The last days of January and the first blog post of 2022

This month's blog post is a double whammy...

I'd like to talk about the things that have made me smile about opera in the first few weeks of 2022, and then about the things that have...well...got my goat. 

Let's start on the positives...

The first positive has to be that the lovely and amazingly talented Phil Clieve, Erika Mädi Jones and Emma Roberts have all agreed to sing at our Spring Gala - Singin' in the Spring.    These three are some of the most beautifully talented singers I know, and it makes me very proud that they want to sing with The Opera Makers.    We're planning an absolute feast of some of the most beautiful songs - and in my opinion, music - ever written, as well as some unknown gems.  If you haven’t bought a ticket yet, book early as numbers are strictly limited.  Right - that's the plug done.

The second positive was - a good audition -  my first audition of 2022.  I'm not referring here to whether I sang well, or got the part, I'm talking about the audition itself.  It's surprising how often audition panels seem to have no idea about how to make singers feel at ease, or how frequently they go out of their way to freak you out; like the whole thing is some strange sort of mind test.    Here's my top three steps for ensuring a singer leaves an audition room feeling capable and strong, whether you are going to employ them or not.

1) Give them your time; they are giving you more of theirs than you might think. Although, you may instantly know from a casting perspective whether the person who just walked in the door is, or isn't right for the role on offer, take a moment to respect the fact that they will have travelled (in most cases for over an hour) to give you their best 10 minutes.  They will, most probably, have invested time and money learning the repertoire you have asked for.  And, they'll have got dressed up for you too.  The least you can do is give them space to show you what they can do - fifteen to twenty minutes is perfect if you can afford it.  You never know how well a singer may start to perform once they're settled, and even if they aren't right for the role you have in mind, they could be a hugely valuable name to have on your books for future productions.

2) Watch them - OK, you have to make notes, and you might want to have a quick CV check, but engage with what an auditionee is doing as though they were performing.   This is even the case if you are not enjoying what they are offering - pretend you are.  Singers are routinely told to treat auditions as performances, and if you do your best as a panellist to treat them like that as well, the singer will leave feeling much more positive about the whole thing, even if they don't make the best noise they've ever made.

3) Be clear, in a friendly way.  Most singers won't be exactly sure what to expect in the room they are about to walk into.  Yes, there are some audition venues that are used over and over again, and a singer will know the room well, but even then, they won't know where you want them to stand, what your facemask etiquette is (that's a new one for the post Covid era!), whether you are happy for them to have a chat with the pianist before beginning.  Just a few friendly words when they walk in to let them know they can have a little moment with the pianist, where they should stand, what you would like to hear etc. are all it takes.  These pleasantries also give the auditionee time to have a look at the panel, take a deep breath and get comfortable.  It's so important.

So, there they are - three top tips for if you are holding auditions for getting the best out of the artists who you see.

Now for the things that have got my goat...

There's two, primarily.

The first is the latest government policy regarding job-seekers' allowance.  For those of you who haven't been keeping up with politics (and let's face it, I can't blame you), what I am referring to is the most recent piece of red meat which will mean that people on job-seekers allowance will have to begin looking for work in sectors that they are over/un-qualified in after only four weeks seeking work in their chosen field.  One aspect of this change that I haven't heard discussed, is how it affects young people trying to start out in the creative industries - often ruthlessly hard to find work in.    No one seems to be talking about how people in this world often work long, unpaid hours honing a craft or laying the foundations for a career in the Arts.  While those who are financially better off might be able to live at home with mum and dad or seek help from their families; three months to be able to find appropriate work might be a lifeline for many.    Most artists are happy to do their time in a bar or waiting tables, but if instead of having to jump straight into any job just to support themselves, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds had a little more time to dedicate to making their way in their ideal industry, we might see more diversity in the creative world without having to work so hard to engineer it from the top down - just a thought.

The second was an advert for an international singing competition - though I will refrain from revealing which one.    The competition is one of the few that is open to older singers.  It costs 90 euros to enter, quite high in competition terms but not the most exorbitant.  Read carefully through the small print, however, and you find that anyone who has come first second or third in any international competition in the past five years will progress straight to the semi-final round.  I did a little bit of a double take when I read this.   So, I thought, you are expecting singers to pay you 90 euros to audition for a first round of a competition, when they have no idea whether one third, a quarter, two thirds, half, all??  of the semi-final places might already be gone. 

Singing competitions ought to be about finding new talent not putting on a glamourous show or improving the competition's own PR by pinning another rosette on a singer who is already making it, and yet it sometimes seems like singing competitions serve no other purpose than to confirm each others' ideas about a small circle of singers and aggrandise themselves. 

There you are...Two things to smile about and two eye-roll moments from my January in opera.  Let's see what February brings...