LITTLE VOICE, BIG SOUND

The pint-size singers hoping to be opera stars

- JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ

The Metropolitan Opera's stage door, a plain entrance hidden in the tunnels of Lincoln Center in New York, routinely welcomes star singers, orchestra musicians, stage-hands, costumers and ushers. But a different bunch of visitors arrived there on a recent afternoon, carrying stuffed toy rabbits and Frozen backpacks.

They were children, ages seven to 10, dressed in patent leather shoes, frilly socks and jackets decorated with dinosaurs. They were united in a common mission to win a spot in the Met's Children's Chorus, a rigorous, elite training ground for young singers.

"This might be the biggest day of my life," said Naomi Lu, nine, who admires pop singers like Taylor Swift and Katy Perry. She was knitting a lilac friendship necklace to stay calm as she waited in the lobby. "I feel nervous and excited at the same time," she said. "You could say I'm nerv-cited."

Singing in the shower or in a school choir is one thing. But these students, who came from across New York City and its suburbs, were vying for the chance to perform at the Met, one of the world's grandest stages, a temple of opera that presents nearly 200 performances each year. Chorus members have a chance at roles like the angelic boys in Mozart's The Magic Flute; the Parisian kids in Puccini's La Bohème; or the street urchins in Bizet's Carmen, to name a few.

"It's a lot of pressure," said Luca Aceves Baldissoni, seven, who was curious about how it felt to perform on a big stage. "Opera is really hard. I just hope I can sing well enough."

The Children's Chorus is one of the few such programmes for young singers in the world. The children who are admitted undergo intensive training, attending free music classes twice a week, with instruction in singing, stage deportment and diction in a number of languages, including Italian, French and German. They sing in the chorus until about age 14, when they grow too tall or, in the case of the boys, their voices change.