TORRANCE, Calif. -- Opera singers have voices that carry. But maybe not all the way from downtown LA to Torrance.

That’s where technology comes in.

In Columbia Regional Park, crews are setting the stage for LA Opera's annual free outdoor simulcast.

The clanging of tools may not be music to park goers ears but in this case, it's laying the groundwork for actual music.

On Saturday LA Opera is presenting a duet of outdoor events: Opera at the Beach and Opera in the Park.

If audiences like what they hear, they’ll have Tom Hodder to thank.

The master soundman worked for LA Opera for 33 years. He’s retired now, but still comes back to work on special events like this one. 

And it is special!

Thousands of people will gather here Columbia Regional Park and he wants to make sure the voices sounds just as grand here as they do at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

“We go to great lengths to make sure that the sound is top notch, state of the art,” Hodder said.

Bringing the opera outdoors is no easy task. Crews work long hours setting up giant LED screens. This is the fifth year for Opera at the Beach on the Santa Monica Pier. But it’s the first time Opera in the Park is being presented in Torrance.

Eve Rappoport is the Cultural Services Manager for the city. She says Torrance has many arts organizations and cultural institutions. 

“However there is no an opera company,” Rappoport said.

So for many, this could be their first taste of opera and Rappoport thinks it’s a good one, with a lot of themes that will resonate with the crowd. 

“Societal themes like it’s lack of health care. It’s high rents,” Rappoport said.  

And don’t worry about language. Even though the opera is set in Paris and sung in Italian, the simulcast will include subtitles in both English and Spanish.

Production Director Michelle Magaldi  says in a way the livestreamed operas are the perfect introduction. They’re free, you can bring snacks and you get the best view – up close to the costumes and the sets and the singers. 

“When they come to see the Opera in the Park they say to me ‘Wow, l‘ve never been to the opera now I really want to go downtown and see it in the theater.’”

And that’s the point. Getting people to fall in love with the artform the way Hodder loves Tosca.

“It has it all. Deceit. Love. And you know the soprano dies at the end,” Hodder said. 

Spoiler alert: That happens in most operas.

Between the two locations, the outdoor operas attract about 8,000 audience members. And new audience members are what will keep opera alive. 

Well . . . except for the soprano maybe.