While most 12-year-olds are fascinated with rock 'n' roll, Zachary Luchette fell in love with classical music at that age. And when he heard opera, he knew that's what he wanted to sing.

"It's so big, so grandiose," said Mr. Luchette, now 21 and a senior at Saint Vincent College in Unity.

"In other musical genres, you don't get that same sort of emotion or feeling. It's utilizing the pipes that God gave you."

While he was growing up in Grove City, Mercer County, Mr. Luchette studied composers such as Beethoven and Chopin, sang in school choirs and took voice lessons.

"It's a passion that we saw in him at an early age," said Christine Luchette, his mother. "Neither his father nor I are musical, but we knew it was something that he wanted to follow and we did everything we could to support him."

Mr. Luchette already has an impressive resume. He won a concerto competition with the Pittsburgh Civic Orchestra, and he is music director and former president of the Gilbert and Sullivan Club at Saint Vincent, where he is majoring in arts administration.

"He called me when he was 14 and said he wanted to be an opera singer, and I was very impressed with his voice at that age," said Diana Walters, of Grove City, who has been his voice teacher for nearly seven years.

She has been teaching music since 1969 and for 31 years has been with the Governor's School for the Arts, which Mr. Luchette attended when he was in high school.

"I think that it's a really tough life to make it as a classical singer, but I think Zach knows the ropes and he has done a lot of things to get experienced," she said.

Mr. Luchette, a bass baritone, travels all over to perform, most recently for the inaugural concert of the Electric Laboratory Orchestra as a bass soloist in Gustav Mahler's "Songs of Wayfarer."

"It's a new orchestra in the South Side [of Pittsburgh]," Mr. Luchette explained. "It was founded by some friends of mine who wanted to fuse popular music and classical music into the same concert."

In January, Mr. Luchette was one of four winners with the Pittsburgh Civic Orchestra and was able to sing with a full-size orchestra.

"It was an experience being with that many people," he said. "You have to sing over 60 other instruments, and you have no microphone. It taught me a lot about my voice and what to do with my singing technique. It gave me a lot of direction."

While a freshman, Mr. Luchette sang the premiere of a song cycle written specifically for his voice by Benjamin Dorfan, a freshman at Cornell University, in Ithaca, N.Y. The two later performed together in a music series at Saint Vincent.

Last month, Mr. Luchette sang in Harrisburg with the Capitol Opera and performed as Colline in "La Boheme."

He also has been Schlemil in Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffmann" in August 2007; Alcindoro and Benoit in "La Boheme" in August 2008; and Herr Buff in "The Impresario" in February 2007.

As a concert soloist, Mr. Luchette was the bass soloist in Handel's "Messiah" in November 2007, Theodore Dubois' "Seven Last Words of Christ" in April 2007 and Mozart's "Requiem" in September 2005.

Mr. Luchette also performed with the Greensburg American Opera and is an alumnus of Boston University's Tanglewood Institute.

"I am just soaking up every opportunity I can and loving every second of it," he said. "It's so much fun to have a skill that I can utilize right now.

"As far as juggling school and my career, I haven't had much trouble. I am able to schedule rehearsals on nights and performances on weekends. It's all about making it work."

He said he learned a lot about prioritizing from managing the Gilbert and Sullivan Club, which, in its first year in 2007, successfully staged "The Pirates of Penzance."

"I hope that my experience on the business end of performing as well as my performing experience will enable me to get those opportunities and be able to support myself," he said.

Mr. Luchette is considering studying opera in graduate school and may pursue a doctorate degree, with the goal of singing full time.

Mrs. Luchette added that her son would love to one day sing operas in Italy.

"We are very proud of his accomplishments," she said. "He works hard, and it is truly a love and a passion for him."