For the Ages
Dear CS: I do hope you will take the opportunity to try to correct some of the misperceptions that might have been created by your issue on age discrimination. My response was to a letter I got from Ms. Norwood—as a copy of a form letter that she diligently sent to Orlando Opera because of the process recommended by Classical Singer. This was well intentioned, but misinformed. The form letter asked for the abolition of “young artist” programs. (We do not have one. Ours at Orlando Opera is a Resident Artist program, and her mistaken reference was made at your prompting in the form letter, without regard to those who may or may not choose to use the title or distinction “young artists.”) Orlando Opera does not have any age restrictions for hiring resident artists for our company, nor do we discriminate on any basis in the selection of our artists (with the exception of relative lack of talent or experience). I also told Ms. Norwood that a good source of information on this subject is the Opera America “Career Guide for Singers,” a publication that will give more detailed information on auditions, program highlights, employment conditions, etc. In this publication, the information on Orlando Opera auditions and the separate listings for our Resident Artist program and our Heinz Rehfuss Awards makes it pretty clear that anyone can audition for the company, but that we do have age restrictions for the Heinz Rehfuss Awards. Several other opera companies on your “black list” may have age restrictions (as well as residence and /or language restrictions) on scholarship or award auditions, and this is a perfectly legal, ethical, necessary, and desirable aspect of our business. In our case, the wishes of the donor of the fund (Heinz Rehfuss) dictated our age requirements according to his will, and the proceeds of his estate were specifically targeted to benefit training of singers between the ages 18 and 34. This is absolutely not an illegal discrimination, just as scholarships and awards are available only to those who meet certain qualifications as high school seniors for any college or university. It is this particular distinction that I believe you must address in some manner, or you will potentially alienate singing-actors against companies who really don’t discriminate, and who do follow the legal restrictions that pertain to their particular audition process. The article that instigated this misunderstanding did not make the distinction between hiring practices of opera companies and age restrictions of competitions for awards.
Classical Singer can be (and usually is) an instrument that promotes greater understanding between singing-actors and opera companies. But I fear that this particular article, (while it does make some meritorious points regarding the problems that exist for those whose need for training may not fit certain competition parameters) does us a disservice by suggesting that we might be insensitive to those needs. I would love to speak (or write) more about this if I have raised some points that may still not be clear. I also do sincerely hope that you can find some cool way to demonstrate to your readers that we (at least some of us) are not insensitive clods, wantonly disregarding laws or discriminating against singers as is implied in the article.
-Robert Swedberg
General Director
Orlando Opera
The Bitter Cup
Dear CS: I just read your editorial (“Fixing What’s Broke”) in the April issue. The situation you describe has, in my opinion, been getting worse for a very long time. Thank you for stating it so clearly. Just reading your article is going to help the people I teach. One can trace causes for the problem back many decades. Getting talent together with people who can develop that talent, without jumping through so many hoops, should not be as difficult as it seems to be today. I teach in St. Louis as well as LA, and find that is as big a problem there as it is here. Athletes seem to have a pretty good idea of their potential by the time they reach the professional level. Singers deserve the same kind of training to help make career decisions more from within than without. Thanks for your hard work.
— Jim Uselman
Dear CS: This is in response to CJ Williamson’s editorial about all of the negativity in this business. As a senior at Centenary College of Louisiana, I have experienced an amazing amount of it myself already, even on the undergraduate level. Most of this unhappiness in my school and surroundings comes from other singers, who I had expected to be my friends, people with whom I could share the passion for music. It is incredibly wearing on the soul to be surrounded by people who aren’t moved by music anymore and have even begun to hate it. These “musicians” go home and try to forget about music. It breaks my heart.
—Grace Long
Dear CS: You recently called for correspondence from readers of CS Magazine concerning the degree of negativity and bitterness “out there” among both aspiring singers and “veterans.” My age, 44, puts me in the veteran category, but I have a further caveat: I am not a singer. I have a degree in voice and studied with marvelous people. But in my early twenties I had neither the gifts nor the emotional maturity to fully benefit from my education and the inspiring people I encountered at Boston University in the 70s. And inspiring they were, and are: Robert Gartside, Allen Rogers, Adelaide Bishop, Mac Morgan among them.
I knew as a freshman that I wouldn’t be able to sing professionally. I did a lot of paid chorus work and staged managed and “go-ferred” for Sarah Caldwell’s Opera company of Boston, and the latter was really my education! But I knew from recordings the singing of Bjoerling, Bergonzi, Callas and Tebaldi. I went to Eleanor Steber’s masterclasses—and Callas’s. I knew that a distinct timbre, a great musical intelligence, and a strong personality were among the necessary elements.
My point is that my expectations, even as a youngster, were realistic. Robert Gartside told me point blank, “You will not be a singer.” Adelaide Bishop, a City Opera soprano, told me I had everything it took to succeed except a voice. I was lucky because these teachers guided me into the ancillary field of music management, where I worked happily and successfully for a number of years. I was happy and I was in music.
Young singers today expect full-fledged careers upon graduation, and they are setting themselves up for trouble. They need to know, very clearly, the kind of singer who succeeds. You don’t need a beautiful voice or a pretty face or great pecs or whatever. You do have to be totally connected to what you are singing and why. Singing the notes and the words correctly is half the equation. The other half is what the artist brings to the notes and the text, and for this, you need emotional maturity. You need to have heard and understood the greats in your repertoire. You need to know something of the context in which this music and these words were written. Knowledge really IS power, and singers need to want to get this knowledge. Be curious! Go to the library! Read scores! Learn new music! Listen to records! If you are not singing enough, start your own ensemble with friends! What has one to lose? People who learn “Caro mio ben” by rote sound like they are singing “caro mio ben” by rote. The “why” is not about you, but about the character or situation you are portraying. I submit that people are too interested in themselves and not interested enough in music and text. And a 20-year-old is often emotionally immature and too vulnerable to the quacks and head cases—and you know I’m right about this—who are teaching out there. Expectations are totally unreasonable. If you study hard and do your work (and pay! and pay! and pay!) you should expect a career. ‘Taint so. It is outrageous to me that any 22-year-old should find him/herself saddled with $50,000 in student loans. For what? Close all the conservatories! Fire all the teachers who are not producing emotionally sound, career-bound students! That’s one solution. On one of your forums the point is made that entering students should be presented with statistics: here’s the percentage of young recent graduates who are successfully pursuing careers as singers and making a living at it. It should be made clear, if you are a young lyric soprano you are going to have trouble. If you are a heldenbariton with a well-schooled voice AND YOU KNOW REPERTOIRE your path might be easier. It would be great if very gifted high school kids were afforded studies in theory, voice, stage deportment and languages while pursuing other degrees. Beginning singers today are blessed by having so many recordings to listen to and to be inspired by. They are cursed, too. Because conductors and casting directors and artistic directors will often have the sound of Steber or Warren or Baker (or, Aksel Schiotz) stamped in their memories, not leaving much room for a new voice and a new interpretation. And the standards can be unrealistically high. I don’t advocate that anyone learn music from recordings, but it is silly not to know the work of those who came before you. The one thing I don’t see discussed in CS or anywhere else is the joy of music. Do students/singers listen to music any more? (Apparently they do. Another of your forums has a vibrant discussion going about the “greats.” Your subscribers DO listen to great singers!) Young singers should approach their work without any fear, with no room for head games, and with the curiosity that will help ground them in languages, literature, history, deportment and, above all, the music. In Stefan Zucker’s recent film by Opera Fanatic, he interviews the elderly Italian soprano Carla Gavazzi, whose career was destroyed by nodes. She reproves him gently with all of his posturing saying, “La musica. E soltamente importante. La musica”) I enjoy reading your magazine and occasionally writing for it too. I salute you on your continued valuable work.
—Christopher Purdy
