Boston
Singers' Resource News Bulletin, June 2009
START SPREADIN' THE NEWS: SINGING IN BOSTON AND NEW YORK by Amanda Keil. Formerly a resident of New York City, now a Boston based singer, Amanda Keil, compares life as a singer in the two cities.
I left New York to come to Boston and make it as a singer. Yes, you read that correctly, I left New York, home of countless cultural organizations, dozens of opera companies, and thousands of voice teachers, coaches, directors, and managers, to come to Boston, home of the Red Sox. It was with some surprise that I discovered not only a busy musical scene here but opportunities for singers to earn a living from their music. Both cities present their share of challenges, but also offer opportunities for different career paths and stages in a singer’s career. To find out more about how location can influence career, I spoke to singers of all career levels in Boston and New York to find out what their experiences have been.
Overall, Boston singers praise the diverse range of music here. If they pursue different musical styles, they report being able to earn some or all of their income from music. “I absolutely love this city,” raves Emily Marvosh*, who sings regularly with Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Boston, and Marsh Chapel. “I never knew one could be paid to sing in a choral ensemble!” She came to Boston for graduate school (like most of the singers I spoke with) and stayed when she found more local opportunities than she had expected. “The only disadvantage is that a city with a thriving cultural and university scene creates a ton of competition, but I wouldn’t say that’s a real disadvantage,” she goes on. “It makes every performance in town better.”
Along those lines, Brenna Wells* praises the diverse array of opportunities in Boston – “from opera to early music to new music and chamber” – but also notes the increased competition that comes from the loyalty many groups have to their singers. “It can be challenging to break in the scene here because there are veteran soloists that are respected and loved. It can be hard for a new singer to be trusted to pull in an audience,” she says, echoing a sentiment I heard from a number of Boston singers. Nonetheless, Wells herself is becoming a frequent soloist, appearing with Boston Early Music Festival and Opera Boston Underground and several professional ensembles.
“I feel surrounded by wonderfully diverse musicians here in Boston,” another singer told me, who also was surprised by the number of local opportunities. The singer concurred that the close-knit community can present advantages as well as problems, especially for singers who did not attend school locally. “But,” the singer adds, “since everyone is so close, if I have a good performance, most people know about it!”
Dana Schnitzer*, who founded MetroWest Opera to promote opera performance in the area, praises Boston as a “very musical place.” However, she expresses what I heard from a number of other Boston singers, that it is difficult to make a living from singing opera in town. “Right out of grad school I felt that there were lots of opportunities for me, a young singer in need of experience and willing to work for little to no pay. After a few years, I started to switch gears and do more oratorio and recital work, where I found far more paid opportunities than I did in singing opera roles.”
“One of my goals in the next year is to move to New York,” says Melynda Davis*, who performs with Boston Lyric Opera and recently sang Desdemona in Otello with Lowell House Opera. “I’ve pretty much tapped out all of the local opportunities here, and I want to go where there are more auditions and more chances to perform with professional companies,” she says, sharing Schnitzer’s disappointment with unpaid opportunities. “You have to run yourself ragged to live off of music” here, she adds. Davis spoke with me in the fall, and fulfilled her goal this spring when she moved to New York.
Singers in New York express concern about unpaid gigs to a slightly less extent, but always mention other financial burdens. According to mezzo-soprano Anna Tonna, life in New York provides inspiration and challenges. “People and artists from all over the country converge in New York. This is a wonderful and energizing element in the artistic life here. But it takes a lot of money to stay afloat in town. It’s very hard to lead an artistic life in New York City nowadays, too much time is dedicated to having to pay for rent.” Smaller opera companies and concert series face similar financial challenges, she says, frequently lacking adequate funding for performer stipends and production costs. Tonna, who recently spent a year in Spain as a Fulbright Scholar, sings frequent recitals and opera in New York and internationally.
Most Boston singers cited the proximity to New York as an advantage of living here, and they often travel there and even farther afield for auditions. The New Yorkers I spoke with rarely need to look farther than their own city for auditions for local and out of town companies. Tim Hill, bass-baritone, notes that singers can also network in person with the directors, coaches, and conductors who live in New York or come there frequently. “I can’t tell you how many people I’ve run into on the street,” he says. Hill, who recently sang with the Caramoor Center and debuts this season with Capital Opera Raleigh, credits some of his success with being able to study with an excellent teacher several times a week for several months, a feature he did not find in his native North Carolina. He also noted that New York boasts a broad range of coaches in specialized repertoire, such as the Wagnerian roles that Hill is transitioning into now. His networking has proved useful in other ways, namely, in meeting singers for his other career as a photographer specializing in headshots (www.timhillimages.com).
“I’ve thought about leaving New York many times,” mezzo-soprano Cherry Duke told me. Her career includes roles opera companies throughout out the country, a tour of Japan with New York City Opera. Duke has now found management that supports her interest in concert and oratorio work, which she prefers to the grueling schedule of opera productions. She praises New York for the local performance opportunities, although warns that many of them are unpaid, and that there is a limited audience for vocal concerts. Duke’s successful web design business (www.yourtype.com) enables her to be choosy about which singing gigs she accepts. “I’ve been lucky to have lived in the same rent-stabilized apartment for 12 years,” she adds. “But I pay for my own health insurance, which is increasing to $500 a month.”
Soprano Melissa Fogarty, who recently debuted with New York City Opera and was featured in Classical Singer this year, finds competing pros and cons to life in the Big Apple. “There are so many great teachers and coaches here, it can be difficult to decide,” she says. Perhaps this is why teachers in New York are not as over-booked as Boston teachers, where some have waiting lists for lessons. Fogarty underscores the advantage of so many local opportunities and auditions, but still, she says, “staying in town for three years is not enough. New York is glutted with singers willing to pay to sing or sing for free, and competition is fierce for better gigs.” “Nonetheless,” she adds, “I would rather take my chances in New York, even if it’s more competitive.”
The New Yorkers I spoke with all cited the high cost of living as a disadvantage. Boston singers did not bring up this issue at all. Dana Schnitzer goes so far as to praise Boston for providing “the city experience without the city experience,” that is, cultural opportunities without being a “hustle bustle kind of place where you can feel lost.” Interestingly, singers in both cities equally praised and lamented the public transportation available to them. Massachusetts does offer the advantage of subsidized healthcare, which can make a significant difference in living expenses. Singers in both cities credited networking and relationship building as instrumental to their careers. However, two people – one in each town – credited their success to the constant improvement of their craft with the right teachers, coaches, and training.
In my own experience, I have been struck by what I see as a greater permeability of Boston institutions, musical and otherwise. In New York, my phone calls to request an audition with a church music director went unanswered. I eventually did sing for him and win the job, but only after waiting for annual auditions with church gig contractors—and paying the $10 audition fee and a percentage of my church income for several months. In Boston, when I called a professional chorus to request an audition, the administrator I spoke with mentioned that she had enjoyed one of my recent performances, and volunteered that she went to school with my teacher. She later friended me on Facebook.
The kind of hometown pride and loyalty that Boston is well-known for also permeates musical institutions. Many local orchestras and choral societies rehire soloists year after year, providing steady work to local professionals. Many companies also pride themselves in hiring local singers. Boston Early Music Festival, for example, features internationally known singers in their leading roles, but hires Boston residents for smaller roles and ensemble positions. The same holds true for both local opera companies.
From what I can tell, Boston offers young singers a chance to build their resumes with both professional and semi-professional performance experiences, and access auditions for opportunities out of town. For people willing to settle in Boston—especially those who embrace early music and concert work in addition to opera—it is also possible to build a career here based on long-term relationships with regional groups. In some ways, the same holds true for New York, although it can take a longer time to cultivate those relationships, the cost of living presents a greater challenge, and the playing field is not as oriented to emerging artists who are still building their resumes. Even so, New York does offer the advantages of a larger scene and a chance to develop relationships with players in numerous fields from all over the world.
So should Boston’s best singers pick up and move down south to the big bad city? Should frustrated emerging singers in New York pack their winter clothes and head up here for more semi-professional chances? If only there were one magical city where we all could build exactly the kind of career we want for ourselves. Meanwhile, it is possible to enjoy meaningful opportunities and relationships in Boston and still stay in touch with some contacts and opportunities in New York. Although no two careers take the same path, and different stages require different actions, in my opinion singers in Boston have a good chance to build their resumes, improve their performance skills, and strengthen relationships—all of which they can leverage to take their careers to the next level in any city. Oh, and Go Sox.
Amanda Keil*, mezzo-soprano, can be seen on June 18-21 as Nerone in L’Incoronazione di Poppea with Opera Hub and on June 10 and 11 with her group, Musica Nuova, a new ensemble that presents staged programs of Baroque chamber music. Musica Nuova will also be presented by the Society for Historically Informed Performance July 19, 21, 22, and 23. A native New Yorker, Amanda Keil lives, sings, and writes in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and frequently visits New York. amandakeil.com
Related Articles:
The Boston-NYC Connection: A guide to regular commuting for singers
by Ed Justen, 2004
* indicates BSR member