Young Artist Programs are a fact of life for the aspiring opera singer. In order to win one of these coveted positions, a singer has to audition, which first means choosing from among the hundred or so Young Artist Programs in existence and then applying early in the fall.
Filling out an online or mail-in application couldn’t be easier, but the unpleasant consequence is the expense—application fees, plane tickets, and lodging—that goes along with each audition.
Lizzie, a recent graduate of Northwestern University, spent $500 on Young Artist Program application fees alone this year. Her most expensive audition cost $700 all told, and included a return trip to New York City for a callback. She finances her auditions with the proceeds from church gigs and weddings. Having just finished her second season of auditions, Lizzie is becoming more astute in terms of an audition strategy.
“I look for programs planning repertoire that is appropriate for me, that are casting more than just one per voice part and, in particular, programs which had given me encouragement the season before,” she says.
Even still, there’s no way around those pesky audition fees.
“I do understand the need for the application fees, as many company representatives need to travel to hear people, which includes their own lodging and travel expenses,” she adds. “I do expect that if I am sending an application fee that a pianist will be provided, which sometimes is not the case. I am also amazed when I send in my fee, they cash my check, and then don’t even give me an audition.”
Seattle Opera
Aren Der Hacopian is the Young Artist Program manager for Seattle Opera. He’s also a former singer and clearly understands the financial strain that auditions can hold for a young singer. “We aren’t happy to charge an application fee and are looking for subsidies,” Der Hacopian says, “but for now, this is the program.”
Seattle Opera charges a $40 nonrefundable application fee and prides itself on providing a positive audition experience. The company tries to be flexible with scheduling and rescheduling auditions in order to make the process as smooth as possible. Singers are greeted by an attendant at the door and provided with a pianist, and most are given the opportunity to sing two arias.
The application fees are applied to the processing of applications and fund the costs associated with holding the auditions—travel, lodging, and a per diem for the artistic staff and a pianist.
This year Seattle Opera held auditions in both Seattle and New York. Over 500 singers applied for an audition. The artistic staff heard 300 singers and chose approximately 12 young artists for the current season.
Opera North
Pamela Pantos, executive director at Opera North, emphatically states that the New Hampshire-based company does not make any money from the $35 nonrefundable application fee that it charges per audition for its training program. The company makes every effort to hear as many singers as possible. In fact, administrators scrambled this season in order to schedule 150 more auditions than what had been forecasted.
“The audition process is extremely costly,” Pantos explains. “It includes travel, accommodation, etc., of the audition team; rental of the audition facilities; audition accompanists; and office staffing to manage this complicated process, plus YAP Tracker fees. The Opera North fee is determined by the broad base of auditions and high volume that we need to process.
“Over 1,000 singers applied this year and 32 were selected for our program—less than 3 percent. As you can see, it is an extremely competitive process.”
Adam Cannedy, a bass-baritone from Atlanta, is one of those fortunate singers who won a Young Artist position at Opera North last summer. This year Cannedy applied to seven programs, auditioned for six of them, and was offered four contracts. He’s spending summer 2009 near Denver, singing in the Central City Opera Young Artist Program as a Studio Artist.
“I funded my audition fees through my work with the Atlanta Opera Chorus, but I also had a private voice studio as my full-time income,” Cannedy says. “Being from Atlanta, I decided to audition only for programs that fell into a certain period of time—the first week of December—as I couldn’t pay for two or more trips to New York.”
What Amount Is Reasonable?
While Young Artist Program fees seem to have become a fiscal necessity for opera companies, in essence enabling them to finance their auditions, there is a noticeable discrepancy among the fees and a wealth of opinions concerning what amount is fair.
Music Academy of the West—a program near Santa Barbara that annually re-evaluates its application fee by comparing it to those of similar programs such as the Aspen Music Festival and the Tanglewood Music Center—is at the top of the range, charging $50 for early applicants and $75 for those who submit an application by the second deadline, which occurs in October. This year those fees garnered approximately $25,000 in revenue, defraying the many costs associated with hosting the auditions.
Tiffany DeVries, dean of students, says that Music Academy of the West guarantees every applicant an audition. All 413 applicants were heard this year and 23 Fellows were accepted to the 2009 full-tuition voice program.
Yet other programs cost nothing at all to apply, including Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Central City, and Santa Fe.
Santa Fe Opera created its Young Artist Program in 1957, the first program of its kind in the nation, in order to find and foster the next generation of artists. The company has maintained founder John Crosby’s intention that singers not be charged a fee to audition. The director of the program, David Holloway, is a former Santa Fe Apprentice himself. He says that the company received 1,458 applications this year and heard 760 auditions. It ultimately chose 38 artists for the 2009 season.
The online site New Forum for Classical Singers (www.nfcs.net) is a sounding board for both singers and opera administrators—and a place where this topic has inspired a lively discussion.
New Forum member SOPera claims, “I would not mind sending a $10 check with all my applications and then being charged an extra $20 or so at my actual audition if I were to be granted one. That way, only the singers who are actually being heard are helping to pay for the company’s audition-related expenses. Obviously I would prefer if there were no fees at all, but if there have to be fees, I think that this is a fair solution.”
Another New Forum commentator, who identifies himself as Hound Tenor, states, “If you are going to charge, at least be honest. If you aren’t taking any sopranos this year, don’t take their money. If you are only interested in singers who have already gotten pretty good credits, then say that up front.”
Glimmerglass Opera
Last season, Lizzie the Northwestern graduate was denied an audition at Seattle Opera ($40), Glimmerglass ($35), Lake George ($30), Merola ($30), and Wolf Trap ($30)—a significant total when you add it all up.
Don Marrazzo is the director of casting and artistic operations at Glimmerglass Opera, and he provides some practical insight into how and why it is determined that some singers are not granted an audition.
“Singers who apply to the program are guaranteed that their materials will be reviewed by me personally and that their CD (we require that each singer send a CD of themselves singing two contrasting operatic arias) will be listened to in its entirety.
“After we receive all of the YAAP [Young American Artists Program] applications,” Marrazzo says, “they are processed by our artistic operations manager and our artistic events and music manager, and I then listen to all 700+ CDs. It takes approximately 10 to 12 days (at 12 to 14 hours a day) to listen to all of the recordings, after which, I decide which individuals will be selected for a live audition based solely on their current level of vocal and artistic development and the likelihood of identifying a YAAP contract for which they would be an ideal fit. It would simply not be possible for us to hear 700+ singers in a live audition from a financial, as well as a staffing, perspective.”
A significant feature of the Glimmerglass YAAP program is the additional auditioning which takes place throughout the summer. The artistic department arranges opportunities for representatives from the Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, IMG Artists, Columbia Artist Management, as well as many other opera administrators and managers to hear the Glimmerglass apprentices.
“When going through the prescreening process and selecting individuals for a live audition,” Marrazzo continues, “it is also important to consider whether the individual in question would be ready to be heard by so many industry professionals, as it would perhaps not be advantageous to be heard by so many people before the singer has reached a certain level of technical proficiency and artistic development.”
A Numbers Game
According to the Chautauqua Opera website, Artistic/General Director Jay Lesenger hears on average 450 singers a year. The breakdown is as such: 226 sopranos, 78 mezzos, 50 tenors, 45 baritones, 9 bass-baritones, and 6 basses.
One can’t help but note the amount of competition among sopranos, making up literally half the pool of auditioning singers in this particular case. And, of course, each Young Artist Program has unique casting requirements.
Alicia Takushi is the administrative and auditions coordinator for the Young Artist Program at Lyric Opera of Chicago. These Young Artists are assigned comprimario roles and cover the larger roles dictated by the company’s repertoire each season.
The application fee for the Lyric Opera YAP is $25, and singers are reimbursed if they are not granted an audition. Takushi spends the entire year managing the logistics of the audition process.
“This year more than 450 singers auditioned for a one-year, full-time salaried position as a Young Artist,” she says. “Three singers were brought in, but that number varies from year to year. There are currently 13 Young Artists all together.”
There’s no denying that auditioning for Young Artist Programs is an expensive and emotional experience for even the most competitive singers in the marketplace. But if you’re willing to play the odds, then arm yourself with specific knowledge about the programs that you’re auditioning for and then sing your heart out.
And concerning those irritating fees—most companies interviewed for this article seem to bring in between $20,000 and $25,000 as a result of application fees. While that seems like a great deal of money to a singer living on beans and rice, it barely covers the costs associated with hearing Young Artist Program auditions in multiple cities across the country.
Adam Cannedy adds one final bit of handy advice to the mix: “The icing on the cake for all of this, especially since I am an independent contract singer and private voice teacher, is that all expenses for this part of a young singer’s career are a tax write-off. We have to keep telling ourselves this as we write check after check for program fees, pianists, airline tickets, hotel rooms, and restaurant after restaurant.
“In the end, it has been a very successful process for me. I am having a great time in Central City and I’m looking forward to taking on the audition scene again next December.”
