The COVID-19 pandemic impacts different people differently, some much worse than others, even among those who don’t contract the disease. My wife was talking to a friend recently whose daughter sings with the Washington National Opera Chorus, and he said, “You know, even though the Kennedy Center is closed right now, my daughter still has to sing.” I recently chatted with Robert Ainsley, Program Director of the Washington National Opera’s Cafritz Young Artists about the challenges that opera singers are facing in maintaining their skills while performance opportunities are extremely limited. For opera singers, the lack of work is an obvious financial challenge. But the challenge for singers is even greater: opera singers must sing to keep their skills when they are not performing on stage, and they must sing to keep their spirits and morale high between jobs. The pandemic has diminished even these opportunities.
Think for a moment. How long can you avoid the gym before you start to feel it? Muscles - use them or lose them is the saying. At the very least, use them or lose their tone and strength. Singing opera requires using muscles, muscles around the vocal folds (cords) and larynx that produce sound, as well as chest muscles controlling respiration; it also requires learning to relax other muscles and to move about while you are singing. Live opera does not use microphones - singing over an orchestra to be heard in the last row in a 2,000-seat auditorium requires strong muscles and precision control of those muscles. That control, known as technique, is hard won and maintained by practice. I once wrote a blog post asserting that opera singing could be an Olympic event. So, how do singers keep those muscles in shape when they are not performing? What about in a long layoff, like in a pandemic? Mr. Ainsley says that there is no question that layoffs hurt; to sing opera, a series of muscles must be kept in tone. He says that artists when performing tend to be at near their personal best; layoffs take the sheen off.
Pandemic-imposed restrictions and limitations on professional development can be brutal for performing artists. The normal professional routine for a singer between engagements is several hours of practice per day, plus weekly or biweekly lessons to enhance their singing technique, enhance diction skills in several languages, and learn new roles. Singers need a place to sing and preferably a piano accompanist to work with them. It also helps to have access to a large hall or auditorium, simulating the environment for performances – such places are now mostly closed. They can sing in their apartment if neighbors will allow but may be confined to singing in a closet if not; at best, limitations like singing in a closet take away the thrill, as does going so long without singing to an audience. Lessons and accompanists cost money. Not only have singing jobs dried up, but other work during the pandemic has been limited. Without work there is no money for rent, much less money for maintenance needs specific to a profession they can’t pursue right now.
Rogert Ainsley, Program Director of the Cafritz Young Artists, working the WNO Pop-Uo Opera Truck as you might have seen him during the pandemic this past year. Photo courtesy of the Washington National Opera.
Singers also must deal with the usual pandemic restrictions such as social distancing and wearing of masks. Most training has been driven online with artists singing into microphones and listening to their musical accompaniment through headphones; coaching is now mostly done through Zoom. A pandemic stretching out a year or longer makes all this both a difficult and depressing situation; the anxiety about an uncertain future can be debilitating. Mr. Ainsley says the difficulties that artists are encountering in the pandemic take quite a toll, sometimes causing a loss of motivation. Singers can tell they are not performing their best. This can be especially acute for young singers who only have a short window for “making it” after finishing their formal studies.
An outstanding and timely concert produced by Baltimore Concert Opera and Opera Delaware, that premiered online on January 24 and which will be repeated on January 27, is relevant to this discussion: “Songs from a Distance”, a perspective of a performer in crisis; mezzo-soprano Hanna Ludwig and pianist Laura Ward perform a selection of songs they intended as “a powerful snapshot of art - and artists - in the time of COVID-19”. The program design and song selections are entirely the performer’s. Shortly after the pandemic began, Ms. Ludwig started a group on Facebook called “Freelance Performers and Mental Health” with Dr. Alexandra Stratyner, a licensed counseling psychologist. They’ve had round-table discussions and provided resources for performers in the pandemic. The handout program for the concert includes a listing of mental health resources singers may access and will remain online in perpetuity at this link. I enjoyed and was touched by the concert made up entirely of songs and music that achieves its communication through the imagery of poetry and the beauty of the singing and accompaniment.
According to Mr. Ainsley, young singers accepted into young artist programs (YAPs), as the pandemic began, are the fortunate ones. In the mid-Atlantic, in addition to the Cafritz program, young artist programs at the Academy of Vocal Arts, Pittsburgh Young Artist Program, and the Virginia Opera Young Artists have also remained viable; Wolf Trap Opera managed to run their Filene Artists Program this past summer, and the Glimmerglas Festival shifted to a virtual format. These programs offer their young artists expert training, accompanists, and singing venues as well as limited opportunities to sing in (now primarily virtual) recitals/concerts. Such opportunities for freelancers are extremely limited. Mr. Ainsley expressed a perspective that he sometimes feels as though that as the Cafritz program director, he stands at the end of a long bread line with way too few loaves to give out; his program is limited to about 13 young artists each year.
Importantly, during the pandemic YAPs have been able to provide necessary resources while strictly observing pandemic guidelines. For the Cafritz program, foremost has been the safety of the artists and staff. They worked with Kennedy Center and the Cleveland Clinic to establish protocols for the training. They have three 300,000 cu ft training rooms fitted with HEPA filters and a large air turnover system. In addition to singing and language training, they have even been able to continue movement/dance instruction through innovative online classes; students take two classes per week or more, but all virtual. Even YAPs training has been affected. Interactions during training are limited; there is no staging of performances. A major downside to the arrangements is that singers have lost the experience of singing close to one another. For duets, singers without masks are 30 feet apart, and there are no large ensembles. Choral practices have ceased. Larger gatherings, such as workshops are limited to ten masked individuals. Their record is good. To date, the program has not experienced a single positive case of COVID-19 in the rehearsal room.
Opera cognoscenti frown upon using microphones in staged operas (one critic I know called the practice evil). However, pandemics make strange bedfellows. In a new focus for their training, YAP singers are receiving instruction in using new technology for singing into a microphone while hearing accompaniment through earphones. Mr. Ainsley says typically, performers experience stiffness singing in front of a microphone. Learning to relax and be natural in front of a microphone or camera takes training and getting used to. Singing with a microphone can affect voice production subconsciously. Mr. Ainsley said that singers can start to croon or come off the voice and rely on electronic sound control to make up for it. He also said that the technology itself for virtual performances has been refined as a result of this pandemic-inspired necessity.
While the overall impact of the pandemic on opera singers as a group has been devastating, some positives can be mentioned. Mr. Ainsley says that singers have a more intense focus on their development in preparing for the future. YAP singers have time for what Mr. Ainsley calls “passion projects”; they can learn new skills and roles to be ready when the time comes. They can learn classical songs, for which there is little time in normal circumstances. They have time to dig deeply into some pieces that otherwise would not be possible. Some singers have managed to initiate successful online projects, such as virtual recitals.
Robert Ainsley, Program Director of the Cafritz Young Artists as you might have seen him in “normal” times. Photo courtesy of the Washington National Opera.
Mr. Ainsley says that he personally has never been busier. Voice coaches and accompanists are in high demand. He is performing more as a pianist, though in online ventures. He also has developed skill in video editing and was involved in commissioning the WNO graphic novel, “Fidelio” (author Kelley Rourke and co-author/illustrator Erik Teague). Still, when his focus turns back to today’s singers struggling under current challenges, he expresses dismay at the limited support the US is providing to the arts, not enough to go around, especially now. He notes that philanthropy in the US is critically important, but it’s also insufficient for the needs. He envies the more arts friendly environment in Europe that has real jobs for developing artists. He notes that YAPs used to be finishing schools, but now in the US, have become an early form of employment, and yet there are Increasingly fewer YAPs surviving. The competition for the Cafritz Young Artists Program is fierce; the program has a lower acceptance rate than Harvard and Yale. The pandemic came in on top of these circumstances.
How soon will opera return to the stage and careers be allowed to resume? The pandemic restrictions have been ongoing now almost a year, and while hopeful for later this year, no one knows for certain when curtains will be lifted, or what the employment landscape will be like as surviving companies go through a recovery period. Mr. Ainsley referred to a report in Europe estimating 30% of performing artists there were changing careers and fears it could happen here. In the meantime: opera singers gotta sing.
The Fan Experience: Most opera companies are now offering virtual recitals and concerts online; tickets are typically very modest in price, and the revenue is very much needed for allowing them to at least offer employment to a few artists.
One exciting fan-relevant tidbit I learned talking with Mr. Ainsley: he and the Cafritz Young Artists who normally perform in the American Opera Initiative at the Kennedy Center each January in three new twenty-minute and a one-hour long opera (an event that could not be held this year) have been working to put together a virtual performance of three new twenty-minute operas that he says will premiere this Spring as virtual performances online. The new AOI works are now being orchestrated. One benefit of being able to offer these online is that composers and artists will have filmed versions of their works, and these typically sold-out productions can reach a wider audience. Stay tuned!
If you are lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time you could get to hear a live performance by the Cafritz Young Artists who man the Pop-Up Opera Truck that shows up on demand in area parking lots to give concerts. Mr. Ainsley says these events will resume again when warmer weather returns.