I wouldn't move to D.C. just for the Zarzuela - there's hardly enough of
it to make a career in it here. I think there might be more of it in New
York, possibly Miami, San Diego, San Francisco - all worth looking into.
The vocal music scene here is peculiar. Lots of opportunity, but also an
excessive amount of "cliquishness". One sees the same two dozen or so
singers in every opera and operetta at the local level in the
D.C./Baltimore area. Also, I've also discovered that while D.C. seems
VERY open to hiring Baltimore singers, the Baltimore scene is much more
closed and parochial. The result is that we in D.C. have to compete with
both D.C. and Baltimore singers, but Baltimore opera companies aren't
similarly open.
The oratorio scene here is similarly insular and "incestuous". It's
impossible to even get many conductors around here to listen to you in
audition. I think they find a lot of their singers through university
programs with which they are connected, or by word of mouth.
Finally, there seems to be a "lofty" perception here among a lot of local
conductors that any soloist from ANYWHERE OTHER THAN D.C. is going to be
better than a local singer. SO you find little shoe-string companies
hiring their singers from New York, California, Chicago - anywhere but
here. No doubt this perception comes from the fact that audiences think a
singer with a New York address must by definition be "more professional"
than one who has the bad judgment to live in D.C.
If you want to be a choral singer, on the other hand, the opportunities
are vast. Unless you want to be paid.
Karen Mercedes
............................
NEIL SHICOFF, TENORE SUPREMO
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html
My Own Website
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ I sing hymns with my spirit, +
+ but I also sing hymns with my mind. +
+ - 1 Corinthians 14:15 +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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