Most people see opera as the painful shrieking of a diva — usually a large one — and think of the artform as far out of reach, confined to the cultural arts centers of the world where only the privileged and most highly educated get a taste of it.

Maybe for that reason, opera seems the least accessible of all dramatic and musical arts, shunned or ignored by the masses.

But Barbara Norris disagrees with the stereotypes surrounding opera.

To her, it is not elitist. Nor is it boring or the mere screaming and bellowing of overweight foreigners in a language most don’t know.

Rather, this native New Yorker sees another side.

“People are afraid of opera,” she said. “That a fat lady in a helmet is up there singing in some other language. But opera is much more accessible.”

Look at how familiar, she says, we are with the likes of “The Marriage of Figaro” and “The Magic Flute,” or even the great George Gershwin who gave us the jazz opera “Porgy and Bess.”

These are commonly known, and all are operas.

A professional opera singer, she wants to see the dramatic art form she loves become more accessible to people, and also more accepted.

Far from her beginnings in New York, she sees that as something that can happen right here ... in St. Augustine.

This weekend, she will debut with a company of about 20 singers in what is likely St. Augustine’s first locally-produced operatic performance in decades.

Simply called “An Evening of Opera,” the production in Flagler College’s Flagler Room is what Norris and husband Anthony Fast hope will be the first of many.

With the Saturday night performance filling most of its seats before the group even publicized the event, the Friday night dress rehearsal has also been opened to the public, but is also expected to sell out.

The two see the popularity of this first show as a sign that an opera company can be successful here in the Oldest City. Called First Coast Opera, they say it is the only opera company they know of in Northeast Florida.

Photo by ANNETTE KENNEDY, Staff Professional opera singer Barbara Norris rehearses with other members of First Coast Opera.

“The community is hungry for culture,” Fast said. Maybe better known as “Captain Classics” from his classical program on Flagler College’s radio station, WFCF, he is also a chorus and orchestra conductor.

Seven of the 15 pieces to be performed this weekend are in English, including Gershwin’s “It Ain’t Necessarily So” and “Bess, You is My Woman” from “Porgy and Bess.” Leonard Bernstein’s “Make Our Garden Grow” is the finale with nine singers and a chorus.

“Many of these arias and ensembles are recognizable and familiar to so many people,” Norris said. “We are deliberately including some American operas like “Porgy and Bess.”

Other pieces come from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and “The Marriage of Figaro,” and Verdi’s “Rigoletto.”

Asked for a definition of opera, Fast sees it as the bringing together of all audio and visual art forms — voice, theater, music, costume and dance.

But Norris sees more. The key to opera, she believes, is two very important elements — emotion and particularly passion. That, she said, is what separates opera from singing, something many young opera singers do not understand.

“There is so much passion,” she said. “Opera demands that you absorb it.”

Norris, who teaches voice and piano, and is a speech pathologist, has performed in three regional opera companies in New York before moving here permanently in 1998.

“When we came down here, there was a lot of choral music,” she said. “I wanted to sing, and I couldn’t sing the kinds of things I wanted to.”

Solo, Norris put on a concert in the Lightner Museum building and got involved in choral groups. But she was looking for some kind of outlet to sing like she was used to in New York.

“The idea came up that maybe we should try an opera with local singers,” she said. “The more people we’ve asked, the more we’ve realized there is a void.”

They’re filling that void with a cast made up of singers, most of whom have never sung opera before.

The exceptions are the few like Reginald Bennett Jr. who has singing experience from travels through Europe, Canada and the United States.

But the majority mirror Janet Graham, an organist and minister of music at Memorial Presbyterian Church, and Dell Cook, a member of the St. Augustine Community Chorus and Chamber Choir.

“When we first asked people, the reaction was, ‘I’ve never sung opera,’” Fast said. “It was sort of a hesitancy that thrust Barbara into the role of coach.”

Photo by RALPH PRIDDY, Staff BARBARA NORRIS AND FAR LEFT, ANTHONY FAST, gather around the piano to rehearse with members of the First Coast Opera company.

Fast said the company gives many talented singers a chance to show off outside of choirs, as well as prove to themselves they can sing in this medium.

That simple enough idea gave birth to an opera company, which is being incorporated into a non-profit organization. Both Fast and Norris expect to put on two to three performances a year.

Calling this weekend an opportunity for the performers to get their feet wet, they plan to eventually perform full operatic scenes, not just the arias and ensembles planned for Friday and Saturday nights.

“An Evening of Opera” is being sponsored by WFCF Flagler College Radio, and for more information on First Coast Opera, call 794-5363.