Audition season is now in full swing. Many of my civilian friends ask me about auditions: how do they go? where are they? who are they for? when do they call? do you get nervous? what do you do in an audition? how do you get an audition? what do you wear? In this post I will answer all of those questions and more. (Not really.)
Who do you sing for? (For whom are you singing?)
This time of year most of the auditions are for regional opera companies - the A, AA, and AAA farm teams of opera.
What is an opera audition?
It is a chance for these companies to hear a larger number of singers in a concentrated period of time in order to cast future opera productions.
When do they take place?
U.S. regional companies hold auditions in New York City throughout the regular season (September to May.) Most of these auditions take place during a time known as audition season: from around the first week in November to the second week in December.
Where do the auditions take place?
These regional opera companies come to New York City and rent a studio or church hall. These are located all over Manhattan.
What kind of a job are you hoping to get?
I'm auditioning for a lead role in one of their opera productions for the next season. It's now November, I'll be auditioning for shows taking place in the September 2011 to May 2012 season. Some of these companies will be casting their 2012-2013 seasons, though fewer and fewer are doing this: because of the economy, their future budgets and therefore their future seasons are uncertain. They don't know which shows they can do that far in advance. (I do have engagements with one much larger company for 2013 and 2015.)
These regional companies put up between 2 and 5 productions a year. My involvement with them will be a total of 3 to 6 weeks: 2-3 weeks of rehearsal followed by 1-3 weeks of performances with a total number of 1-9 performances. Why are there so many days in between shows? Operas usually aren't performed on two consecutive days. This is because opera singers rarely are able to sing a performance full-out two nights in a row. (Just like starting MLB pitchers rest for 5-6 games.) Sometimes a show is double-cast: two different casts sing in the same production and alternate, allowing consecutive nightly performances. You get paid per performance, by the way. You've been there for 2-3 weeks of rehearsal and your first paycheck doesn't come in until opening night. And if you get sick or injured and can't do the show, you don't get paid for that show. But that's another blog entry for another day.
How do you get auditions?
I know of two basic ways to get opera auditions:
1.) If you are unmanaged (if you don't have an agent): You send your prepared list of materials - a resume, bio, list of repertoire, press reviews, maybe a recording to all of the opera companies you can find. Approximately 1 out of every 50 will respond. 1 out of every 2 will be favorable responses.
2.) If you are managed: You check your email, find an audition notice and reply 'yes.'
I exaggerate a bit: I had little experience with professional auditions before I got a manager. I did plenty of auditions for opera company apprenticeships before I signed with management and those were a matter of submitting an application - and often an application fee - and waiting to see if you would be granted an audition.
Some regional companies set aside time to hear unmanaged singers. I don't know much about this; comments on this subject would be helpful.
There is a third way of getting auditions: crashing. This is reserved for singers who are just starting out. I did this a few times early on. It is not recommended for singers who are a little more established because 1. you do have other opportunities 2. you understand how to target your auditions. If you sing Annie and they're only casting Daddy Warbucks, there's no job for you here. ( The hit musical Annie is not considered an opera, by the way. And neither is Phantom of the Opera.)
How does it go?
Each company conducts auditions differently, but in most auditions you will wait your turn outside the room, someone will call you in, you enter greet the auditor(s), hand them your materials, situate yourself where you will perform and wait for them to ask you to start. You sing one aria of your chosing, they may ask for a second, they signal you are done with a conclusive "thank you very much," you thank them and you leave. Variations on this theme have included the auditors asking you to sing excerpts from different arias, auditors asking you to sing the same song in a different way, and ina few extreme cases, auditors attempting to give you a voice lesson, auditors asking you about your life history and how you came into music. Companies designate 8 to 10 minute slots for each singer which usually is enough time to hear 2 arias. (Very often these get behind schedule and you need to consider that when scheduling your own appointments. You can not safely schedule an audition one hour after another audition cross town.) These are very unlike musical theater auditions which - I have heard - can be just 16 bars or 30 seconds long. This raises the question: if the opera people can discern in just 30 seconds that they don't need you, why do they let you keep singing? My guess is they are sympathetic to your plight: you traveled from far away and paid a pianist to be here, they owe you your eight to ten minutes.
What do you sing in the audition?
Companies hold two basic kinds of auditions. What you sing depends on what kind of audition they are holding. In most of the auditions this time of year companies are casting specific shows. You will simply sing the aria that your character sings in that show. Sometimes you might choose to sing an aria other than what your character sings, but one that is similar. You might choose to do this because you sing this aria better than the character's aria, or you feel that this aria shows you off better. This is a risk because while you may feel you are giving a better performance, you might not be helping the auditors decide if you are right for this particular role. When companies are not casting a specific show or shows, that is called a general audition. Here the company wants to hear you just to hear you. They will take notes and create a file for you. They are not necessarily casting you in the immediate future. For a general audition you have much more leeway in what to sing. You can sing your best stuff regardless of language, style, composer etc.
What do you use for musical accompaniment?
These auditions are conducted with live piano accompaniment. Usually you will have to hire your own accompanist to play for your audition. Sometimes the company provides their own accompanist, usually you have to pay that person. I have a roster of pianists I use for auditions. As soon as I get an audition notice, I ask these pianists if they are available for a particular time and place. I always use someone I know. There have been times where I arrived at an audition without an accompanist but found someone there that I knew and could use them. Good audition pianists are highly specialized: they can play any of your arias in the standard repertoire at any tempo and follow you in your own individual way of singing these arias without a rehearsal. Most of these don't play just for auditions, but they have done enough of them that they work extremely well in the audition setting. I would like to point out that often someone who has set aside his time to playing auditions this time of year will have a quite a time scheduling. I have seen pianists travel to 5 different studios over a range of 100 blocks in one day. There is always talk of coordinating pianists with audition venues, but because we are all artists we never quite get that done.
What's the end game? How do you follow up?
I simply write a thank-you note. This shows the company that I appreciated the opportunity to sing for them and to be considered for a future production. My agent has a meeting with casting representatives from the company and "sells" me for their production. Sometimes I might meet with my agent prior to his casting meeting to tell him something in particular he might need to know about a particular role. (This role requires the singer to play 2 tin whistles at the same time and I can do that. That's not true, but just to illustrate...)
How do you find out when you got the job?
"Don't call us, we'll call you." In my personal experience, the time from audition to job offer can range from three days to three years. It is always my agent who calls to let me know I have a job offer. Sometimes these come right out of the casting meeting, sometimes they come out of the blue based on an audition I gave three years prior. Most often - and this is not just in my experience - they don't come at all. Unlike auditions for apprenticeships, you don't get a rejection letter confirming that you did not get the position this year. They simply never call. When you're first starting out on the professional scene this actually softens the blow of rejection. Once I got a very nice letter from Robert Larsen of Des Moines Metro Opera letting me know that he particularly enjoyed my audition, unfortunately there was no role for me this year, but he would love to hear me again. Heart-warming. Speaking of rejection: the odds are roughly - very roughly - 50 to 1. For every 50 auditions you sing *for which you are qualified* you will get one job offer. That's if you're doing everything right: singing for the right roles at the right theaters at the right time and you are on top of your game every time. So if this year you sang a total of 25 auditions and got one job - you're doing twice as well as average!
What do I wear?
Audition attire has become slightly less formal in the last ten years. When I started it was suits and ties for the gentlemen, concert dresses for the ladies. Now I don't see many jackets or ties or elaborate dresses. I always wear a tight-fitting short-sleeve shirt and dress pants.
Any more questions?
