''If we're going to start a career we thought, well, we had better start a career instead of sitting around doing nothing,'' says Ben Madden, one of the four.
Two years ago the young singers were involved in The Marriage of Figaro with Opera Otago ''but this is a different calibre, we get paid!'' Madden said.
''We're all couch-surfing, we're not doing it for the money.''
As temporary members of the Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus, they also get to mix with some of New Zealand's most successful opera exports, who have been drawn home for a production that has a 90% Kiwi cast. The chorus is cast as a neighbourhood of students and artists in Paris, 2014.
La Boheme plays on July 15, 16 and 18, 7.30pm, at the CBS Canterbury Arena.