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The time has come to put, in context, the origin of, and truth surrounding the myth that American singers have a better chance of making a career and securing work in Europe, than in North America, and that European opera offers a better product than its American counterpart.
We need to travel back to the late 1940's to understand when and how U. S. Artists first began to gain work in Europe. After WW II there were very few opera artists left standing. Male singers were almost non-existent having been killed during combat or the Italian / German "cleansing". Many female singers had been taken as "cultural hostages" by the occupying forces and were either dead or not in any condition to sing. In other words there was a dearth of singers to cast for the numerous venues available.
In America we were migrating from a military to civilian economy and the arts were in prominent display with the United States and its allies having recovered numerous artifacts and rescued a number of performers from the Germans. Prior to the war, opera had been primarily a European art form with only a limited number of theaters offering it in the United States. The number of productions staged in the United States prior to 1950 was no where near the number staged in the European cities due to the extremely limited number of U. S. opera companies, pre-1950.
America may not have had as many opera companies, or venues, but it did have one thing in abundance that Europe did not: highly trained singers. This fact is clearly still in evidence today. Much like any business when opera found it was short on talent, it went looking for the most readily available source of qualified people. The United States certainly had the largest intact population; it had not been impacted by the war actually being fought on its own shores. We also had the most intact male population at the time with many singers remaining active even during wartime. The U. S. offered a large pool of potential talent to serve the needs of European opera.
By the 1960's many American artists were now headliners in Europe with more and more talent heading to work overseas. A booming peacetime economic surge worldwide was fueling the expanding arts community and opera flourished in Europe. More importantly, the U. S. was beginning to see a few additional companies operating on the domestic front. More and more singers were training and the major universities now realized the potential financial resource vocal departments offered. More trained artists offered a larger potential pool of singers for domestic and foreign consumption. With almost 100 companies in Germany alone, the job opportunities in Europe were far more prevalent than in the U. S. so a steady stream of talent continued to head overseas for work.
The Europeans also had a unique approach to contracting their "hired help". They developed the "Fest Contract" where the company actually "owned" the artist for a lengthy period of time. Singers would be required to sing all year long in many various roles, voice appropriate or not. To say that this was dangerous is putting it mildly and many artists damaged their voices and/or careers singing long and hard over protracted periods of time. The upside for American singers was a reliable contract providing steady work and on-stage time; something most artists strive for in their careers.
We now transition to the Cold War in the 1980's and ultimate collapse of Russia when the Berlin Wall falls November 1989. A cold war becomes a very hot war and central European singers are being displaced and have seen their economies, and homes, destroyed. With no work available, the pool of qualified singers from that region began to look for work, anywhere they could find it and for far less money than they would have previously considered. Now cheap labor was the norm and we begin to see a change in the quality of European opera with the vision set on cost versus caliber. American artists began to find themselves out of work unless they were huge stars, they offered an unusual voice type, or brought a special talent to the stage. And, despite all of these changes, American managers, and "opera experts", continued to "sing" the praises of European opportunities.
The 1980's also brought a whole new set of problems to the opera world. In 1983, we saw the first oil embargo and worldwide financial crisis since the great depression. It left continuing financial pressure on the world economy into the 1990's. Now Latin America was in the throws of civil turmoil and economic meltdown. With these conditions clearly singers from that part of the world could no longer rely on their home companies to provide the work they needed to survive. Much like the Central Europeans the South American singers began to take work at levels far below the norm. American companies, as well as their European counterparts, now hired these artists taking a great deal of additional employment opportunities away from the many qualified American singers available. No longer was it necessary to offer an artist a fest contract as the singer pool was gigantic and the expense of employing a singer on an annual basis was unnecessary.
Unless you have a main-stage resume with the appropriate companies in the U.S. the odds of securing a quality European contract are minimal. Fest contracts are simply a thing of the past with very few on the table and if you secure such a relationship with one of the companies be prepared to sing everything and anything, voice appropriate or not. Is it worth it to come home with a damaged instrument just to have appeared on a European stage at slave labor wages?
The final consideration about heading to Europe is what will happen when you return home to the United States to seek work if your voice is still in working order. You will have to start your career over! Companies will treat you as if you are just out of school with little regard for what or where you performed. Is this why you headed to Europe? If so, then you win and lose. Yes….you were on stage singing, but back home you will not secure work having been passed by in your resume building years by those artists that may not be as talented as you, but paid their dues by staying home and working their way through a system that is able to offer many opportunities.
There are now a myriad of young artist and resident artist programs to pick from and audition for. In addition, there are smaller, regional companies where singers are able to learn their craft, hone their performing skills, and continue to work on their careers while continuing to perform and to audition for bigger companies.
Don't be lured into the "European myth" that if it comes from afar it must be better. U. S. singers are better trained and more highly skilled than singers from any other part of the world. Take advantage of the opportunities that may be right in your own neighborhood and start building your career and your resume from there. With a lot of diligence and persistence, you will be able to perfect your career without having to sacrifice your time and your voice in singing roles that are not suitable and are not career-worthy.
Peter N. Karp
Managing Partner
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