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@@@ With her shimmery voice, a penchant for heels and a resume that includes a cameo in the 鈥淗annibal鈥?movie and a duet with at , soprano is blurring the lines between opera and pop star, positioning herself as a new diva for the digital age. 鈥淚 want to see the day when opera singers are on Letterman and ,鈥?said de Niese, in between rehearsals for 鈥淧artenope,鈥?which opens Wednesday in San Francisco. 鈥淧eople say opera is not changing with the times, but with iTunes and YouTube it can be seen and downloaded and heard everywhere. Pop groups like Il Divo are singing with operatic sound.鈥? As the lead soprano of 鈥淧artenope,鈥?de Niese portrays a -esque doyenne of French salon society, who toys with men and women for sport, until her heart thwarts her. It鈥檚 a role that requires a strong woman with the gift of glam, who has the power to seduce by sheer force of her personality. Not much of a stretch for the captivating de Niese, 35, dubbed 鈥渙pera鈥檚 coolest soprano鈥?by the . She鈥檚 a powerhouse singer who has acting ability, a stage performer who has a recording contract, and a model of Sri Lankan, Dutch and Scottish heritage who has enough stage presence to win an Emmy at 16. She even lives like a real princess: Her home is Glyndebourne in Sussex, a 600-year-old English manor with its own 1,200-seat opera house, where she lives with her husband, , chairman of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. De Niese, who debuted with the when she was 15, adores being a diva 鈥?but only onstage. Singing for refugees Born in Australia, and schooled in Los Angeles, at 18 she became the youngest singer ever accepted on to the Lindemann Young Artist Program at the , where she made her debut as Barbarina in 鈥淟e nozze di Figaro.鈥? Her career has rocketed her to Zurich, Paris, the Netherlands and Japan. But she also finds time to sing at refugee camps in Tanzania, as an ambassador for the . This year she toured a group of young resettled refugees from Nepal and Sierra Leone backstage at the Met, and in England, she sang for disadvantaged children and helped them create their own interpretation of 鈥淢adame Butterfly, as part of her volunteer work with the Prince鈥檚 and the Arts. Traditionalists criticized her when she appeared as a judge on the British TV show, 鈥淧opstar to Operastar,鈥?a singing competition in which pop stars try to sing classical opera. 鈥淚 took a lot of flak for that,鈥?she said, 鈥渂ut I feel it is my obligation, my responsibility, my calling, to be the legitimate singer on that show, to show people what a real opera singer does.鈥? Opera is for everybody, said de Niese, who walked on the Carnegie Hall stage in 2012 wearing a fishtail gown for a CBS gala and busted into 鈥淟a Traviata,鈥?while LL Cool J translated her lyrics in raps in what has to be the first hip-hopera ever performed. 鈥淧eople just don鈥檛 see me coming,鈥?she said. But from a young age, de Niese knew exactly where she wanted to go. Her mother was her first teacher, giving her singing and dancing lessons in the living room. At age 9, she persuaded her parents to enter an Australian TV talent show similar to 鈥淎merican Idol鈥?called 鈥淵oung Talent Time,鈥?and won by singing a medley. She took home $5,000, a baby grand piano, and the honor of being the youngest winner ever in the show鈥檚 history. A year later, the family moved to Los Angeles, where she enrolled at the , which specializes in educating talented children. At 11, she was featured on a weekly television show for teenagers, 鈥淟.A. Kids.鈥? 鈥淚t was like a '60 Minutes鈥?for kids; it had serious stories about kids living with AIDS, that sort of thing,鈥?she said. Honing her skills She did so well that the producers invited her to be a regular guest host, for which she won her Emmy at 16. But her heart was always in singing. Over the next decade, she honed her operatic skills with noted vocal teacher , and in 1997, she enrolled at the in Manhattan. Her career took off so fast, she left school for the stage. Since then, she鈥檚 recorded six albums, including a collection of Handel arias that topped the 2007 iTunes classical music chart, and most recently, a 2011 album called 鈥淏eauty of the Baroque.鈥? Her banker father, and her mother, who manages the American division of a Swiss vitamin company, rack up frequent-flier points attending all her opening nights. 鈥淒anni is just extraordinary,鈥?said 鈥淧artenope鈥?director . 鈥淪he鈥檚 an actress, dancer, and she uses all her expressive tools to bring a new paradigm to modern opera.鈥? Meredith May is a

staff writer. E-mail:  Twitter: @meredithmaysf

Partenope: Wednesday-Nov. 2. War , 301 Ave., S.F. (415) 864-3330. .

A panel discussion with 鈥淧artenope鈥?cast members will be held at 6 p.m. Monday at Chorissima Hall, Kanbar , 44 Page St. sfopera.com/insights.

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