How do opera singers make money

Certainly, the pay for an opera singer can vary dramatically and widely based on a number of factors. Most professional opera singers in the top opera companies have classical training performance degrees from top college programs, including the likes of Indiana, Cincinnati, Juilliard, Curtis, Michigan, AVA, etc. Additionally, a great number of them gain valuable experience performing opera in summer music festivals that stage operas, such as the Aspen Music Festival and School, as well as in apprenticeship programs with professional opera companies.

Many opera companies are following suit, reports Playbill , with Vienna State opera and the Royal Opera House in London offering streaming services. Thus, the career outlook for accomplished singers is promising, especially for those interested in auditioning for chorus and supporting roles. Work Career Advice Frustrations at Work. By Chron Contributor Updated September 22, What Qualifications Must a Singer Have?

How to Become a Recording Artist. The opera season starts in September and ends in May, basically out of 12 months only 9 months can be used to set up shows and make a profit.

Most opera houses do have some kind of apprentice program, which is a program meant for students who have not graduated yet. Generally speaking, the apprentice program is an investment, as you will increase your chances of getting hired by the opera house after you have graduated.

Although there is no guarantee that you will be hired, but you can still use the experience to get hired at some other opera house. Opera singers need to learn a lot of musical terminologies, if you want to take a look at these then check out my recent article All Musical terms explained in plain English. The size and the prestige of the opera house do determine how much money they can offer to the opera singers and the rest of the staff. In the southern states, you will not even come close to this number.

The more prestige the opera house has the more they can charge for their tickets, thus allowing them to give a higher cut to the opera singers. Maintaining an opera house is a lot of money, and most of the buildings are fairly old and in a need of renovations. Generally speaking, most opera houses do pay per performance, although there are some that only offer a base salary. There are a lot of extremely good opera singers who are well known in operatic circles, but outside this circle, almost nobody has heard from them.

Simply put the more an opera singer performs the more they can earn. Generally speaking, most opera singers have anything between performances per year. Not all singers follow this formal route, particularly if they start late, and may substitute private training for some components, although most undertake some years of formal training.

Nor will all singers have acquired the skills needed to flourish as a freelancer, such as marketing, presentation, finance and resilience to critical judgement and rejections in an overcrowded market. After training, some singers may immediately win fee-paying engagements, and may get taken on by an agent who typically takes Fest contracts are specific to the German-speaking world, but those countries account for around 40 per cent of mainstage opera performances and engage many non-nationals.

Despite the potential risks of such a relentless schedule, some singers keep renewing as they value the security of a reliable job and pay which can eventually double.

Positions in a chorus also provide experience and security. Such positions frequently dovetail with, or lead onto, the fourth way forward, as a freelance soloist.

For many singers the independent freelance path is their only option, however tough. The ability of unions to enforce minimum wage rates varies substantially by country and according to the relative proportion of singers in their overall memberships. Meanwhile, all are likely to need occasional singing lessons to keep in shape, sometimes provided below cost by generous teachers e. Many are therefore forced to rely on other sources of income, that might be musical, such as teaching, or non-musical, such as table-waiting.

This Darwinian selection favours those with external resources or connections, mimicking the unequal opportunities in society at large, although many argue that talent will rise to the top regardless. A select few will win one of the prestigious international singing competitions, such as Operalia, Neue Stimmen or BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, which can give a singer a short-cut through their struggles and act as a sorting mechanism for agents and casting directors.

Withdrawals from a professional singing career happen for a range of reasons, but a large proportion occur around this time, sometimes for career-related reasons such as lack of success or insufficient income, and sometimes for lifestyle reasons such as partners or children. Since the number of singers who have graduated internationally over the previous years far exceeds the annual singing opportunities available, constant departures are an inevitable feature of the business and not in most cases indicative of a lack of ability.

For those who make it through their first three to five years and establish a reputation and track record, the situation becomes slightly easier. Those who continue will have become accustomed to the contractual practices which govern the singing business, several of which are detailed below:. Common practices in the singing business. Singers will regularly have to attend auditions, for which they incur significant expenses without reimbursement. Engagement fees are paid in arrears.

Some opera houses can take months or even years to pay, causing a singer significant cashflow problems, aggravated by the fact that many companies pay few if any expenses.

External covers are less common in opera houses with full-time ensembles, such as in Germany. Most freelance singers are not paid for opera rehearsals. Some bigger companies will pay the equivalent of one performance fee for all the weeks of rehearsals, but most freelance singers are unpaid for rehearsals. Singers are usually unable to fill spare time with other work. They may be able to do some concerts and recitals, but skills are not always easily transferable: a session musician needs particularly good sight-reading; an opera singer good language and acting; a recitalist a good memory; etc.

In practice, they are all too often in the hands of Intendants, casting directors, agents or others who control the agenda and cut them little slack. This may be unsurprising given that soloists, chorus and other singers typically account for less than 20 per cent of total opera house costs despite their importance to final output and to audiences.

Some countries have assistance schemes, such as France where unemployed singers may benefit from the Intermittent du Spectacle government-funded system, but in most places unemployed singers will at best receive only standard unemployment benefits.

The practices listed show that headline figures for performance fees are misleading. Singers do not just stand on the stage and sing for a couple of hours to pocket a tidy sum but have to pay substantial expenses, and any fee has to be spread over weeks of unpaid time. While some singers specialize, most mix their work-types. Some sing primarily in choral groups, such as The Sixteen or the Monteverdi Choir. Earnings can sometimes match those of an opera chorus singer but are less reliable.

Jobs as chorus singers in opera houses are prized because of their comparative stability, although they lack further career prospects.