You might have noticed that entrepreneurial musicians are getting more attention nowadays. Musician-founded ensembles and venues—such as (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York and the International Contemporary Ensemble—are becoming mainstay institutions. The singer-led Opera on Tap has drawn the interest of opera houses seeking new audiences. Conservatories such as Eastman, Manhattan School of Music, and New England Conservatory have recast their career services departments as centers for entrepreneurs, reflecting the attitude shift that musicians don’t follow a career path, they make their own.
For the singer, this means that simply working hard and trying to rise above the competition is no longer the only way to launch a career. At the same time, because each singer’s career is different, we already have a knack for blazing our own trails. Producing your own performance or starting a group is no longer something to do when you’re not cast in a leading role, but a sign of ingenuity and an opportunity for gratifying artistic experiences. With a little effort, producing your own performances are a wonderful way to feed your soul and fill your résumé.
Looking for ideas? The best place to start is always with music. You remember music, don’t you? That thing you do between updating your website and applying to Young Artist Programs? With so many nonmusical things to consider in a singer’s career, it’s important to begin with the reason you’re pursuing this to begin with. If you’re serious about starting a project that might become a long-lived institution, spend the most amount of time up front finding the repertoire that means the most to you. All your decisions about collaborators, marketing, programming, and even venue will come from your choice of music, so why not start with the fun part?
Your first instinct might be to produce an opera. Certainly, bringing a complete role to performance level is extremely valuable—it will make you look better on paper and set you up to audition with greater confidence and artistry. The production will also create a whole new network of collaborators for you.
Two things to bear in mind, however: as the founder of this endeavor, you are responsible for shouldering the bulk of the logistics. It might be difficult to balance this role while learning a new and demanding operatic role. In addition, strongly consider what kind of audience your production will attract. The Met’s HD broadcasts are among the various factors that have drastically changed the landscape for local opera companies. If you’re looking at doing La bohème with piano accompaniment, make sure you have a committee of ticket sellers on board before you start.
That said, if you’re keen on producing an opera, think outside the mainstream repertoire. The Bear by William Walton is a worthwhile work that is rarely done and it requires only two singers. Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges is a gorgeous ensemble piece that would accommodate a wide range of singers—and their adoring, ticket-buying friends—and likely hasn’t been seen on your local mainstage.
And remember: between the full-scale production and the solo vocal recital lies the wonderful world of chamber music—fertile ground for entrepreneurial projects.
Programming 101
Begin with music that you love and that you sing well. It could be something as small as a single song from your last recital or a larger chamber piece with other singers and instrumentalists. Did a colleague sing an adorable Brazilian folk song for an encore? Ask her to sing it, add some Villa-Lobos and Piazzolla, and pitch it to your Latin American cultural organization.
Do you love the Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer? Grab three friends and two pianists and make a night of it . . . and add some dancers to waltz along! Your concert planning starts with one musical nugget, and you build it from there. The possibilities are endless.
In addition to specific ideas coming directly from the music, there are several ways to start thinking about programming.
History
Most any moment in history has some musical component that can be explored, and songs are often a part of that—Schumann’s songs when he first met Clara, local composers respond to September 11, French-Canadian composers and their French contemporaries, etc.
Theme
Think about music you already know that could be arranged into a theme— bawdy songs or a courtship in art song. How about a Schubert soiree with some Viennese treats? Or take the infamous Schirmer 24 Italian Songs and Arias book and present them side by side with their original versions, performed on historical instruments.
Time of Year
Connect your concert to a holiday. You’d be surprised how many people come out to a Valentine’s Day program, even if the repertoire or performers are little known. Try unusual ideas to make you stand out from traditional offerings. December is crowded with straight-laced holiday concerts, so how about a Christmas burlesque? It’s how the British opera satirist Anna Russell got her start (look her up on YouTube if you’d like a new definition of musical comedy).
Quirky
Speaking of unusual concerts, interesting venues outside of concert halls can suggest interesting repertoire. How about Bach’s Coffee Cantata in a coffee house? English drinking songs in a pub? (Flummox the crowd with “To Anacreon in Heav’n,” the bar song whose tune is immortalized in “The Star-Spangled Banner.”)
Finding Ideas
The best way to find repertoire—and find out how your project will fit into your local musical scene—is to go to concerts. Just as a writer reads incessantly to find inspiration, musicians need to be out in the scene to find out how they can contribute. You never know when a work or a composer you encounter on another program will inspire a concert of your own—whether you use a piece in a different context or feel inspired to find more works from a particular composer. Listening to CDs is useful too.
Going to concerts is a win all-around: you’re supporting fellow musicians (likely entrepreneurs themselves), you can scope out future collaborators and, most importantly, you can decide what your project will do differently than the current options offer.
If you’re enamored of Palestrina but your community already has three Renaissance choirs, think about what you can do differently. You could do music from that time but maybe secular instead of sacred, or contrast Renaissance works with contemporary ones, or find out if a commedia dell’arte group in town would like to work together.
Think Logistics
When you start thinking about what music you’d like to do, consider the logistics involved: where it will happen, who needs to be there, and what it will take to bring it all together. Have a piece in mind that involves a harp and a marimba? Concerts that are portable are infinitely easier to book. Otherwise, be prepared to rent a van and schlep that marimba wherever you book a concert. A vocal quartet can perform in virtually any venue, and a program with piano can go most anywhere too.
In the long term, if your goal is to create a group that will be around for a while, an act that travels light is more appealing to presenters as a touring ensemble. Think of Anonymous 4, which has a highly active recording and touring legacy. For a presenter, four a cappella singers means having to pay for only one car rental and no instruments to move or tune.
Stand on the Shoulders of Giants
In addition to the fulfilling work of singing the music that you want, being an entrepreneur brings you in close contact with collaborating artists. Those creative partnerships can then lead to other projects, and before you know it, you may have a new company on your hands. Don’t be shy about asking the best people you know to join you: the economy has affected musicians of all levels, and people you consider to be out of your league might actually be looking for new opportunities. Besides, if you develop a strong program, you will attract strong performers. That in turn will lead to attractive performances . . . and soon you’re off and running as a musical entrepreneur.
