Campbell Vertesi

Like it or not, one of the big keys to making it in this stage of the opera business is the art of auditioning. Every singer should know that this is entirely distinct from any other kind of singing you will do - the audition is its own environment, with particular expectations and pressures. If you want to get hired, you have to know how to have a good audition.

Most of these items deal with stress. How is it that every time you have an audition, you spend 30 minutes rushing around, printing a resume (and headshot for some), scrambling to find your rep sheet, taping music... why would you do this to yourself?

One of the biggest factors in an audition is your own psychological state, and the more stress you pile on your brain, the less likely you are to feel comfortable and confident in THE CHAMBER OF AUDITIONS. (I call it a chamber because of the relationship to torture chambers, airtight chambers, etc. The point is, (as Hank would have it) nothing good ever happens in a chamber) It's ok to feel nervous about the accompaniest, or the acoustic. But why would you make yourself stressy about the things you can control?

Prepare your audition materials in advance. Long in advance. Sit down tonight, and copy your 10 possible audition arias. Not just the ones you know you're using, but the ones that you might use in a pinch as well. Use scotch tape to double side the copies for the accompaniest. Get little sticky tabs for each piece, so a pianist can turn to the right piece without unnecessary page flippage. Put it all in a nice looking binder.

Print off 5 copies of your most recent resume, get 5 copies of your headshot, and put them all in that same binder. Print off a couple of very general rep sheets (just in case) and stick them in there too. Try and keep a float of 5 complete packets of this kind in there.

The idea is, if you find out at 1 that you have an audition at 1:30, you should be able to grab this binder and spend your time warming up, drinking water, and doing your hair. In other words, while the competition is scrambling for their resume wasting time, you get to do your important preparation. Believe it or not, this actually happened to me last year. I accidentally crashed an audition, and got a slot for an hour later. The audition was a complete success.

Be 20 minutes early. Quite apart from the good impression this generates, 20 minutes gives you time to calm down, sing a little to remind yourself of how your throat feels, drink water and do whatever else it is you need. Most importantly, it lets you relax and get comfortable in your environment. You can ask other auditionees about the acoustic in THE CHAMBER, you can get your materials in order, or twiddle your thumbs. And if they're running ahead of schedule (does that EVER happen?), you can be ready and prepared to impress. I call this giving myself time to get lost on the way. Because that's happened, too... and there's no reason why I should let that spoil my audition.

Sing your best rep. This seems obvious, but I'm going to go over it anyways. You know that new aria you've been working on, that you're dying to get a chance to perform? Leave it at home. Until you can sing a piece rolling out of bed with a cold and a circus in the room, it has no place on your audition repertoire sheet. Sing the things that you sound phenomenal doing, no matter how long you've had them in your rep.

Remember that your one advantage is the ability to pick the tortures they can inflict in THE CHAMBER. Choose the poisons you're already immune to. You're a young singer, not Leonard Warren. Singing an incredible aria isn't as impressive as singing an aria incredibly.

This goes double for the first piece you sing. If you have Otello on your rep sheet, let them choose it. But start with your easiest, best piece.

Know your enemy. I think it's Diane Zola (of Houston Grand Opera fame) who says that 75% of this job is done at the kitchen table. It's true. Before you walk into an audition, find out everything you can about the space, the people hearing you, the company. FInd out who they've hired in the past (and what that says about their tastes), what kind of operas they like to put on, and where they've worked. If you have a connection to the auditioner already, use it to get information. Ask a teacher who has worked with that conductor, or your coach, or your friends. Know what they like, and then cater to it.

I'll give you an example - in a recent audition, I did my research beforehand to find out everything I could. I found out that THE CHAMBER would be Curtiss hall in Chicago (very live acoustic, but a bit boomy), that the director had directed Zauberflote hundreds of times, and that the house loved big voices. I tailored my rep accordingly - runs and fast movement are hard to pull off in that kind of acoustic, so anything with quick details was right out. I know I can sing a "bassier" Sarastro than most of the singers he's heard in the role, and he's heard it enough to appreciate that - so I'll start with one of those arias. And they love big voices, so my Verdi is good on the rep list, but the Monteverdi not so much.

All of this information gave me a plan, and foreknowledge of what to expect. An added bonus is having seen the director's bio and headshot, I could recognize him in the elevator and introduce myself. Do your research. Know your enemy.

Keep records. Remember the last great audition you had? What did you eat that day? What did you warm up with, and how long before? How did your throat feel? What about the last terrible audition? Can you remember what made it so bad?

You should be able to answer those questions. You should be able to go back to the last time you sang aria X, and remind yourself what went wrong and how to fix it. You should have enough information at your disposal that your audition routine can begin at 8 o'clock that morning, honed over years of experience auditioning. For those of you with a mind like a steel trap, this might not be a problem. Me, I would forget my own name if the opportunity arose.

So I keep a notebook. With every audition and performance, I make a record. I note 10-scale ratings for Voice, Technique, Acting, Presentation, and Overall. I note in detail problems or good things I did. How was the space. How did I feel about it. What should I have done differently. What's interesting is that I don't have to go back over these notes very often - the process of writing them down already helps tremendously. It makes me think critically after the fact, to evaluate and make decisions for next time. And next time, I don't make those mistakes again.

Learn by watching. That notebook can be very useful. Everytime you see or hear a performance, write about it. Use the same scale if you like, that you use to rate yourself. What did the performer do well? What should he/she have done differently? What really annoying habit did they have that you want to make sure you NEVER EVER DO? Write it down. All of a sudden, that useless masterclass with a teacher who wants you to talk like the sun shines out of her ass becomes a valuable resource. You get to hear 5 people sing, and it's OK to have your notebook with you in the audience!

This habit has literally revolutionized the way I sing. You look at your own performance differently. You learn A LOT, without having to make those mistakes yourself. Two of my biggest performance "revolutions" have come from this kind of critical work, no coach or teacher required.

They say that very few people learn by hearing about a mistake. A handful more learn by watching a mistake. Many more only learn by making the mistake themselves, and most people don't even learn then. Make sure you're in one of the first two categories.

Know a successful audition when you have one. You know, deep down, when you've nailed an audition. Whether you get hired or not, you know that you sang the shit out of THE CHAMBER, and either the auditioners were too stupid to notice, or they had to hire someone else against their better judgement. Either way is a long term "win" for you: you get saved from the name of a bad company on your resume, or you stick in their minds for next year. Identify that "nailed it" feeling, and reward yourself when you get it. It doesn't matter if you get cast or not - what you know is that you created something great, which is the whole point. Go have a beer in celebration.

There are a million other factors in an audition beyond "how well does she sing/perform", factors that are outside of your control. Personal taste is one, but more than that - what if the tenor they hired for Tamino is 5'2", and you're a 6'1" Pamina? I don't care how well you sing, you aren't going to get cast - this year. Maybe they have no wig budget, and your hair won't work with their period stylings. Or the director got dumped in the break before you entered, and he was too distracted and angry to notice your awesometacular performance.

The point is, you cannot control those factors. Everything you can control is contained in that "I nailed it" feeling. So shoot for it. Consider the audition a success whenever you achieve that feeling, no matter whether you get hired or not. In the long run, if you come out of every audition knowing that your performance was that good, you will get hired.