Singers should pay as much attention as possible to the operational activities within the opera company they are performing for because, in Allan Naplan’s opinion, that investment in the company will likely be rewarded with re-engagement—or, in his case, with further career options. Naplan, who began his tenure as president and general director of Minnesota Opera last month, has spent a decade in administration following six successful and enjoyable years as a singer, drawing upon his initial exposure to the operations of an opera company.
A lyric baritone during his performing days, Naplan had recently graduated from the Ithaca College School of Music with degrees in voice performance and music education when he started to sing professionally in 1994 as a member of Sarasota Opera’s Apprentice Artists Program. Additional opportunities as a young artist led him to sing small roles with bigger companies and big roles with smaller companies. His résumé included Schaunard in La bohème, Moralès and Le Dancaïre in Carmen, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Marullo in Rigoletto, and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with Des Moines Metro Opera, Virginia Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Tulsa Opera, and Nashville Opera, respectively.
However, before all of this took place, he researched the career paths of other baritones during an internship (for experience, not college credit) in his hometown of Boston—an internship that provided his first glimpse into the administrative side of opera. Naplan spent two entire winter breaks working for the artistic administrator at Boston Lyric Opera (BLO), immersing himself in the operations of a professional company.
“My original intention in working for BLO was to become a smarter singer,” Naplan says. “A lot of my work at BLO involved organizing the artist files, and I was eager to pull out every baritone résumé to look at the audition notes, the list of roles in each singer’s repertoire, and audition panels’ reactions to certain audition repertoire. I also wanted to understand the trajectory of some of these far more experienced baritones’ careers to see which summer programs they were attending and what roles they were pursuing.”
While at BLO, he watched rehearsals of Béatrice et Bénédict with the not yet wildly famous Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, conducted by Robert Spano and directed by Colin Graham, and Carmen also starring Hunt Lieberson. “Little did I know that I was in the presence of these wonderful artists,” Naplan remembers.
“But being in the rehearsal room, I saw only part of the greater whole of production,” he adds. “I gained a great appreciation of what else happens, in terms of development, marketing, and education. The administrative side was eye-opening to me as a college student.”
For about three years, Naplan lived in New York and sought employment in the arts when he was not singing. “As much as I enjoyed being on the gig and advancing my career with new roles,” he reflects, “I had a hard time, personally, with being on the road and the uncertainty of a young career. Also, I thought I would be a good lyric baritone but, perhaps, not a great lyric baritone, and I desired a personal achievement larger than what I saw I could do as a singer. [Switching to administration] may have been a premature decision because you never know how your voice is going to mature, and I made this decision at a premature age, considering that I was a very young baritone with a lot of potential growth.”
What ultimately helped his decision was the fact that singing opera was not his only career option. Naplan is also a cantorial singer and an award-winning choral composer (published by Boosey & Hawkes) who has written pieces based on Hebrew texts for schools and professional children’s choirs. His works have been performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the White House, among other venues. Plus, he knew he did not want to leave opera completely since he had always been curious about the behind-the-scenes aspects of opera companies, such as cultivating donors.
“I could connect to an audience off stage and my impact on the community would be greater as an administrator,” Naplan says. “It was really a matter of reshaping and refocusing my career, so it was not a difficult decision because I had constantly been on the road and I knew what I was walking away from.”
Did opera insiders who supported and encouraged him as a singer feel that he was making a mistake or walking away too soon? “I heard from coaches and conductors who were enthusiastic about my singing potential,” Naplan says, “and I was honored by people’s confidence in me, but they also understood my reasoning.” When he began to look for a job, he requested meetings with several opera company administrators he had worked for, and they too were supportive.
“I came away from those meetings feeling that I wasn’t disappointing anyone,” he remembers. “With that in mind, I started applying for arts administration jobs in New York— though non-operatic, because I didn’t want to be constantly reminded of what I wasn’t doing.” As fate would have it, though, he learned about a position with Houston Grand Opera, where he had sung in competitions and knew several administrators. In 1999, HGO hired Naplan as assistant artistic administrator.
The icing on the cake was that he simultaneously joined a local temple as their artist-in-residence. That opportunity, combined with his newest involvement in opera, ensured that Naplan did not miss singing opera—but he is immensely grateful for his singing career. “I was and remain a far stronger opera administrator because of my singing career,” he says. “I have an appreciation for what singers are dealing with, and singers want to interact with a colleague in the artistic administration department who understands what they’re going through and talking about. I even understand that auditions are not the ideal way to hear singers because they’re not in their element.”
Throughout his 10 years as an administrator, Naplan has experienced various degrees of fulfillment in his second career. The impact on his lifestyle has been only positive because he is happy to live in one place with his family and thrives on making a long-term investment in a community—in his words, he is “proud to have a position that allows opera to be on a city’s radar when I am out in public.” At HGO, he was primarily focused on casting and contracts in Houston, but his colleagues in the development office were familiar with his fundraising interests, so he was given the chance to interact with patrons and contribute to the company beyond his main responsibilities.
Upon joining Pittsburgh Opera as artistic administrator in 2001, then becoming director of artistic administration in 2002, Naplan was more involved in training and advising young artists. He also created a radio program, delivered pre-opera talks and, in general, communicated to a broader audience by being even more engaged in marketing and the cultivating of donors. Then, when he became general director of Madison Opera in 2005, Naplan was given the opportunity to lead the company during a period of transition due to the opening of a new performance venue, the Overture Center for the Arts. During his tenure, he expanded Madison Opera’s operating budget, the number of operas presented each season, and the education and outreach programming.
Now, appointed to his new position with Minnesota Opera (succeeding Kevin Smith, who retired after 30 years with the company), Naplan is looking forward to joining the ranks of a company he has long admired for its adventuresome repertoire, bold theatrical productions, financial well-being, and devoted staff members—some of whom have worked for Minnesota Opera for more than 20 years. “The chance to run Minnesota Opera was a no-brainer for me, and I am very eager to start,” he says.
He is especially eager to help direct the future of the company’s New Works Initiative, a multi-year program dedicated to commissions of new operas and the mounting of lesser known operas. Otherwise, Naplan has no current plans to change anything. “The company is doing very well and there is no immediate need for change or restructuring,” he shares. “Kevin Smith has retired at the top of his game, so it would be irresponsible of me to suggest that something is wrong and needs to change. My plan is to embrace their good work, perhaps bring some new ideas, and then think about the company’s future direction in terms of repertoire and productions. The Twin Cities have a thriving arts community, and audiences expect a high level of theatricality.”
Overall, each company has benefited from the communication and performance skills that Naplan developed during his years as a singer. “My ability to communicate my affection for opera and my knowledge of opera, based in my origins as a singer, is crucially important,” he says. “It’s not that I’m a businessman who happens to be in opera. I wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for opera. I’m a stronger fundraiser and stronger marketer because of my passion for the art form, which stems directly from my time on the stage.”
For singers who are considering a switch to administration or who think they might want to be administrators at some point, Naplan also has strong advice. “Being an administrator is not a fall-back position—it is a passion,” he counsels. “You need to respect the importance of administration and the professionals who have invested their careers in administration, which requires hard work with long hours. You must feel a passion for nonprofit business and for opera beyond what happens on the stage.”
Having devoted himself to administration for longer than he was a singer, Naplan also has an expanded perspective on how all singers should approach their jobs to remain valuable to the companies that hire them. “It is not enough to be a singer focused on singing,” he says. “Companies rely heavily on the artist as being a representative of the company and expect the singer to interact with donors and the staff. Be willing to have lunch with a patron and spend extra time with the company’s outreach efforts. Your key responsibility is to perform well, but anything else you bring to the company will pay off. You will be a more well rounded performer and well rounded professional.”
