A Baritone Seeks His Own Voice : L.A. Opera’s senior resident artist may be familiar to fans, but after ‘Xerxes,’ it’ll be career decision-making time for baritone John Atkins.

See him once and he’s a bohemian artisan in a Parisian garret. Next time, he’s the diplomat who smoothes the way for a cad named Pinkerton. Catch him yet again and he’s a rube who gets in the way of a master womanizer.

Baritone John Atkins is one of the most familiar faces of the Los Angeles Music Center Opera. As the company’s most senior resident artist, he has graced the boards of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in a wide variety of guises since joining the company in its second season in 1987.

He recently sang Masetto in “Don Giovanni,” as well as five characters last season, including Schaunard in “La Boheme,” Sharpless in “Madama Butterfly” and Caireles in “El Gato Montes.” Next, Atkins appears in Handel’s “Xerxes,” which opens on Saturday. (The fourth production of the L.A. Opera season is also part of the ongoing UK/LA festival of British arts.)

A 1988 national finalist in the Metropolitan Opera auditions, Atkins, 36, has won a following since he’s been here. “Any good acting comes from good thinking,” says “Xerxes” conductor Roderick Brydon, who’s also worked with Atkins on three previous productions. “John has an immense mental energy and a very active mind which conducts itself into physical acting on the stage.”

As one of L.A. Opera’s resident artists, Atkins is one of a half-dozen emerging talents whom the company keeps on salary for 18 or more weeks each season. (This year there are six; some years up to seven resident artists have been with the company). Yet after “Xerxes” and February’s staging of Debussy’s “Pelleas and Melisande,” Atkins will no longer be a resident artist, although he’s likely to continue to perform in L.A. The change, which was a mutual decision on the part of the artist and opera, reflects the singer’s need to perform leading roles on a more consistent basis.

Given that a career Rubicon now looms, Atkins is doing some thinking about whether career-wise his time here has been well spent. “It’s a double-edged sword,” Atkins says. “There’s enough work here that you don’t have to work anywhere else. On the other hand, most of the auditions for opera singers are held in New York.”

“When work was available here, I took it,” Atkins said. “Clearly I was giving something up in order to do that. I don’t know if it will have been the right choice to stay here for eight years. Ask me in five years.”

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Atkins has matured right along with the L.A. Opera. “When I first came here, we were all flying by the seat of our pants and everything was a scramble,” he says. “There was no set way of doing things. There was a certain mess about the company. It was running on energy, but it had to run on energy because it couldn’t run on cash or its laurels.”

Now that the company is in its ninth season, it has settled into a groove. “We’re certainly moving into another phase of the company’s existence,” Atkins says. “Things are much more comfortable now because there are processes in place. Costume fittings happen at the costume shop. Payroll is always on time.”

Atkins has been praised for both his acting skills and his singing: “Often singers can either (sing or act) well,” says conductor Brydon, who’s worked with Atkins on “Idomeneo,” “Albert Herring” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” “With good actor-singers, the combination is impressive. People notice it straight away.”

Among those noticing Atkins has been Times music critic Martin Bernheimer, who called Atkins’ Marullo in “Rigoletto” “incisive,” his Schaunard in “La Boheme” “sensitive” and said he was “deft as always” in “El Gato Montes.”

Moreover, Atkins has also developed a reputation as a team player. “He has a very attractive personality,” says Brydon. “That makes a big difference to the psychological aspect, in terms of what he projects onstage, and also in the rehearsal room.”

“There’s a great joy in the work and he’s a direct person,” Brydon continues. “There’s never any nonsense, ego or jostling for position. I find that refreshing.”

It’s one reason Brydon is pleased to be working with Atkins yet again in the upcoming “Xerxes.” The infrequently staged Handel opera tells the story of a young king who falls in love with his brother’s fiancee.

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In director-translator Stephen Wadsworth’s staging, Atkins plays King Xerxes’ manservant Elviro. “It’s an interesting role for me because it’s a comic character, which I’ve not had the opportunity to do much here,” he says. “I feel like it’s something that I’m well-suited to.”

It’s “the real buffo role” in the comic opera, according to Brydon. “(Elviro) is the perfect foil for his master and John uses the opportunity. (His performance) is never camp. It’s just very lively, intelligent acting.”

That his approach is thoughtful should come as no surprise, given Atkins’ background.

Born in New Mexico and reared in small towns in Oklahoma, Atkins is the second son of a Methodist preacher father and a schoolteacher mother. (His older brother, an attorney, died of a heart attack last November.)

Atkins grew up singing in church. “Had Dad been a banker, a ditchdigger or any number of other things, it might not have been as natural for me to sing,” he says. “But because he was in the public eye, onstage every Sunday, it was natural for me to be a part of that.”

He attended Oklahoma City University, where he came under the tutelage of a voice teacher named Dr. Inez Silberg, whom he credits with giving him the foundation of his dramatic approach. “In any two or three lessons about voice, every other lesson was about the words,” he recalls. “It had everything to do with interpretation.”

Atkins went from Oklahoma to a summer with the Santa Fe Opera, and from there to a stint with the traveling Texas Opera Theater. The following summer he returned to Santa Fe.

The following fall, Atkins moved to New York, and he’s worked steadily since. He relocated to L.A. in 1987, with a contract in hand for 13 weeks, including roles in “La Boheme,” “The Fiery Angel” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

D uring his extended tenure here, he’s been able to learn from more experienced performers. “To watch Tom Allen rehearse and then do five performances of ‘Don Giovanni’ and to see how different his performances are is an experience you can’t buy,” Atkins says.

The challenge for him now is to move into performing leading roles with greater frequency with other companies, but it’s not an easy time to be doing that. “The last few years have been a hard time to be a singer,” says the baritone, who took his first turn as the lead in “Don Giovanni” in Stockton last spring. “There’ve been a lot of canceled performances because the economy has been down and that means there is less work to go around.”

That also means he’s expecting to have to be flexible. “I would be happy to live in L.A., the ground shaking notwithstanding,” Atkins says. “If I need to move back to New York, I’ll do that. I’ve also thought there’s a lot about Europe that’s appealing.”

But despite the uncertainty, Atkins sees this juncture as an opportunity. “It’s exactly the right thing for me to do at this time,” he says. “It’s terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.”*

Vital Stats

“Xerxes”

Address: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

135 N. Grand Ave., Downtown.

Price: $21-$115.

Dates: Oct. 29, Nov. 2, 8 and 12 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 5 at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Phone: (213) 972-7211.