A Soprano Singing Her Way Back Home

Skeptics who doubt the power of the performing arts to hold sway over young lives should consider the case of Sari Gruber.

Raised in La Crescenta, she was a teenager when she saw her first L.A. Opera production. “I remember going to L.A. Opera in high school,” recalls Gruber, 27, speaking by phone from her home in New York, where she is in her third year at the Juilliard Opera Center.

“I saw ‘Salome’ with Maria Ewing and ‘Otello’ with Placido Domingo. That was the clincher. I thought, ‘This is very cool.’ ”

Gruber went on to study music at Yale and the Juilliard School. And proving that you can indeed go home again--at least musically--she will return here next December to make her debut with L.A. Opera in the premiere of Tobias Picker’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” a new American opera based on a Roald Dahl children’s story.

Meanwhile, the soprano can be seen and heard as Gretel in the Engelbert Humperdinck opera “Hansel and Gretel,” on PBS’ “Live From Lincoln Center,” airing next Sunday at 2 p.m. on KCET. The new production, with sets and costumes by Maurice Sendak, was initiated by the Juilliard School and originally produced by Houston Grand Opera. Directed by Frank Corsaro and conducted by Randall Behr, it is co-produced by half-a-dozen opera companies, including San Diego Opera.

For Gruber, the popular holiday season work provides an opportunity not only for national exposure but also for artistic growth. “Gretel has been a challenge in that she jumps around from having very childlike melodies to being much more Brunnhilde,” says Gruber, referring to the leader of Wagner’s Valkyries.

Then, too, there is the matter of Corsaro’s equally peripatetic staging. “The staging is very active, with a lot of jumping and dancing around, so it’s physically and vocally very exhausting,” says Gruber. “It’s a real balancing act trying to stay physically grounded.”

Born in Boston, Gruber spent her earliest years in Germany, where her father was employed as a chemist. It was there that the foundation for her love of music was laid.

“My parents are both huge music lovers,” says Gruber. “Growing up in Germany, there were many opportunities to go see opera. I remember a number of them pretty vividly.”

If memory serves her correctly, in fact, she was going to opera at an age when most American kids know more about Barney than baritones. “I saw my first opera when I was 3, and I think I saw ‘Die Walkure” when I was 6.

“Who would take a 6-year-old to ‘Die Walkure’? I think they thought I was ready. I don’t think I moved the entire time.”

Gruber’s parents divorced when she was 8, and she moved with her mother and sister to California. Consequently, she considers the foothill community of La Crescenta, where her mother and stepfather continue to reside, her adopted hometown.

While attending the Webb Schools of California, a college-prep boarding academy near Pomona, Gruber began to rediscover the performing arts, acting and singing in school productions.

Then, during her years as an undergraduate at Yale, Gruber sang with the coed a cappella ensemble Red Hot and Blue. In an unusual stroke of luck for an undergraduate, she was also taken on as a voice student by School of Music faculty member Lili Chookasian, a well-known contralto. “She gave me a really good beginning,” says Gruber. “She turned me on to the recital repertoire.”

Gruber graduated from Yale with a bachelor’s degree in music and theater studies and went on to continue her studies at the Juilliard School. “I fell into [singing] and I really wanted to see what I could do,” she says.

During her time at Juilliard, Gruber was also accepted into the San Francisco Opera’s Merola summer training program. “I didn’t really realize I could make it a career until I got into the Merola program,” she says.

Christopher Hahn, L.A. Opera’s artistic administrator, was running the San Francisco Opera Center, which includes Merola, at the time. He recalls Gruber’s audition: “There was something very unique about her, especially her artistry--her musicality and the use that she made of her technique and her voice. She’s extremely expressive, with very sweet tone vocally and with great musical intelligence.” Not surprisingly, it was Hahn who later brought Gruber to the attention of L.A. Opera.

Gruber earned her master’s degree in voice from Juilliard in 1995. Following that, she was admitted into the Juilliard Opera Center--a two-year program of post-graduate training that pays young singers a stipend while they continue to hone their performing skills. “It allows you to do some professional things outside,” says Gruber. “You can be in town to do auditions without having to do temping work.”

During her second year at the Juilliard Opera Center, Gruber was offered the role of Gretel. Consequently, her tenure in the program was extended for an additional year.

Gruber had worked with “Hansel and Gretel” director Corsaro, who is also the Juilliard Opera Center’s artistic director, when she sang Susanna in his 1996 staging of “The Marriage of Figaro.” “When I did ‘Figaro,’ I was being thrown--literally--by the Count,” says Gruber. “So I’m used to Frank in that way. He likes active productions.”

So, in fact, does Gruber. “It presents a greater challenge for the singer,” she says. “At the same time, I think it brings the piece closer to the audience. People who aren’t there just for the music can see that there is real drama too.

“There’s a lot more that we can do to make [opera] more active, while keeping it at a high level vocally,” says Gruber, who made her debut with the New York City Opera last season in Verdi’s “Falstaff,” in the small role of Nannetta. “Everybody’s over the stand-and-sing method now.”

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“HANSEL AND GRETEL” on “Live From Lincoln Center” will air on KCET-TV Channel 28. Date: next Sunday, 2 p.m.