Tenor of his life

What's the difference between playing Baby Bear in the Goldilocks fable and Rodolfo in Giacomo Puccini's La Boheme? Around 30 years in the career of Jesus Garcia. The Texan tenor's international profile in the world of opera was seeded in day-care centre productions while still a toddler, and he has been ploughing a successful furrow ever since.

Now 33, Garcia stars in tomorrow's opening night of Puccini's masterpiece presented by Opera Hong Kong in a co-production with the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

Anyone who has followed Garcia's career will be anticipating a performance that reflects his deserved reputation in the lead part of Rodolfo, a character he's played more than 120 times, from Philadelphia to Hong Kong, via Broadway, Bordeaux, Rio de Janeiro, New Zealand and Prague.

On first meeting, Garcia's engaging looks and mildly glowering aura reflect his Latin roots, exuding a faint don't-mess-with-me electricity. In conversation, however, he speaks with a measured sweetness, and his responses to questions come with an openness and even-handedness matching the maturity of his singing voice.

Pleasantly precocious, Garcia needed little encouragement to build on those pre-school opportunities for singing and acting and, at just 13, he began serious voice training. 'I was always very competitive,' he says. 'I remember having this desire to be a very good singer, to get the solos in choir.'

While his mother supported his efforts, he had to do battle with his father. 'My father and I had a kind of tumultuous relationship. He wasn't super-excited that I was into the arts. So, that was a challenge, but at the same time it really fuelled my ambition. I had to go and just prove to my dad that I could make something of my life and do something with it.'