Friedman started singing opera when she was 15, while still attending Punahou School. Her first part was in the chorus for Hawai'i Opera Theater's "Candide" back in 1992. "It was great, so much going on. I was really motivated to continue with it."

Still, she went to study hotel management at Cornell University in New York. For four years, she took voice lessons on the side and "prayed I wouldn't ever have to make use of that degree."

After graduation, she spent three years in Italy, studying the language, developing her voice and soaking up the operatic culture. Even then, she wasn't sure she was on the right course till one night watching a performance in Verona's 25,000-seat, open-air opera theater when "it just hit me. Talk about chicken skin."

So two years ago, Friedman moved to get her start. Now, after voice lessons, practice and her job, there's little time left for anything else. No nightclubs, only a few outings with $12 standing-room tickets to the City Opera, or the occasional visit with local and college friends.

"It takes a lot of focus and determination; you can't be distracted if you want to succeed," she said.

Kelsey figures he'll be joining Friedman's small circle of friends in New York in another year or so, almost as if that's his destiny.

He grew up in a musical family; his parents met in the University of Hawai'i chorus. When he was still in Stevenson Intermediate School, he got his first chance to sing opera on the Blaisdell Concert Hall stage when his father was invited along with the Kamehameha Alumni Glee Club to be part of the chorus for "Aida" and insisted on bringing Kelsey along.

"From that first moment I was on stage, I knew opera was it," he said. "You don't realize how big it is is till you are up there looking out at the audience and know the thrill."

He started singing in the opera chorus and got to perform his first solo during a HOT performance of "Macbeth" in 1998. Meanwhile, he's continued to study vocal performance at UH, singing in any number of chorus, choirs, operas and musical competitions in the Islands. He credits many of the visiting Hawai'i Opera performers with encouraging his dreams and helping him develop.

"You probably couldn't get that type of experience or help anywhere else in the world," he said. "They've been in my position before and now they're willing to give back to others."

He knows that eventually he'll have to leave home to succeed. Earlier this week, he flew to the Mainland for auditions for a young-artist spot with the San Francisco Opera, then hurried back for his performance in tomorrow night's ball.

Friedman and Kelsey know they face long odds, but they say they're not overly worried; they're in it for love of the music.

Unlike ballet or other musical arts, opera singers do not start young. They have to protect and develop their voices well into their young adult years before they can even think about becoming professionals.

"You've got to give yourself a chance to grow; you've got to trust your instrument," Friedman said.

Kelsey takes a similar bent: "You have to tell yourself that this is the right approach. Once you break your voice, you can't fix it; it's not like a trumpet."

So they go slowly, step by step, waiting to leap into the big time.

"There's not that much of a rush now," Kelsey said. "Next year I'll move to New York and see where that leads. One tunnel ends and another begins."

They both know there are no guarantees.

Kelsey figures he can always move back to Hawai'i, start a family and make a living singing Hawaiian music. For Friedman, there's always that degree in hotel management.

But they don't want to think that way right now.