Baritone John Brandstetter had an enviable career in opera. He performed principal roles at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Vienna State Opera, the Bolshoi Opera, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, and at many other prestigious companies. Leonard Bernstein selected him as a soloist for the world premiere of Arias and Barcarolles. At the age of 44, his career was still going strong—and that is when he quit cold turkey.
This decision may seem unimaginable to singers who dream of attaining Brandstetter’s level of success. It is less surprising to several other singers with whom I spoke. These singers all quit opera at different stages of their careers, from promising young artists to full-time choristers to regional soloists to international soloists. Why did they decide to quit, and what advice do they have for singers pursuing careers in opera? Here is what they had to say.
Lack of Artistic Satisfaction
Brandstetter began thinking about quitting when he experienced some problems with his voice and stopped achieving his personal standards of performance. “I required 120 percent out of myself when I was a singer,” he explains. “I could not meet that anymore when I stood on the stage. If I could please an audience and please myself, I’d still be performing.”
For Michael Chadwick, a bass who sang with the Dallas Opera Chorus and performed roles with several smaller companies, the decision to quit stemmed from a lack of enthusiasm for the learning process. “I was just not interested enough to put in the necessary vocal work, and that kind of dedication is required to make a proper go of it,” he recalls. “Even as a bass, where opportunities are more available than for most other voice parts, I just lost interest in even learning a new role. That was a big sign that it was not the right path for me.”
Other singers found that their love of the art was affected by their growing awareness of the odds for success and the associated costs of pursuing it. Tenor Joshua Saxon—who won many competitions, covered roles at Washington National Opera, and was in the Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart Emerging Singers Program—found that the financial considerations were beginning to color his perceptions of the music.
“For me the money was always the overwhelming issue, and as competitions would be lost, not only in terms of actual loss but in terms of financial loss, my viewpoint of singing began to warp from being a fulfilling experience to one laced with stress and personal loss,” he remembers. “I was beginning to develop a real underlying hatred for the music I was trying so hard to perfect for people who held the power to grant me a job in order to earn money.”
Soprano Alyssa Bowlby, who quit in early 2013, found that the frustrating cycle of auditioning against hundreds of other sopranos during a two-year stay in Germany, compounded by flaky behavior from agents, was affecting her enjoyment of singing. She also kept in the back of her mind a promise she had made to herself—that she would not end up like a 40-year-old guy she once met who worked part-time in a real estate office to support himself while singing gigs for free. Furthermore, she knew only one singer who had obtained a coveted Fest contract. This particular singer, says Bowlby, was truly outstanding, with great technical facility, acting ability, and a noticeable feeling for the music.
All of these considerations formed a backdrop to what Bowlby describes as a key turning point—a session with a highly respected coach, during which Bowlby found herself getting angry about what the coach wanted. “I realized that I was starting to hate singing,” Bowlby remembers.
Family Considerations
Saxon’s decision to quit was also influenced by the health of his first child, who had many medical problems. “Those parents of children with medical needs can attest to the amount of time that is spent in the trenches with medical insurance, hospital administrators, therapists, doctors, etc.,” he says. He also notes that the capital expenditures required in pursuing a singing career are “tough enough to maintain” as a single person, but that in a marriage “you also must take into account the financial and emotional strain this puts on not only your family wallet but your relationship as well.”
Family considerations also played a role in the decision of mezzo Robin Flynn to quit following her participation in the prestigious Merola Opera Program in the summer of 2010. Flynn, who wanted to start a family, explains: “The ability to have a stable family life is virtually impossible as a performer. . . . I was craving stability, simple living, and a family-centered life. My choice was clear.”
Alternative Paths to Fulfillment
With the exception of Chadwick, who maintains a professional church job, the rest of the singers I interviewed do not sing anymore in any capacity. What is striking is that they do not seem to miss it. One of the main reasons they do not is that they have found other avenues of artistic fulfillment.
For example, around the time that Brandstetter quit, he became fascinated with the Internet world. Eventually, he got involved in mergers and acquisitions, an area he says rivals opera in terms of drama. Today, he owns his own disaster recovery business and gives speeches across the country on this topic, an activity that allows him to apply his performing skills.
Susannah Waters, a soprano who, like Brandstetter, enjoyed a successful international career, decided to try her hand at other creative pursuits. “At the start of the new millennium,” she explains, “I decided to replace the time I spent singing, worrying about singing, and sitting around in hotel rooms and rented flats with time spent writing and dreaming up shows in my head.” Today she is a published author, a writing teacher, and an in-demand stage director.
Stage direction also attracted Chadwick, initially, and he worked as a stage director or assistant stage director with Houston Grand Opera, Opera San José, Opera North, and several other companies. That vocation, he found, was enjoyable but not financially viable. Consequently, he became a professional photographer and voiceover artist and he also rents supertitles to opera companies all over the world. When it comes to production photography, Chadwick’s background as a singer and stage director is immensely helpful. “It helps me create photographs of productions that are truly informed,” he points out.
Saxon, who works in defense, has also found other outlets for artistic expression. “While I don’t sing at all anymore, nor do I practice,” he admits, “I have always been an artist to myself in terms of writing, speaking, holding debates, engaging other people in looking at things from a different vantage point, and participating in the development of my children as rational thinkers.”
Bowlby derives a great deal of satisfaction from tutoring and mentoring disadvantaged, minority students. “How does opera make the world a better place?” she asks. In her experience, no one was able to provide an adequate answer to this question.
Advice
The singers I interviewed have a wealth of advice for both singers who are dreaming of opera careers and singers who are thinking about quitting.
For singers intent on full-time professional opera careers, Bowlby advises, “Be really honest with yourself about your talent and whether you want to pursue a career that is so unrewarding.” She also suggests taking positive reinforcement with a grain of salt, noting that there are people in the industry who feed off singers’ egos. “Conservatories will tell you it’s hard,” she says. “They don’t tell you it’s impossible.”
Brandstetter agrees with this approach. “People have stars in their eyes,” he observes. “You’re setting yourself up for such failure.”
Chadwick, too, urges singers to take a realistic look at opera as a career choice.
“Being a professional singer, truly immersing yourself in that world, requires a love of it that transcends the desire for money, security, or validation,” he warns. “It is a highly competitive, sometimes cruel, and unforgiving world. If you have even a shred of doubt, then it is not the right world for you to jump into. You might be a good singer with an astonishingly beautiful voice, but that doesn’t mean you’re meant for a career in opera. There is so much more involved in it than just singing. It is full-time marketing of yourself with constant rejection; it is constant education and work. And if you are not driven to do it by a love of it that consumes you, then for God’s sake go find something else that actually brings you fulfillment and financial security.”
For singers who are thinking about quitting, Brandstetter has some encouraging thoughts to share. He believes that singers have skills that are easily transferrable to the business world. “They have a strong work ethic,” he points out. “They show up to rehearsal and learn their music. They know that you can’t tell an audience on opening night, ‘Sorry, we aren’t ready yet.’ They cope well with pressure and they learn to interact with influential people during opening night receptions. There is a place in the business world for these sorts of skills.”
(Incidentally, AGMA members who are interested in transitioning to other careers are eligible to participate in the Actors Fund Work Program, which assists entertainment industry and performing arts professionals in identifying and finding sideline work and new careers. More information is available at www.actorsfund.org.)
Lessons Learned
None of the singers I interviewed suggests that all singers quit. What they advise, instead, is that singers take a clear-eyed, objective look at the odds facing them and the sacrifices inherent in a singing career—even a successful one—before making career decisions.
Brandstetter recognizes that honest appraisals are not easy. “Singers get depressed when they think about not singing,” he says. “Singing fulfills our souls. It’s a great thing. But life is there, too. You can’t give up your life for singing.”
Although Brandstetter has been out of the opera world for a long time, he still follows it and observes that singers still are not learning the basics of the business side of opera. He proposes that Young Artist Programs introduce singers to financial management, including 401k programs, and that agents talk to singers about the career ups and downs that are characteristic of opera and how to handle them emotionally.
The business side of opera is, of course, far less glamorous than the artistic side but, as Bowlby warns, “You can’t eat fairy tales. You can’t pay the rent with fairy tales.” It is important to remember, however, that if you cannot support yourself through singing alone, there is always the option to pursue it in a semi-professional or amateur capacity. You need not quit cold turkey.
Whether you decide to pursue singing full time, part time, as a hobby, or not at all, one thing is clear, says Saxon: you can quit singing but you can’t quit being a singer. “The act of singing and the ability to sing is part of your genetic makeup,” he contends. “You will never quit being that until the day you quit pumping blood through your body.”
