Life is short, opera is long...
to quote my late friend and opera production manager Chari Shanker
There are, at the very least, two ways to have a successful career in operatic & classical vocal music (or probably any career for that matter):
I cannot personally speak to the overnight success experience but I can ask:
Is it better to be in the "What ever happened to...?" or the "I'm still here" column?
I bet all performers dream of instant stardom. I know I did. It is nothing new. There will always be miraculous young talents. Some will last, some will not. Instrumentalists are known for their "wunderkind" status. I bet that for every one we hear about, there are many we won't know of due to lack of exposure... theirs.
There have always been the rare operatic birds who debuted at the Met at a young age: Roberta Peters (20), Patrice Munsel (18) and most recently Danielle de Niese (18). I was in "Figaro" with Danielle for her debut and remember that she was not old enough to join in the champagne toast at the opening night party. Fortunately for us these talented singers lasted a while. Danielle is still singing with, no doubt, many years to go.
Remember Charlotte Church the 'Voice of an Angel?' Jackie Evancho is the latest offspring of America's Got Talent. Both are/were lovely singers, albeit not true opera singers. The human voice is affected by age. Brace yourselves girls. A woman's voice is affected throughout her lifetime by hormonal swings. The angelic voices in boy choirs are short lived due to encroaching adolescence. Preteen and teenage opera singers will age and with it will come problems and changes, not the least of which will be hormonal. Their instruments are inside their bodies. My voice changed for the better after I had my son but many are negatively affected by infertility treatments and menopause. I know it is hard to think ahead that far as a teenager.
How much life experience does a teenager have? How can they adequately express lost love, or the pathos of the human struggle? How can they understand the subtle nuance in the alliteration, rhythm, or use of metaphor? English arts song, German Lieder, French Chanson and other genre of that ilk are musical settings of texts of some of the world's great poets and writers. As with all great works of art there is a timelessness to the literature which changes for each performer depending on their life experience. Moreover, the same song can mean something totally different just a few years later.
Getting a big break is a real high but then one needs to follow through. Starting in my early 20's I was given major opportunities that kept me 'one step ahead of the sheriff', living with that great motivating fear of being fired from every new engagement. I had to continually prove myself and gain the trust of my fellow singers, the conductors and the directors. My wily manager negotiated some high profile engagements without an audition. My employers took a leap of faith with an unknown. I basically skipped the regional company experience and jumped to the top European and American companies. My colleagues were often famous and nearly 20 years older. I am not sure now where I got the nerve. No doubt ignorance was bliss.
Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Samuel Ramey, Dame Joan Sutherland -I could go on- were not overnight stars. They worked for years before we ever heard of them. All artists who are in it for the long haul paid their dues; taking jobs for little pay, sometimes even losing money just for the experience; living in flop houses without phone or TV and maybe just a portable radio for company; sharing the bathroom down the hall with strangers; dining on potato pancakes from street vendors. Remember that time before internet, when there was no such thing as express mail and a phone bill cost as much as a mortgage payment? These experiences can make success all the sweeter. As my late father said, "Some people complain when they are being hung with a silk rope."
Many singers make the choice to balance a personal life with a singing career. A committed career can be
a full-time endeavor. At one time I sang twelve months a year. The first year of my son's life we were in 7 countries and I learned 5 new roles. I made all my major debuts around the world in those early years. Later it became hard to take him away from his home and school life and harder to leave him. After a time it became too overwhelming to keep all the balls in the air. My marriage crumbled. I was compelled to find a better balance and I did.
A successful singing career can be a bit like an addiction. "Wow, someone will pay me THAT just to open my mouth and sing for a week's work !?" Those weeks pile up. You can be snowed under before you know it. One of those weeks might be your child's first week of school or your parent's 50th anniversary. An active singing career is normally booked three years in advance. How many of us know our what our personal life holds in three years?
I suggest to young singers that they find a few close people they can trust and keep it that way. Mine were my teacher, manager and spouse. Everyone has an opinion to offer and you learn early that you cannot please everyone. A major PR rep once tried selling me on singing roles (Salome, Kundry) outside my comfort level and voice type or "fach", as it is called. At another point I had the option to sign an exclusive contract with a record label. This would have afforded the benefit of free publicity, a life-size cut out of me in Tower Records and even my face peeking out of a lingerie shop window in Salzburg during the summer festival. I decided instead to work with many colleagues rather than just those exclusive to one label. As a result I did not have the PR backing that comes with such a commitment and did not record Susanne's Greatest Hits from the 80's and 90's but I did get my wish and recorded with many great musicians.
There is the old joke about the stages of a career:
1. Who is Susanne Mentzer?
2. Get me Susanne Mentzer!
3. Get me someone like Susanne Mentzer
3a Get me a cheaper Susanne Mentzer
3b Get me a younger Susanne Mentzer
4. Who is Susanne Mentzer?
There is more to life than instant stardom and fame. If one does take the slower route it is perfectly okay and, better yet, enjoyable and satisfying. Hindsight is as blissful as ignorance was in the early days. I am finally comfortable, seasoned and emotionally more circumspect - all the aspects I lacked but could have used when I was young. Pinch me as I gradually move from Stage 3 to 4 and beyond. Life is short.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIAXOk2rOPU
For those of you reading this who enjoy the new singers, I encourage all of you to check out the voices of the great stars from Sills to Sutherland to Pavarotti….Opera is a much maligned art form and it needs champions. I am so happy to see that Susanne Mentzer has taken on that mantel for Huffington Post.
I personally believe opera may owe Jackie Evancho a "thank you." I'm not the only one who has become at least a minor opera fan as a direct result of her, discovering great singers, & purchasing CDs, i NEVER would have otherwise. People are understandably skeptical about this, pointing out that success by classical crossover artists like Andrea Bocelli didn't help "classical" classical artists. But sales may have been substantially worse without him - they're falling all over the industry, in every genre but rap.
Charlotte Church had great success when younger, & hasn't been as successful after changing genres (her choice; she was NOT "forced"). The requirements for success in different genres are very different. I would strongly disagree (JMHO) with those who say she "burnt out" her voice because of her obvious technical flaws, though. In listening to her older recordings, her voice wasn't all that great to begin with, certainly not in Jackie's league (JMHO) (not that Jackie doesn't also have technical flaws; she clearly does). Smoking didn't help Charlotte's voice, & as you point out, having children may have been a factor. She went from a B+ voice to a B voice (again, JMHO). If you believe that her "instant fame" NECESSARILY led to her lack of long-term success, i'd dispute that, for many of these reasons.
Forgive the lengths of these posts, but as Pascal might say, i lacked the time to make them shorter.
re Evancho and Church- I have no problem with them being popular anymore than I do with Bocelli and Brightman, but the public is led to think that they are opera singers, which they are not. They are sort of a genre unto themselves. I get tired of saying I am an opera singer and then invariably getting asked if I know the above mentioned performers or if I have performed in Phantom of the Opera. If you watch Church and Evancho sing you will see much tension, jaw shaking etc. that is from a manufactured sound and not a true easy production. This cannot bode well technically for these young ladies. Also with packaging and coaching much can be enhanced for these singers. There is someone who plans their appearances- looks, musical selections and arrangements, etc. I am glad you enjoy Ms. Evancho, as you should, but not as an opera singer.
Unfortunately, being a Jackie fan has made it difficult to enjoy many pop singers, because already, at 11, she's so much better than most of them (JMHO). Almost all the singers who have stronger voices than Jackie are opera singers (again, JMHO).
I have posted so often about the chin waggle i've become somewhat annoying to Jackie's mom Lisa. Some teachers say it's not a problem in children though. Also, Jackie's chin waggle is MUCH less pronounced than, say Charlotte Church's or Whitney Houston's. Several of us have suggested more formal coaching NOW to help prevent bad habits. Normally one waits till 14 for formal operatic training, but it's a little late for Jackie - she's already a professional singer.
It occurs to me after reading the recent responses here that, although I am personally interested in the phenomenon, perhaps it is best to stay as far away from the topic of Jackie Evancho as possible. Talent shows do breed highly devoted - and rambling - fans, it seems.
I don't understand the main point of the post you responded to, but one thing I am sure of - The labeling of Jackie Evancho as an opera singer created (and still creates) serious confusion regarding what opera singers really do. This issue far outweighs any positives from introducing what are likely a handful of Americans to real opera singers.
I will gladly and without hesitations say "best of luck" to Jackie Evancho, but not "thank you."
Can young people not express emotions? All performing arts involve "pretending," & more life experiences MAY help. But essential? Does one need to murder someone to PRETEND to do it on screen or stage?
Jackie Evancho, in theory, is much too young to have had life experiences or be able to express emotions. As a fan of hers i may be biased, but i am NOT alone. I personally have never seen another singer, of any age in any genre, who consistently has so many people in her audiences WEEPING. She's simply possessed by songs like "Lovers" & "A Time For Us," which are about lost romantic love, & expresses these emotions very powerfully for many people.
Now i grant you that SHOULD be impossible. How can she possibly express emotions she's never had? Well, somehow, for a large number of people, she does. The videos & blog comments proving this are freely available.
I don't know if you were implying that Jackie would necessarily have a short career. We shall see. To paraphrase Yogi Berra, predictions are difficult, especially when you're talking about the future.
I was indeed in the Pavarotti Master class but it got me no work. Later once You tube and the video was released I was viewed a lot. It brought me no fame at the time not did it accelerate my career. AS a matter of fact, I graduated and had no work until my teacher suggested me to a small company in Texas. I sang with them on a tour for a year, then again was without work and was a receptionist at the Houston Grand Opera. After one year in the opera studio as a last minute replacement for someone who had to pull out, I sang maybe 2 operas a year and worked temp jobs at oil companies and electrical contracting offices for about three years. So no, I did not experience overnight success. I did have great opportunities early on which paid little.
The association with the late great Mr. Pavarotti surely assisted in your bank ability as a Major opera performer. Having a name with the stature of 'LUCIANO PAVAROTTI' on your resume obviously assisted in obtaining operatic roles. . Your statement of the association with Mr. Pavarotti master class "but it got me no work" reflects negatively
upon character. The late great Mr. Pavarotti was a great humanitarian and who inspired millions to perform
The Point is Jackie Evancho has been performing talent shows and You Tube for 3 1/2 years and built a fan base of more than 32 million YouTube hits. This accumulation of work resulted in being chosen by America's Got Talent (previously rejected twice).
Without YouTube Jackie would not be star, just like without you being the Late Great Mr. Luciano Pavarotti protege, you would not have been a successful opera performer.
Only the few can be a star!
C'est la vie"
You are truly a great artist and there is no doubt you earned and deserve all your success. Non-singers don't realize the amount of hard work, dedication, self-control, sacrifice, and countless hours of practice it takes to have any type of career in opera. It was obvious in the Pavarotti Masterclass that, even at a young age, you were a world-class talent and an incredibly gifted musician. My singing mentor tells me "the cream always rises to the top," so there's no question that you would have succeeded with or without Pavarotti's help.
Thanks for the sincere article. Your candid reflections give us young singers hope that a career is possible without the sacrifice of a personal life or happiness. I look forward to reading more of your posts and hearing more of your singing.
I do wonder if there is a 3rd category - instant fame, settling down to a quiet yet productive career. But, this does seem quite rare.