For the third straight year, Providence will kick off the Labor Day weekend with a full WaterFire lighting along the city’s riverfront. And this time, the sopranos are coming.

Note, if you will, the small “s” in the preceding sentence. The sopranos who will be attending Saturday’s lighting aren’t the kind who whack people if they get out of line. Instead, WaterFire creator Barnaby Evans and hometown opera troupe Opera Providence have teamed up for what amounts to an opera lover’s dream: more than a dozen singers will be stationed at different locations along the downtown rivers. Between 8 and 9:30 p.m., these real-life sopranos will burst into song, performing everything from Mozart to Puccini. Later, from 10 to 11 p.m., the singers will gather in Market Square for a series of encore performances.

Adding to the musical theme will be an appearance by Italian vocalist Emiliano Loconsolo at the Verizon Jazz Stage. Born in Milan but now based in New York and Providence, Loconsolo is a classically trained singer whose repertoire includes everything from jazz and pop to opera and art songs. A recent review in the Italian newspaper Il Tirreno praised Loconsolo for his “sophisticated, elegant voice.”

Loconsolo will perform from 8 to 11 p.m. at the Verizon Jazz Stage, Steeple Street at North Main.

Verizon, which co-sponsors the jazz series with Idearc media, is also hosting the last of its summer casting calls at the jazz stage. From 5 to 9 p.m. a panel of celebrity judges, including former American Idol contestant Ayla Brown and the reigning Miss Rhode Island, Ashley Bickford, will face 20 finalists vying for the right to represent Verizon in print and TV ads for its new fiber-optic broadband service, known as Verizon FiOS.

Many of WaterFire’s regular band of street performers will also be on hand this weekend. They include the theater troupe Fountain Street Creative (Verizon Jazz Stage), mime Michael Grando (riverfront between Waterplace and Crawford Street) and Andrew “Origami Guy” Anselmo (Market Square).

As always, WaterFire’s bonfires will continue burning until 1 a.m. For the latest information, call (401) 272-3111 or visit www.waterfire.org. The next WaterFire lighting is Sept. 15.