Welcome (Back) to L.A.

Soprano Christine Weidinger has come full circle.

The former Cal State Northridge student, who now lives in Germany and sings in major opera houses throughout Europe, has returned home to Los Angeles for her debut as the heroine in Rossini’s “Tancredi,” which opened Friday and continues Monday, next Saturday and Feb. 27. in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. She will sing opposite her mentor, Marilyn Horne.

Weidinger, 37, describes her role as Amenaide as “the big plum.”

“It’s with a very big company and it’s with a mezzo who’s a legend in her own time . . . this is a big thrill,” she says.

Weidinger credits Horne with helping her land this role: “Sometimes the only way a singer will make a breakthrough is if another singer will say ‘she’s the one I want.’ ”

Weidinger said Horne, early in her career, suggested that she go to Europe if she wanted growth--something Weidinger believes every international singer must do.

At 21, Weidinger won a Metropolitan Opera contract. She was performing well but became frustrated with a heavy workload, secondary roles and missed chances for leading parts in smaller, regional opera.

While on tour in “Carmen,” Weidinger met Horne, who advised her to go to Germany. When the Met contract ended, Weidinger quit. “I just sort of lit my rocket ship and off I went.”

Weidinger partly faults herself for the way she left, and she blames an agent who should have advised her to “keep one foot on both sides of the ocean.”

“I was terribly ill-informed,” she says. “A lot of young singers go right down the drain because they make one wrong career decision.”

Weidinger has thoughts of returning to the United States, but she wants to maintain her European base.

“Living in a foreign country teaches you about your weaknesses and strengths. When everything seems difficult, you learn how to make difficult things easy. Singing is the easy part.”