La Jolla Country Day School (LJCDS) alumna, Deutsche Oper [sic] Berlin soprano Stephanie Weiss, returns to her alma mater March 11 to perform a recital and sing with The Madrigals, the school choral group to which she aspired as a teenager. Weiss makes her San Diego Opera debut as Marianne in Richard Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier” April 3-12 When Weiss started at Country Day in the fifth grade, she was a pianist and flutist. Because the school had no instrumental program at the time, she joined the chorus. “In high school, I really wanted to be in Madrigals, so I started taking voice lessons,” she said. Madrigals accepted Weiss her sophomore year. Until graduation she performed in school productions, and beyond, as the Flower Seller in “Hans Christian Andersen” at Moonlight Theater in Vista. After graduating LJCDS, she entered a double degree program at Tufts University and New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. “My degrees were in biology (with a drama minor) and vocal performance,” she says. Then she earned a Professional Studies Diploma at New York City’s Mannes College of Music. “In 2004 I entered the American Berlin Opera Foundation Scholarship Competition, where the prize was to spend one year in the ensemble of Deutsche Oper Berlin.” Since her first season Weiss has continued to perform at Deutsche Oper as a guest artist. “In the past few years, she writes, “I have also sung at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Berlin Philharmonic, Stadttheater Bern in Switzerland, Frankfurt Opera and the Cologne Opera. Weiss lives in Berlin. “I absolutely love living here. Berlin is an amazing city with so much history and an amazing mix of cultures. There is so much classical music. We have three opera houses and several orchestras.” She keeps in touch with family and friends through the miracles of Skype, Facebook and inexpensive phone plans. Her parents come to visit at least once a year, exploring new parts of Europe and seeing their daughter perform. Weiss says, “The purpose of San Diego Opera’s Community Conversations is to familiarize people who might not be regular opera goers with some of the more popular arias. I will sing arias from “Cosi fan tutte,” “Cavalleria rusticana,” “Ariadne auf Naxos” and “Carmen.”