Toddlers are so adorable when you ask them what they want to be when they grow up. Typical answers: fireman, policeman, circus clown, astronaut, president.

So what was Mark Van Arsdale's goal when he was 5?

"I wanted to be an opera singer."

Some dreams do come true. Now a big boy of 25, the Cherry Creek High grad is a promising tenor, studying opera in Indiana and preparing for the semifinals of the prestigious Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, taking place Sunday in New York City.

And to think that a singing career entered his mind before he started first grade.

"I remember it like it was yesterday," Van Arsdale said in a call from Bloomington, where he is studying at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

"I'd actually been singing around the house since I was 2. When I was 5, I tagged along with my mom, who was a volunteer for Opera Colorado's outreach programs. She took me and a group of fourth- and fifth-graders to Boettcher Hall for a backstage peek at the production of Faust. Then, we watched Act One. When Mephistopheles appeared from under the stage, I was hooked.

"On the way out, I told her I was going to be a singer."

From second to eighth grade, he was a member of the Colorado Children's Chorale, joining the National Tour Choir. The gods continued to smile on him after his voice changed.

"I started private voice lessons in the eighth grade," he said. "My new voice naturally fell in the tenor range, which was good. I didn't want to be a baritone. I wanted to be the hero, not the villain."

His mother was "incredibly supportive," he said, driving him to rehearsals, performances and lessons.

Before his senior year at Cherry Creek, he attended the summer program at Tanglewood in Massachusetts. After studies with Denver voice coach Ken Cox, he completed his undergraduate degree at Northwestern, and is pursuing his master's at Indiana. In 2006, he was a young artist at Central City Opera. Last year, he studied in Italy, with several concert engagements along the way.

This smooth road toward an operatic career hardly encountered a bump - even when he entered the world of voice competitions. "I had no expectations when I entered the Met Auditions," he said. "I just wanted to get my feet wet."

Indeed, most first-timers do just that, getting passed over, then returning in subsequent years after gaining confidence and technique.

Not Van Arsdale.

After capturing the District preliminaries (there are 45 districts in the Met's map of the country), he entered the Rocky Mountain Regional Auditions last month - one of 15 regionals, each open to singers from anywhere in the U.S. He took top honors, singing arias from Mozart's Don Giovanni and Gounod's Romeo and Juliet.

"I thought I'd win fourth or fifth place," Van Arsdale admitted. "I was the first to sing (of the nine entrants), and that worried me. When they announced I'd won, I was totally in shock. I was stunned."

He's in New York now, one of 20 singers competing in the semifinals - performing with piano accompaniment before an invited audience of 200. Should he be among the 10 or so singers moving on to the finals on the following Sunday . . . well, the tenor is not ready to think about that.

"I just want to show (the judges) what I'm capable of doing. I was told that I have to be communicative, to show a (dramatic) character, to show real emotion."

The tenor now has joined a pretty exclusive club, said Gayletha Nichols, director of the National Council Auditions. "They're on a different radar when they make it to the semis."

"This is not about standing and singing and hoping you win a prize," she said. "It's about getting noticed, about finding people who can help you in your career. Half of those in attendance (for the semifinals) are hard-core members of the business."

With all that's at stake, the pressure can be intense. Singers who make it to the finals will be competing for one of five Grand Winner awards, each worth $15,000. Other finalists in the nationally broadcast competition on Feb. 22 will each receive $5,000.

"Put it this way," Nichols said, "It's a bad day to do poorly."

She added that singers who compete in New York are given special attention, including tips on how to find money for continued studies and suggestions on applying to opera training programs.

Van Arsdale said he's ready for this huge challenge. He's chosen arias from operas by William Bolcom (A View From the Bridge), Mozart (Don Giovanni and Magic Flute) and Donizetti (Una furtiva lagrima from Elixir of Love). The fact that none of the singers will be able to warm up on the Met stage doesn't faze him.

"I have to trust in myself that I'm ready," he said. "Whatever comes out of this, I think I'll be happy."

In fact, no one is totally certain what will come out of the auditions, beside the prize money. Even the winners won't know. Some are immediately given contracts as cover singers with the company, stepping in for an indisposed singer, Nichols said.

"Others, you don't hear from for a while. It took (superstar soprano) Deborah Voigt five years before she made her Met debut." Voigt was a finalist in 1985.

There is one thing that Van Arsdale and the others can expect, Nichols added.

"Things change after this. The phone starts ringing. As they say, your stock goes up."

Shulgoldm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5296

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