As a singer turned artist manager, I have grown comfortable experiencing auditions from the other side of the table. Here are some tips.
- The audition starts within a one-block radius of the venue – if not sooner!
I can’t tell you how many surprising stories I have heard from opera company and symphony executives. One of our singers recently auditioned for a top company and when I followed up with the artistic director later, he told me that he enjoyed the two arias that the singer sang in the audition, but that he also enjoyed the singer’s four other arias, that he listened to while she rehearsed with her pianist prior to the audition. Our artist did not know that the audition had begun 30 minutes prior to the official start time! In my singing days, I ran into artistic directors in restrooms (not knowing who they were) right before my audition. I even heard a story of a singer chatting with a stranger on a plane only to realize that he was going to be the one behind the auditioning table. It’s safest to tell yourself the audition begins as soon as you leave your home! - Sing what you sing well.
Singers agonize over the perfect package of audition arias. Being an artist manager, auditions are challenging for me, because I know how hard it is to make it in this industry. I’m looking for someone to wow me, to make me stop in my tracks, and want to drop everything I’m doing to make their career take off. I know that if that’s my reaction, it will be others’ as well. So sing rep that shows you off, and allows you to stand out. If someone out there thinks it’s weird, you can’t stop them, but more than likely, it will get you noticed by the right people. A lot of the artists that we work with struggle when they experience conflicting opinions/advice about rep and it can negatively impact their confidence level. Remember that everyone’s opinion, no matter how expert, is extremely subjective. Add that to the fact that there are lot of big egos out there (who forget that their opinion is subjective) and there’s a high likelihood you’ll have any number of conflicting, and strongly delivered, opinions. This is where it becomes crucial for you to have a musical team of mentors and teachers whose opinions you trust. As singers, we never truly hear ourselves and we need a few people in our lives who can serve as a trusty set of ears for us. - Know what you are trying to project.
There are lots of technically accomplished singers in the world with great technique and voices. To be successful in any audition, you also need to show your individuality as a singer, a musician, an artist. What can YOU bring to the stage? In our Career Development Bootcamp and our consulting work, we talk a lot about identifying your “brand” as a musician — what makes you YOU? What is your distinctive personality? You want to make sure the audition panel remembers you and can clearly distinguish you from all the other musicians they heard that same day. So when you go into an audition, you want to sing your best AND you want to impress on the audience what separates you from all the other performers. - A singer is more than just a voice.
People are hiring (or signing for management) a person, not a singing machine. So keep in mind that this is a collaboration, and nobody likes to work with a diva. They want to see that you are easy to work with, that you can be a good colleague, and that you can communicate with the audition panel and the pianist in a direct, civil, friendly way. Personally, I would choose someone who is easy to work with over raw talent in a rude individual at every single audition. - Have a plan.
Know what you want, and be willing to be direct about it, even if it means saying “no”. If you are seeking management, you need to have a sense of your brand, your career direction, and your current assets and next steps. Be open to revising your opinions based on new information or suggestions that your manager might have, but have your own clear opinions. Management is a team effort and you must be a team player; that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t bring your own opinion, research, and intuition. Know which roles are right for you and which aren’t, what kinds of performance environments/parameters you’re comfortable with and which you aren’t comfortable with, and be willing to take a stand when you know that something is not the right fit.
As a manager, I have a stake in the success of the artists we represent, so when I’m auditioning artists I look for all of these criteria. I want to see whether or not this is an artist that I am passionate about, and also to gauge how they will do in this audition-centric career development path. Honing the art of the audition is an important step!
To learn more about ways to prepare yourself for auditions or for performance, and for more advice on how to manage the business aspects of your musical career, check out our online video courses as part of our new educational initiative at icadenza.com!
Julia Torgovitskaya is the President and Co-founder of iCadenza (www.icadenza.com), a career development consulting company, and CEO of Cadenza Artists, an artist management company. A trained opera singer, Julia relates first-hand to the ever-changing challenges facing performing artists. She is passionate about helping artists approach their career development with an entrepreneurial mindset, and using proven business concepts for their personal career success. She brings this passion to iCadenza, training artists in everything from clarifying their path and dream to the nuts and bolts of pursuing a career in music, through individual consulting and a series of popular online courses.
