Being an opera singer will cost you $1 million

Being an opera singer will cost you $1 million

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norman lebrecht

December 15, 2019

New York tenor Zach Finkelstein has been running the numbers on his chosen career.

And all the indicators are turning red.

For full-time performers, the game is rigged. There is simply no chance of making it given the start-up costs of building an arts business and maintaining it over time in a high cost of living city. The best-case scenario is you walk away early and have time to rebuild. The worst-case scenario is you have a middling career, strung along with a few opportunities every year, just enough to keep you going, and you are staring down the barrel of 40 at a mountain of debt with no other skills.

Below I’ll show you four case studies demonstrating that the inability to continue in a performing career and support yourself financially has very little to do with the expenses of running an opera business, although they are onerous. Or your abilities as a performer, although it is a necessary condition to be best-in-class. Success has to do with two major decisions you make when you are most vulnerable and know the least about the business….

Read on here.

Yes, you’d better read on.

 

Comments

  • Paul Dawson says:

    This looks most interesting. I shall dig deeper when I have some more spare time.

  • Ravi Narasimhan says:

    Move out of the eastern seaboard then.

  • Mustafa Kandan says:

    New York is not the place to start trying to establish yourself as an opera singer.It is only after some experience & success elsewhere one could consider trying one’s luck in that city. Unless one has a phenomenal talent, one cannot expect to be an opera singer without moving around a bit.

    • John Borstlap says:

      Indeed. And then: NY’s reputation as a cultural centre may be greatly exaggerated, after all it is the hub of a certain vision of modernity which is quite restricted.

  • Caranome says:

    What’s the difference between a 14′ pizza and a classical musician? A: the pizza can feed a family of 4.

  • We privatize your value says:

    Very interesting indeed, but he is only ever analysing conditions in New York City! It’s a microcosm unlike all the others. What about being an opera singer in Berlin, London, Paris, Madrid, or, for that matter, Tokyo? And what about the non-capitals, such as Dresden, Munich, Salzburg, Milan, Barcelona, Los Angeles? Before I go on dropping further names of towns, just one question to sum it all up: Is Mr. Finkelstein’s analysis global or local?

  • MWnyc says:

    Norman, he’s no longer a New York tenor. The bio on his website says he lives in Seattle.

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