The review was startlingly negative, and it came from a critic known for his even-handedness. Assessing Plácido Domingo’s performance in a baritone role in a 2015 production of Ernani at the Met, Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times stated that Domingo’s voice was “quite compromised” and suggested that it might be time for the world-renowned singer to retire from opera. “Mr. Domingo risks tarnishing the glow from an illustrious career,” the critic wrote.
Whether or not you agree with Tommasini’s opinion, the review brings to the fore an issue that every performing singer has to address at some stage: When is the right time to retire from performing—and what factors should influence this decision? I spoke with several singers who have retired from performing to find out what prompted them to do so and how they feel about their decision today.
When and Why
“For most singers, the condition of the voice dictates the length of the career,” observes George Martynuk, head of George M. Martynuk Inc. Artists Management & Public Relations in New York City, who was instrumental in the careers of Jerry Hadley, Thomas Hampson, Paul Plishka, James Morris, and others of that caliber.
With Martynuk’s observation in mind, I asked my interviewees to discuss the influence of vocal health on their decisions to retire. The influence was strong indeed for Stephanie Sundine. The soprano, who sang in many of the world’s leading opera houses, retired early because she developed chronic laryngitis after giving birth to her daughter.
“I was very sorry to stop performing,” she recalls, “but I was not at all happy about producing a bad ‘product.’ I knew I wasn’t singing well and didn’t feel good about continuing on that path.”
For soprano Lauralyn Kolb, who specialized in oratorio and recital work, the decision to retire from solo performance at age 65 was more gradual. “At about age 58, I realized I needed to rethink my support,” she explains, noting that “eventually age does take its toll.”
Although she had no problems with the top of her range, she could no longer confidently control the phrasing in her lower range, which ruled out Lieder, one of her “great loves.” “Sure, I miss being able to sing like I did,” she says, “but I swore I would never be one of those singers that had people saying, ‘You should have heard her when . . . ’”
That phrase was never applied to famed tenor Jacque Trussel, who retired from performing when his career was going strong. “I wanted to go out on my own terms while still singing at a high level,” says Trussel. “It’s sad to remember performers who were once fine singers by the sounds they made late in their careers after that bloom had long gone from their voices.”
In some instances, considerations of vocal health, present or future, are not the primary factors underlying decisions to retire from performing. The decisions of soprano Carol Vaness and baritone Timothy Noble, both of whom enjoyed illustrious opera careers, are cases in point. Vaness’ decision took place during a curtain call for a performance of the Marschallin with Seattle Opera. During that curtain call, she thought to herself: “Is there anything left that I didn’t sing that I truly wanted to sing?” The answer was “no.”
“I decided I was happy and content,” says the soprano, “and it really was OK to stop the mad running-about and having to prove that I was still Carol Vaness at the end of every performance, that I was good to say goodbye.”
She also points out that she was not tired of singing, she was just tired—“tired of running from country to country, opera house to opera house . . . Truly, until you’ve done it without a vacation for 15 to 20 years, you never realize how tired you can get.”
The “mad running-about” that Vaness describes is similar to what Noble experienced during his performing career. “I had been traveling for the better part of 50 years,” Noble says. “I was happy to not be traveling 10 months a year and being away from home so much. So leaving that part of the career was easy.”
Today, he has no regrets. On the contrary, he says, “The decision to end the performance career in retrospect was the best decision that I ever made.”
Audience Reactions
For Vaness, the hard part of retirement was telling people. “There were a lot of people who did not want me to stop singing,” she says, noting that her friends and fans viewed her decision to exit the stage as “quite early.”
Noble, too, disappointed many when he retired. “If [Noble] follows through on his declared exit, we will be the loser; there are few like him,” a Herald Times reviewer stated in 2009.
Some singers miss the adulation that follows performances. “It’s very difficult to give up the roar of the audience,” says Martynuk. “The quiet is even more deafening!”
Even Tommasini, in his review of Ernani, recognizes the power that the roar of the audience exerts. “It’s not hard to understand one reason Mr. Domingo finds it impossible to retire from the stage: He still has devoted fans,” writes the critic. “On Friday he drew bravos for his arias. During curtain calls, as Mr. Domingo bowed and waved, a sea of mobile phones in the house captured the moment on video.”
Other Avenues to Artistic Satisfaction
Beyond the lure of the audience adulation is another consideration—artistic satisfaction. How did the singers I interviewed give this up? The answer is that they didn’t. Instead, they found artistic satisfaction through other methods. Sundine became an opera stage director. Trussel is the chair of opera performance/vocal studies at SUNY Purchase College, teaching voice and acting and stage directing operas. Vaness and Noble teach at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Kolb teaches extensively, sings with choruses (just not as a soloist), and has started practicing the piano again.
For Trussel, retirement felt “great” because it allowed him to do a job he had always dreamed of doing. “Truthfully, I didn’t retire,” Trussel says. “I simply moved on to a job closely related to the one I left. Teaching is a wonderful and rewarding way to proceed with life, to give back what you have been so generously given by others before you.”
Vaness and Noble take a similar view of teaching. “It’s a job I love so much I can’t even say how happy I am to be part of this great part of young singers’ careers,” says Vaness. “I love what I do and look forward to working with young people for as long as possible,” Noble adds.
Stage direction serves a comparable purpose for Sundine. “Early retirement was tough, but I was determined not to be miserable about it—and not make everyone around me miserable,” she says. “I was glad to move on within the opera business to continue to work with singers and conductors in a different way. This second phase of my work has been very rewarding as well.”
Advice Offered
Having negotiated successful transitions from performing, my interviewees are well qualified to offer advice to other singers grappling with the issue of retirement. “Make sure you have your heart and your finances in order,” says Vaness. “And to be sure that you will be happy offstage.”
“Have something else that you love to do—something you didn’t have time for while you were spending all those hours practicing,” suggests Kolb.
Paul Plishka is an excellent role model. Plishka’s publicist, Martynuk summarizes the bass’ “truly glorious career,” noting that the Met star “sang over 1,637 performances of 88 principal roles with 12 opening nights before retiring from that great stage. By that time, he had accomplished everything he wanted and it was time to devote more time to family, fishing, and photography.”
“Be grateful for your performing career,” says Sundine, “and share what you have learned—within the music field or otherwise—with great energy and commitment. We are fortunate to have been given opportunities to perform. Now take that spotlight that was on you and shine it on other people who need mentoring or encouragement or inspiration to do their best work.”
The unforeseen circumstances that led to Sundine’s early retirement underscore the need to prepare for potential career crises whatever your age. Beyond having a plan B, it is also important for singers to perform wisely. Martynuk advises young and mid-career singers to ask themselves “the most important question: ‘Shall I shoot for a five-year, hot explosive career, or should I be planning and thinking about how to sing for at least 25 years?’” He points out that “the mindset and discipline for these decisions are completely different and require either sheer bravura or a higher level of sheer intelligence.
“It’s an addictive business,” Martynuk continues, “and those who were kinder to their voices, did not oversing, spaced their appearances with good rest in between, and selected the correct repertoire are the singers who hold out longer.”
Among the singers whose long, successful careers Martynuk admires, besides Plishka, are Thomas Hampson and Renée Fleming. Of Hampson, Martynuk says, “He’s always displayed incredible artistic intelligence and measure. It’s his uncanny musical intelligence that allows him to know which roles still fit well into his voice after all these years.” Of Fleming, he comments, “She’s the smartest singer I’ve ever seen in the planning of her career. From the start, she aggressively put money back into her singing career and into her recording and invested into her world. Now, she’s a major Decca recording artist as well as creative consultant for the Lyric Opera of Chicago. That’s long-term planning that should be idolized!”
Graceful Exits
Whether or not you attain the enviable longevity of Hampson and Fleming, one thing is clear, as Trussel says: “Retirement from singing is a must at some point.” When it is time to do so, do not despair. Follow the leads of my interviewees: cultivate new (or old) hobbies and find offstage ways to continue your involvement in the world of singing (e.g., teaching or directing). Whatever you do, heed the words of Sundine, who urges singers to remember that “there is always life after singing!”
