Singing the Classics; Blacks discover opera in post-apartheid South Africa.

Byline: Kim Gurney

Marvin Karnelle grew up surrounded by music. During the bleak years of apartheid, his father sang in one of the many black choirs whose hymns and liberation anthems comforted an oppressed people. So it's not hard to see why, last year, a newspaper advertisement by South Africa's national opera school seeking singers from "disadvantaged" communities caught Karnelle's eye. In an audition, he won a place in the Cape Town Opera's training program and, at the age of 19, recently sang in the chorus in a production of "La Traviata." Now he dreams of taking his new skills on the road.

It's not such a farfetched goal. Since the end of apartheid, the South African opera establishment, once an all-white preserve, has reached out to the black majority--with explosive results. Conservatory-trained experts quickly discovered they were living in a nation of operatic naturals. Many male voices, in particular, proved easy to mold into that precious commodity: the Verdian tenor. "African voices are big and boisterous and suit the pomp of opera," says George Mxadana, deputy chairman of the national Arts and Culture Trust. "If you go to the rural areas, the choirs perform opera excerpts that are second to none. In 10 years, this country has grown leaps and bounds; [we are] finding talent that we did not know we had."

South African singers quickly embraced the classical form. Many had reached a plateau in black choirs, and wanted to move on to something more challenging. "They took to it immediately," says Michael Williams, general manager of the Cape Town Opera. In fact, black choir performers began singing so much opera that organizers of the country's largest choir competition now require each group to sing at least one African song; otherwise the whole performance would be classical opera. With the country's jobless rate hovering at about 40 percent, plenty of would-be professional singers are willing to try building a career in the arts. "We don't have a lot of opportunities, and you never know where your luck lies," says ...