Singers Sharpen Skills by Winning Roles in ‘Aida’ Chorus

Being in the chorus of a major opera is “like being coached by osmosis,” says Tim Nelson, one of the many Orange County-based musicians and performers appearing in Verdi’s “Aida,” which opens Opera Pacific’s second season tonight at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Although they come from different musical backgrounds and pursue a variety of careers off the stage, the cast’s chorus members share common aims--to sharpen their skills, to close a gap between community theater and the professional stage, and to be considered as something more than amateurs.

Even a role in the chorus offers a chance to gain “a sense of achievement of high standards,” said chorus member Jim Rule, who earns his living as a piano tuner.

Rule has also directed and played major roles for Fullerton Civic Light Opera and is frustrated with the artistic predicament of the non-professional performer.

“Just because we’ve chosen other professions besides the theater doesn’t make us any less professional, except financially,” he said.

Rule’s chorus role in “Aida” allows him to “keep a hand in, and be a part of something far beyond the realm of your average community theater.”

For John Rinaldi, the production represents a first goal attained. At 20, Rinaldi is one of the youngest members of the “Aida” chorus. He auditioned at the urging of several friends, including Nelson.

“It was completely intimidating,” he recalled. “But I called them anyway, and here I am.”

Rinaldi, who has studied Italian arias and art songs in voice class “forever,” considers the experience a step forward in what he hopes will be a professional career. “It’s really opened my eyes. All of a sudden, music is something to pursue, rather than just something to try.”

Karen McBride, a music instructor at Orange Coast College, sees her involvement in “Aida” as a way of making opera more accessible to her students.

“I think we all need to be more involved in this aspect of music and theater. Some of my students have never been inside a major music center. When they know I’m doing something like this, they want to come see it. It’s a small inspiration, I know, but it helps lessen the distance between the art and the audience, especially with opera.”

Nelson and McBride both were in the chorus of Opera Pacific’s “La Boheme” production last year, as was Deanna Barraza, a graduate of Chapman College’s music department.

Barraza has sung with several Southern California opera companies and welcomes the rare chance to do “what I was trained to do.” She agrees with her fellow chorus members that anyone considering any kind of vocal music career should have the opportunity to sing with an opera company at least once.

“Just sitting there listening to the leads makes it worthwhile,” said Nelson, who is a vocal music teacher in the Westminster School District. “You can learn so much just from the placement of their vowels.”

Nelson, who has played the oboe with the Denver Symphony, also credits his opera chorus work for helping him return to classical music.

“I love doing community and dinner theater, but there, razzmatazz sometimes gets substituted for real technique if you’re not careful,” he said.

Nelson and other “Aida” chorus members are frequent performers on the Orange County community and dinner theater circuit and often cross paths. Nelson recently completed a run of “Hello, Dolly!” with Barraza at Elizabeth Howard’s Curtain Call Dinner Theater in Tustin, and Rule will open there in “Carousel” next month. McBride is a cast member of the Laguna Playhouse’s award-winning production of “Quilters” and worked with Rinaldi in productions at Rancho Santiago College in Santa Ana.

“When you’re doing community theater, everybody knows everybody eventually,” Rinaldi said.

But, in spite of their local theater activities, these “Aida” chorus members take exception to being labeled amateurs playing at opera.

“Without some kind of substantial vocal background, you’re sunk,” Nelson said.

Added Rule: “It’s very different from the, ‘Oh gosh, I have to go to work; Oh gosh, I have to go to rehearsal’ kind of experience. It demands a lot of you.”

But no one denies the excitement.

“The thrill of being one of those voices all on stage together is amazing,” Rinaldi said. “It’s pretty wonderful walking in the artists’ entrance of the Performing Arts Center,” added Rule. “And when we finish the Triumphal Scene, we all just want to do it again.”