Hi Cindy:
I want to begin to do the New York audition circuit, but I’m not sure where to start. Is there a published listing of when auditions take place? Is it a subscription or word of mouth? Any help would be great. I enjoy your CS articles.
Thanks,
Beginning Baritone
Dear BB:
Good timing! I’ve just been working on a chapter of my new book on the business of singing, all about auditions. You (and other Classical Singer readers) will get to read the first draft—and here it is:
I have bad news and good news for you.
The bad news: There is no central clearinghouse for auditions, not even if you have an agent. (That’d just be too easy!)
The good news: Several good sources of information about auditions are available, and the Internet makes it easy to find most of what you need to know. You still have to do some footwork, however.
Here’s how it all works. Bear with me—before we get to the “how to” part, you need to know the “how come.”
General directors and their various staff members are extremely busy people. Also, it’s quite expensive to fly several staffers into New York City and then house and feed them for a few days—not to mention the cost of the hall rental and a pianist (if they are kind enough to provide one). A limited number of audition slots are available on any given trip; often companies are trying to fill specific roles as well as scout for possibilities for future seasons. Given these factors, opera company administrators, as you can imagine, do not care to have their time wasted. Therefore, they tend to develop relationships with the managers they know understand their needs and are most likely to provide them with singers that interest them.
The singers these preferred managers present get first shot at the limited number of time slots, with each manager being allotted a certain number of slots to fill. After that, companies may ask to hear singers from managers they haven’t worked with before, or managers who aren’t particular favorites but still have singers they’re interested in. Way down at the bottom of the list are unmanaged singers—if a company will hear them at all.
It seems unfair. Most general directors I’ve spoken to readily admit that plenty of unmanaged singers are just as capable as their managed colleagues. It’s an issue of time. Being managed is the industry’s version of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. GDs assume that if you’re managed, you are at the professional level they need (and if a manager consistently sends them singers who are not, chances are that they will soon not be hearing that manager’s singers any more).
Obviously, if you are managed, your agent is going to be submitting you for auditions. This means that the agent gets audition notices from the opera company, looks to see what operas or specific roles the companies are hoping to cast, and decides who he or she has on the roster who would be good for those roles. Next, the agent usually asks the singers if they’re interested and available, then gets back to the opera company and offers singers for them to hear. If the company is interested, it confirms and assigns a time slot. Presto, you’ve got your audition.
If you are not managed, however, it becomes a little more complicated. You don’t have a manager to represent you to the opera companies, so you have to be your own manager. This is an incredibly valuable experience for a young singer because it forces you to learn the ropes of the business. When you gain representation, you will have a much better idea of what managers do and should be accomplishing for you.
As I mentioned, even though the opera world offers no central clearinghouse of audition information, you can take advantage of some great tools. Classical Singer magazine publishes audition listings in the print version of the magazine. Subscribers can also check the website (www.classicalsinger.com) and opt to receive e-mails with daily updates of new listings. You can even customize the e-mails to receive only the type of auditions you’re interested in.
Opera America (www.operaamerica.org) also offers an online resource, Opera Source (formerly the printed publication Career Guide for Singers), described as “a comprehensive career resource for administrators, singers, technical/production professionals, teachers, and all creative and performing opera artists.” Its listings are for job openings in all those fields, and include audition listings. You must be a subscriber to use Opera Source.
Finally, there’s YAPtracker (www.yaptracker.com), an online comprehensive auditions manager that offers not only auditions listings, but also allows you to keep your applications and auditions information in one place and manage them online.
My suggestion is that you try each of these services and find which ones best fit your needs. Some people subscribe to all three, at least for a while—there is some overlap of information, but each service is a little different and you may eventually find that one covers most of what you need.
Even if you go to town and subscribe to every audition-listing source you can find, however, it won’t be enough. Why? Well, first of all, some opera companies refuse to provide audition information to these resources because (1) they don’t hear anyone who is not on a preferred manager’s roster, (2) they don’t hear unmanaged singers, and (3) they don’t want to be bombarded with inappropriate requests for auditions. (More on that in a moment.) Secondly, by the time some of these listings hit print, they are out of date.
It’s very important to be proactive about getting auditions. Even if you’re a managed singer, you shouldn’t be waiting around for your agent to bring you auditions. You should be talking to singers, coaches, conductors, and opera company administrators you know to hear all the rumors about upcoming seasons and find out who’s going to be in town auditioning, and when. You should be spending a few minutes each day surfing opera company websites for season information: What kind of repertoire do they do? Who do they hire? Often companies post audition information on their sites. Once you’ve researched, you can start requesting auditions. Just be careful not to send out the dreaded inappropriate requests.
Inappropriate requests are audition applications from singers who don’t have the experience level a company needs to consider them for casting. It’s very important, when you are asking for auditions, to understand your position in the industry and match your applications to a company that is likely to hire someone with your level of experience. The Opera America annual budget-level listings (as reported in the Musical America directory) are a helpful tool for determining which companies you should send applications. These budget-level categories also appear in the audition listings section of Classical Singer, but let’s be comprehensive and list them here as well, with an added explanation:
• Level A (or 1) = $7,500,000 and over. These are the major international companies, such as the Met, Chicago Lyric, San Francisco, and Houston Grand. They hire international stars for the leading roles, and often have a stable of preferred comprimari who are career character singers or also sing leading roles in top regional companies.
• Level B (or 2) = $3,000,000-$7,499,999. These are major regional companies, such as Baltimore Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Atlanta Opera, and Opera Colorado. They bring in international and nationally known singers who may not be the biggest stars, but sing regularly at A and B houses. They may have Young Artists who cover and sing small main-stage roles.
• Level C (or 3) = $1,000,000-$2,999,999. These are medium-to-large regional companies, such as Opera Delaware, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, and Fort Worth Opera. They hire well-known regional singers or up-and-comers for their leading roles, and often cast comprimari from a stock of dependable local singers or their own Young Artists.
• Level D (or 4) = less than $1,000,000. These are small local companies, such as Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra, Livermore Valley Opera (Calif.), Pensacola Opera, and DuPage Opera Theatre (Ill.). They audition in New York for leads—often hiring regional singers who are in the process of building their careers—and cast locals for the smaller roles.
• Levels E and F = less than $999,999. These are very small local companies, often associations or startups, which put on one or two shows a year and mostly cast locally. Often they do not offer housing or travel compensation, and rehearsal periods may be extended over many weeks.
Armed with this information, how do you know where you should apply? The general rule: Apply at companies or programs that are no more than one level above your most recent experience. In other words, if you’re just starting out as a fresh-out-of-school youngster or an older, second-career singer and have never sung a role anywhere but college or a pay-to-sing program, you should be concentrating your efforts on Young Artist Programs (if you’re eligible) and the smallest local opera companies—no higher than the E and F budget levels. If you’ve been singing leads at D and C companies for a while, it’s time to try for a B. If you’re fresh out of a major apprenticeship where you sang comprimario roles on the main stage with big-name artists, you can probably start out auditioning for C and D companies.
So, how do you go about getting the attention of these fine, busy folks, especially if you’re unmanaged?
First you need a professional materials package, consisting at its most basic of your résumé, bio, and headshot. You can also include reviews and a couple of production shots, if you have them. Don’t bother to send a CD unless specifically asked for one; no one has time to listen to unsolicited CDs, and if they need to hear you before scheduling an audition, chances are they will want to hear specific repertoire. Add to that a well-written, brief cover letter, introducing yourself and your repertoire, requesting an audition, and—most vitally important—containing a recommendation from a well-known industry professional, if at all possible, preferably a conductor, director, opera company administrator, or even a singer (preferably not your voice teacher or coach).
Get the best recommendation you can from the most prominent person who is willing to support you. Drop their name in the cover letter, or better yet, get them to contact someone they know at the company on your behalf and talk you up. Opera is a very expensive proposition and few producers will take a chance on an unproven unknown. A good word from a well-respected industry insider can make all the difference in your getting heard—or in your résumé ending up at the bottom of a dusty pile.
Send out your requests at the end of the summer—early August is a good time. Most New York auditions take place during the fall, up to Christmas, although some occur in the spring. It really just depends on the opera company’s schedule, which can be unpredictable. You may need to follow up to discover when auditions are being scheduled and whether they plan to give you a slot, but in general, don’t expect to hear from the company until a week or two before the auditions. In the meantime, polish up your arias, connect with coaches and pianists you might want to use for auditions, and keep your ear to the ground for other opportunities.
For singers, the process of searching for and scoring auditions is like trying to feed your hunger. You have to keep on doing it, and it can be sated only temporarily. The moment you sign a contract, you’re already looking ahead to see where the next gig is coming from. When a juicy audition finally does land on our plate, however, boy does it taste good! So take a few moments to savor the fruits of a very difficult, time-consuming, but ultimately rewarding labor.
