

Even failure is easier to absorb, as it was for Bernstein in his first major role, filling in as a last-minute substitution.

``I wasn't very good, and the (newspapers) said so,'' he remembers. ``I was terrified. I was 23 years old. But I went out and performed it and I think that gave them some confidence in me.''

In return for its investment, says Hahn, the singers ``down the line will always have a `special relationship'' with the company, in the way that England has a `special relationship' with the United States.''

What exactly that means is a bit hard to define. But within the opera world, it seems, you can go home again.

Says Rasmussen: ``I guess no matter how great your successes or failures are outside this environment, you have people here who feel a little bit more invested in your career because they had something to do with it.''

THE FACTS

What: ``Carmen.''

When: Sept. 8, 11, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25.

What: ``Werther.''

When: Sept. 9, 12, 15, 18, 23, 26.

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

Tickets: $25 to $137. Call [phone].

CAPTION(S):

Drawing, 2 Photos

Drawing: (Cover--Color) NIGHTS AND DAYS AT THE OPERA

It takes more than a fat lady to make L.A. opera's season sing

Bradford Mar/Daily News

Photo: (1) L.A. Opera audiences will see mezzo-soprano and resident artist Megan Dey-Toth in several productions this season, including ``Carmen.''

(2) Baritone-bass Richard Bernstein returns to the L.A. stage as the toreador in ``Carmen,'' with Jennifer Larmore in the title role.

David Crane/Daily News