Photo By Cincinnati Opera

Carmella Jones (center) as Ulrica in Cincinnati Opera's A Masked Ball.

Even from a distance, Carmella Jones radiates confidence, warmth and intelligence. She immediately dispels any notion of a diva's grandeur, taking both my hands and insisting on being called Carmella.

I haven't heard her sing, but her speaking voice has the rich timbre of an opera singer, one who has been increasingly sought by major orchestras and opera companies for the past decade. She returns to Cincinnati Opera, where she made her debut in 2001, to sing the role of Ulrica in Verdi's A Masked Ball and Antonia's mother in Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman.

The qualities that enhance her artistic career could be seen in her earlier career as an nurse with over 12 years in the profession, seven spent in the labor and delivery ward in a Los Angeles hospital, working with high-risk pregnancies.

How do you get from the labor and delivery ward to the concert stage? It's not a dramatic story, Jones says, but it is a tale of a genuine spiritual journey.

Jones grew up in Southern California, listening to recordings of Broadway musicals and always loving to sing. Brought up in a devout Christian home, she attended religious schools where there was little opportunity to explore a career in music.

"There was no outlet for Classical music," she says. "Everything was service oriented -- you were going to be a doctor, a nurse, a social worker, a teacher."

Although her first career choice was missionary work, Jones settled on nursing and majored in biochemistry. But her passion for music was never muted.

"A teacher at the private religious school I was going to said, 'You know, you have a little talent,' but there was really nothing -- outside of choir -- to develop it," she says.

She transferred to California State University at Los Angeles to continue her nursing degree and won a two-year scholarship to study music.

"It really took a hold of me then," she says. "I realized I had to finish nursing so that I could have a job, because voice lessons and all that goes with it are so expensive."

Jones took time off to travel to Italy, where she studied privately with a teacher who moved to Southern California. ("Thank God!" she says.) She continued voice lessons while working full-time as a perinatal specialist.

Her first big break came in 1993.

"I got a call from the Los Angeles Philharmonic," she says. "They had a singer who was scheduled to sing Seven Popular Songs by Manuel de Falla, and she cancelled. They said, 'We've heard about you. Can you come down and sing for us?' I said, 'I have to work, I'll come next week,' " Jones laughs. "They said, 'No, Miss Jones, the concert's next week.' "

With her supervisor's support, Jones took a week of sick leave to memorize the songs and made a successful debut that led to regular engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Opera.

Jones continued with her day job until the physical demands of both nursing and singing forced the difficult decision to give up a secure position with health insurance for an uncertain future as an opera singer.

The day she quit, a friend loaned her money that enabled her to travel to auditions -- and not long afterward Jones had three lucrative engagements.

Since then, she has performed with opera companies and major symphony orchestras throughout the United States and presented recitals in Carnegie Hall and the Music Academy of the West. Her repertoire covers leading mezzo-soprano and soprano roles. Although the fortune-teller Ulrica in A Masked Ball sings only in the first act, her eerie, brooding music vies for some of the opera's most dramatic moments. The role is brief but daunting.

"It's almost a baritone role. You're singing in your toes, it's so low!" laughs Jones. "The role is important, though, and it's hard to cast because of the tessitura -- the vocal range."

She makes another brief appearance in Tales of Hoffman as the spirit of the doomed singer Antonia's mother.

Jones has already garnered raves for her performance in a sold-out concert with tenor Vinson Cole last month at Allen Temple A.M.E. in Bond Hill. Her voice becomes reverential.

"I enjoyed the concert not only because of the singing," she says. "It's afterwards, staying behind and meeting everyone -- I think I hugged and kissed probably 200 or 300 people!"

For a city struggling with racial issues, Jones sees Cincinnati Opera as light years ahead of cultural organizations in larger cities.

"When I was here in 2001, I called home and said I'd never seen so many people of color in the audience, except in Atlanta." she says adding that African Americans hold board positions. "This is highly unusual, and it's what makes Cincinnati great."

Following her appearances here, Jones travels to Europe in the fall. She hasn't abandoned nursing -- she recently started working on a part-time basis at Los Angeles County General Hospital. For Jones, there's no disconnect between the hospital ward and the concert hall. In addition to the hundreds of babies she's helped to deliver, her music has been a source of healing.

"I love singing because it's another form of nursing, a way to heal the spirit," she says. "Nursing keeps me balanced. Working with people who have no resources has really grounded me. Singing for me is almost like nursing, where it's a way to be so connected to people that I otherwise would not be able to be."