An actor performs Sichuan opera at a local theater in Chengdu. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/China Daily]

Yu Jia, an actress from the institute, has devoted herself to the study of opera since she was 10 and is now an established member of the performing group.

"The actors and actresses performing the opera are much better treated now than years ago, thanks to its increasing popularity, especially overseas," she said.

Salaries, based on a percentage of revenue, have shot up and performers no longer have to worry about making ends meet so they can throw themselves fully into their art, Lei said.

Success breeds more success and Yu said as increasing numbers of foreign visitors come to Sichuan to see the opera, they receive more offers to perform. The institute travels abroad for sellout performances.

"I have just been to Japan, Egypt and France, and the audiences there showed possibly even more enthusiasm than those at home," she said.

"Many members of the audience even ask where they can learn the songs."

According to Lei, foreigners coming to China to learn more about Sichuan Opera is not exactly a novelty.

Lisa Bielby, from the United States, started studying drama in Michigan at 13.When she left school she was so drawn to the passion and technique of the opera that she enrolled in Sichuan Opera School.

Bielby may have been the first foreigner to join the opera, but she is not the last. In many ways she blazed a trail to the fiery opera.