Finding refuge at the opera

LOS Angeles Opera has hired two displaced New Orleans musicians to lend their talents to the company’s upcoming productions of “Parsifal” and “Tosca.”

Baritone Justin Hopkins, 21, was about to enter his senior year at Loyola University in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. “I hadn’t even made it down to school yet,” says Hopkins, who is staying with a fellow L.A. Opera chorister in Altadena. “I spent part of the summer in Italy, and I was going to go back a little bit later. I was in Atlanta, and the day before I was supposed to leave Atlanta, the hurricane hit. I never made it back.”

Cellist David Rosen, a member of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and a Los Angeles native, was visiting family in Santa Monica at the time of the hurricane, so he stayed here -- and immediately put in a call to L.A. Opera’s orchestra personnel manager, David Low.

Low said: “I have ‘Tosca’ for you.” The opera opens Saturday.

Hopkins had been scheduled to sing a small role in a New Orleans Opera production of “Otello” in October that was, for obvious reasons, canceled. But the company’s chorus master, Carol Rausch, had received a call from L.A. Opera, letting her know the company wanted to help displaced musicians and could use a singer for the chorus in “Parsifal,” which opens Nov. 26. Rausch, who also serves on the faculty of Loyola, recommended Hopkins.

While he’s in L.A., Hopkins is picking up any singing gigs he can, including professional holiday caroling and concerts at churches and colleges. He has also been invited to speak at a high school and has a possible invitation to sing at a February Katrina benefit concert in Los Angeles, coordinated by the National Assn. of Negro Musicians.

“I just plan on singing for a lot of colleges, and as many people as I can, to try to get my name in the works,” he says. Hopkins will return to school when Loyola reopens in January.

Since the hurricane, Rosen has also played with Ventura County’s New West Symphony, although, he says hastily, “I’m not here to displace other people’s jobs.” He says the Louisiana Philharmonic expects to be back to normal by September.

According to Rosen, “Music is the best therapy for something like this. I know people who lost everything. The thing I miss most is the rest of my fellow musicians; they’ve been like a family to me.”