Atkins to Sing ‘Kindertotenlieder’--at Last : Concert: After once canceling the Mahler work because of financial problems, the South Coast Symphony is going to try again tonight, with the same baritone.

Tonight, John Atkins will sing Mahler’s “Kindertotenlieder” with the South Coast Symphony, the baritone’s first public performance of the work.

But considering the amount of time Atkins has had to ruminate over these “Songs on the Death of Children,” a well-pondered interpretation should be in the offing when Atkins takes the Robert B. Moore Theatre stage at Orange Coast College.

This is, after all, the second time Atkins has been prepared to sing this set with the orchestra.

Last season, the contract had been signed, sealed and delivered well ahead of the scheduled January performance. Atkins had already labored over the vocal subtleties of the emotion-packed “Kindertotenlieder” when the call came: management of the orchestra had been forced to cancel the concert due to financial problems.

But what about the financial health of a young artist’s emerging career?

“It was not the perfect time to have a canceled contract,” Atkins said during a phone interview last week. No monetary compensation was offered, though South Coast music director Larry Granger expressed determination to honor canceled commitments later.

Instead, it was agreed that Atkins would receive the originally determined fee if the concert were rescheduled within one year. If not, or if Granger requested another work, orchestra management would come to some agreement with Atkins’ agents (Trawick Artists) regarding additional payment for previous time and effort.

Meanwhile, Atkins has not been idle. Encouraged by winning the Western Regional Metropolitan Opera auditions in 1987, at the age of 29, he entered the Victor Fuchs Auditions and the Loren Zachary Foundation Competition this year.

“Competitions can be a good thing because they help to pay the bills as a young singer,” Atkins said, though he also pointed out that competition winners are not always able to sustain a role or maintain a career.

Other concert engagements have also busied Atkins in the interim. Last May, Atkins was twice featured soloist with the Pacific Symphony, first in Copland’s “Old American Songs” and later in Britten’s “War Requiem” (with the William Hall Chorale).

If tonight’s performance is Atkins’ first attempt at the “Kindertotenlieder,” it is not his first plunge into the heady Romanticism of Mahler; last season, he debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, in their Saturday morning series for young people, with Mahler’s “Songs of a Wayfarer.”

Neither will the South Coast Symphony date constitute the initial catalyst for Atkins’ intensive study of the “Kindertotenlieder”--the sorrow-laden cycle provided the subject for his Oklahoma City University master’s thesis.

“It made me look at this piece and say, ‘Why does it work?’ But, when push comes to shove, and it’s time to perform, one hopes that all the intellectualism gets thrown out and the piece’s emotion speaks. The most important things are simple things that touch people.”

Atkins sees nothing simple about singing with orchestra, however. Unlike opera, in which the singer can recoup his energies backstage after a shaky opening scene, in concert, “when the orchestra starts you have to be prepared to do what you’re going to do for (in this case) the next 30 minutes. . . . You’ve got to be ready when the gun goes off.”

Does that mean he would prefer to confine himself to opera? During the 1987-88 season, Atkins participated in a variety of productions with the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, including Starveling in Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Dandini in the touring group for Rossini’s “Cenerentola.” Beginning January, he will be back at the Music Center, where he will sing in all five works scheduled this season.

Nevertheless, Atkins would gladly seize opportunities for further concert work. The risk is part of the attraction: “Maybe successfully sticking out my neck makes the most gratifying experience.”

Atkins will not be the only performer enticed by artistic peril tonight, for this will be the first time Granger has programmed a work by Mahler. During a conversation Monday, the conductor noted that orchestra members had been eager to remedy that omission. And, with financial recovery well in sight, the time has come.

Baritone John Atkins joins the South Coast Symphony in a program of works by Mahler, Handel and Beethoven tonight at 8:15 p.m. in the Robert B. Moore Theater at Orange Coast College, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. Tickets: $12 to $25. Information: (714) 432-5527.