Par for the Chorus
Does an audition for an opera chorus differ from a regular opera audition, and if so, how? Donald Palumbo, chorus master of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus, tells what he looks for and what a singer can expect when auditioning for him.
The following article first appeared in the March, 2009 issue of Classical Singer and is reprinted with special permission.
By Rachel A. Antman
Maestro Palumbo, rehearsing about 150 singers for Die Meistersingers von Nurnburg. Damon Winter/ New York Times
Does an audition for an opera chorus differ from a regular opera audition, and if so, how? In this first of a series of articles on the top opera choruses in the United States, Donald Palumbo, chorus master of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus, tells what he looks for and what a singer can expect when auditioning for him.
Would you like a cushy, stress-free singing job? Don't try out for The Met Chorus. A typical day for the members of this renowned ensemble might begin at 10:30 a.m. for a costume fitting and end well after midnight at the conclusion of a Wagner opera—and the time in between is packed with rehearsals and operas to be memorized in languages ranging from Italian, to Russian, to Sanskrit. It’s not a job for the faint-hearted, and certainly not for the faint of voice. Accordingly, Donald Palumbo, the Met’s chorus master, selects his choristers very carefully. He recently took time out of his busy schedule to tell Classical Singer about his criteria and the audition process.
You just wrapped up auditions for the 2009-10 season, which for the first time were invitation-only rather than open-call. Why did you decide to make this change?
The old process was such an imposition on people that I think we were scaring off good singers. They didn’t want to wait in line all day and not be guaranteed a chance to audition. Now there is no lining up, no waiting, and singers know exactly when they should warm up. There’s no reason to stretch out the process for professional singers. They want to be fresh when singing an operatic aria.
Now that you’re prescreening applicants, what do you look for in their materials?
Experience is most important. This job is not appropriate for someone right out of college who wants to break into the business. People don’t realize how many hours and days in the week the choristers actually sing. The work can take a huge toll on the voice for someone without experience in a major opera house and in a large theater.
Do you care whether an applicant has a degree from a conservatory?
Not really. I pay the most attention to professional performance experience, both solo and choral, as well as references from teachers and conductors whose work I know and respect.
What about language abilities?
It’s hard to evaluate language skills from a résumé, but it is clearly evident in an audition. I also find that mastering an aria in one foreign language in an audition usually indicates ability to handle diction in another foreign language.
Does it matter whether an applicant is local or from out of town?
No. I think the draw of the Met makes us a national company. The amount of work and the level of the work that we offer people expand our scope beyond the local.
What sort of difference does AGMA affiliation make?
The Met wants to give AGMA members an opportunity to be heard. This is a throwback to the old way of doing things, when there was a separate day of auditions for AGMA members. Also, an AGMA member is more likely to have the requisite experience. It’s another component in judging an applicant’s suitability for the job.
How do you evaluate a singer’s headshot?
I barely look at it. The headshot has very little bearing on how I’m going to evaluate the voice. It’s simply part of the file. I certainly would never ask for someone to audition or to not audition based on a headshot.
Do you review notes from previous auditions during the prescreening process? What impact do these have?
I do check to see if a person has an audition history and I keep detailed records from year to year. I might have made a note to myself that says “hear this person again,” for example, and that helps me to know how to proceed.
Did you notice a big difference in the quality of applicants between this year and last year (before you instituted the prescreening process)?
The level of the best applicants was comparable to past years, but we had fewer people who were completely unqualified and overly ambitious.
Let’s talk about the actual audition. What qualities do you evaluate?
There are many. First and foremost, there has to be a basic amount of sound produced for work in a large opera house. If the voice is so small that it won’t add to the sound, that’s a strike that’s going to be hard to overcome, even if it’s a pretty voice. I also evaluate the purity of the tone and whether the vibrato is controlled. I want to determine whether the voice maintains its shape and focus throughout the range, and, in particular, whether it gets pushed past the beautiful point in forte singing. Intonation is also critical. Problem signs are a constant sagging in pitch or a tone with no spin. If a person has a beautiful voice that sits below pitch, that would create problems in the chorus.
Several articles about you have mentioned a certain dark quality you aim for in the choral sound. Is that something you listen for in the auditions?
I certainly pay careful attention to tone quality, but I don’t expect individual voices to possess the depth of tone and richness that can be created by the chorus. I analyze whether the way the voice is produced will fit into my sound concept for the chorus. If, for instance, a soprano sound is very bright and chirpy with little warmth and roundness in the sound, I know that the voice won’t fit in.
Do you ask singers to sight-read during the audition?
I don’t. I believe that if a person can study an aria and execute it with skill in an audition, then they’re strong enough musically to learn and memorize choral music. If someone lacks basic musical skills, it’s evident in the performance of an aria.
What do an applicant’s repertoire choices tell you?
We ask singers to have two arias prepared, one of which should be in a foreign language. English is fine for the second one. Some people come in and sing arias that don’t demonstrate how they could add to the chorus. For example, there’s not much point in singing Queen of the Night or Zerbinetta—there aren’t a lot of chorus parts that call for that range. For mezzos, “Smanie implacabili” is an iffy choice. It requires such an aggressive, biting tone. I prefer to hear a piece that requires a full lyric sound—not too fast—that shows the line in the voice, even if it’s a simpler piece. Another consideration is the amount of recitative in a piece. Is there a lot of piano playing linking sections of the music where you’re only singing short, conversational phrases? That might not show you off inthe best light. It’s better to choose a piece with sustained melodic lines.
Do you prefer that singers perform popular or obscure arias during the auditions?
I don’t have a preference as long as the arias show the voice to its full advantage. One thing singers should keep in mind, though, is that if you’re using the house pianist, you should be considerate. You don’t want to leave the audition feeling compromised because the aria was obscure and difficult for the pianist.
Speaking of pianists, do you prefer that singers bring their own to the auditions or not?
Either is fine, but if you do bring your own pianist and the two of you are not in sync, then that’s a major strike against you. If the pianist is someone you’ve worked with consistently, and that person provides a sense of support, then by all means bring your own pianist.
How should singers dress for the auditions?
Again, it’s not a major issue for me, but business casual may be the best way to go. There’s also no need for women to wear formalwear—many women come to the audition overdressed. The bottom line is that the singer should feel and look comfortable.
How important is dramatic ability?
It’s certainly important, but it’s hard to determine this in an audition. That said, we do observe how a person walks into a room, interacts with the pianist, stands in front of us, and whether he or she has a dramatic sense of the aria. I typically don’t like the staging gestures that people sometimes do in an audition. You don’t have to do the “Papers” aria and fling papers all over the piano. The focus should be your voice and how it would add to the choral sound.
Is height or body type important?
It’s a component of the whole package, but it’s not the be-all-and-end-all. Look at some of the body shapes of some of world’s most famous singers through the ages. If you do this, it’s hard to make an argument that body type makes a difference. As far as I’m concerned, if a person carries him or herself well and is comfortable on stage, then it doesn’t matter whether that person is tall or short or fat or thin.
How do you evaluate personality, and what influence does it have on the audition outcome?
The contact you make during the audition is so short that it’s hard to evaluate someone’s value as a colleague or how someone will pan out in the job. You can pick up extreme personality quirks, however, that could color the overall evaluation. For example, you might register that someone seems disrespectful or flippant or extremely ill at ease while singing, problems that seminars on audition techniques should address.
What are the reasons you ask for a second aria?
It could mean that I heard something I like but I wasn’t sure that the chosen piece showed it off. Perhaps the person was unduly nervous and I wanted to put him at ease. I might want to hear a piece in a different language. For instance, if a native Russian singer auditions with a Russian aria, I might want to hear a second aria in Italian or French. In the best of cases, the voice was so good that I wanted to hear more.
Are your criteria different for the extra and regular chorus positions?
In regard to the regular chorus positions, we want to have a strong sense that the person will make it in the Met environment. The extra chorus can be used as a testing ground. In some instances, we hear a voice and all the signs are right—we just know that the person will fit right into the regular chorus. In all cases, however, we are extremely thorough. The demands of this job are such that we have to be absolutely certain that the person is right.
Do you hold callbacks?
Not for the extra chorus. In some instances, if someone we are really interested in hearing couldn’t attend the auditions, we will set another date. We do usually hold callbacks for the regular chorus positions so that we can hear all the voices being considered on the same day.
I understand from Steven Losito, the chorus administrator, that four people attend the auditions with you: Kurt Phinney, chorus manager and chorister; Stephen Paynter, assistant chorus manager and chorister; and AGMA delegates from the women’s chorus and the men’s chorus. To what extent do you consult with the others?
We talk, and I’ve often asked them to indicate if any people jump out at them. The choristers already know some of the people auditioning. If they tell me that so-and-so was a great colleague, that’s a major plus.
Do you ever disagree with the others?
Yes, but so far, we’ve been in complete agreement on the regular chorus positions.
Can you offer some general tips to singers who wish to audition for the Met chorus?
Sure. Provide a concise, clear résumé, and use as references the most experienced and well-known people that you possibly can. If you want to list special skills, take a step back and think about how you would perceive them if you were the one making the audition decisions. In an opera company, in contrast to the theater, those special skills don’t mean very much. Generally speaking, résumés should come across as serious and professional. As for the actual audition, choose your pieces with careful attention, coach them, and make sure that they are musically fine-tuned. Be sure that the aria shows the strongest qualities of your voice and that it allows you to produce a sound that a chorus master would want to work with. Get into the mind of the listener. Make sure the listener’s reaction is not “What was she thinking?”
What are some common mistakes singers make in auditions?
Sometimes people look at the Met’s upcoming repertoire and feel they should sing the big aria from one of these operas, overreaching and choosing a piece beyond their abilities. Do not sing a piece in which the climactic top notes are insecure. Choose a piece that you can sing despite being slightly nervous or under the weather.
One last question: Some singers believe that once they’re in the chorus they’ll never have a solo career. Do you agree with this view?
Not at all. I could give you a long list of big-name singers who have sung in one of my choruses. There’s no reason why that list shouldn’t continue to grow.
Rachel Antman works at LVM Group, a boutique public relations firm, and moonlights as a singer and stringer. Her articles (both written and ghostwritten) have appeared in the New York Times, the National Law Journal, Real Estate Weekly, and several trade publications.
So You Want to Be in the Chorus? Part 2
The continued oral history of the auditions, decisions and opening nights of the the Metropolitan Opera Chorus’ three newest members.
The continued oral history of the auditions, decisions and opening nights of the the Metropolitan Opera Chorus’ three newest members. For Part 1, click here.
Patrick Miller, Sara Heaton and Brian Anderson at the Opening of La boheme at the Metropolitan Opera
When we left our heroes (new Met choristers Patrick Miller, Sara Heaton and Brian Anderson) all three had been accepted to the full time chorus. However, now we have to backtrack to see how Patrick and Brian spent their summers while Sara was still waiting to learn her fate:
Patrick Miller: Over the summer I had already agreed to sing Don Jose [in Carmen] with Boheme Opera of New Jersey; that was particularly sweet because it felt like my swan song as a soloist. I really relished it. There wasn't the kind of pressure you have in some other gigs where you worry: What’s the review going to be like? What’s my agent going say? And it was a new role for me, so rather than thinking "where will this gig take me?" (as we often do working gig-to-gig), I could just sit back and savor the experience.
Brian Anderson: We made a point to really enjoy the summer and be with our kids.
Patrick: We went to Minneapolis and then traveled around the country; in a normal summer we might only have gone for a week because I would have to come back here for work or auditions. Knowing the schedule I would have starting August 1, we were like: "Let's take a month! We'll visit all our friends and family", so that's what we did!
Brian: Just spend as much quality time as possible with family — especially with my two older boys because they live a distance away and this year it’s going to be hard to travel.
Patrick: Oh yeah, and the first thing we bought was a new sofa! 1
It wasn't all fun and games (and sofa purchases) for our new choristers though.
Brian: I did look at some scores. I looked at La bohème… I definitely looked at Manon Lascaut. I tried to focus on things that were earlier in the season. But, other than that, I really just gave my mind a rest knowing that once I got into this mode of working I would be studying a lot — which I have been!
Patrick Miller as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Seattle Opera. Photo by Elise Bakketun.
Patrick: And I brought three operas home which I memorized… Rigoletto, Bohème and Manon Lescaut - the three shows that the rest of the chorus already knew.
Preseason
Preseason began August 1st. Sara had been notified three days earlier and joined Brian, Patrick and the entire rest of the chorus for seven weeks of music and preliminary staging rehearsals.
Brian: It was not a huge transition for me. I could really just dive into the work. Because I knew what was ahead of me; with Christina being here, I felt like the kids and I have been hanging outside the chorus office forever!
Sara Heaton: I will admit that the work of music-learning in preseason was very daunting and overwhelming.
Craig Montgomery (Chorus Librarian): You get all your music for the whole season on your first day. The men will have between 18 and 22 operas that they’re in and the women a few less, especially because there are four male chorus only operas this season. So they would have gotten, say between 14 and 18 scores.
Sara: For shows like William Tell and L’amour de Loin that we were spending a lot of time on in List Hall rehearsals [where the chorus has music rehearsal], I could pick it up at a similar pace to everyone else. The days I felt the most overwhelmed was when we would spend an hour and a half on something I was OK with, but then we would read through something the chorus had sung a million times like Aida or Manon Lascaut. Everyone else knew it perfectly, but I had never sung it before!
Craig: On what you might call the "opera potpourri" days, you have on your schedule as many as 6 to 8 different operas. It might just be specific sections but you cover a lot of territory!
Sara Heaton as Miranda in Death and the Powers with Chicago Opera Theater. Photo by Jonathan Williams
Sara: It got easier when we started staging. When I looked at the opening dates for each show on the calendar, I started to feel that, even if I couldn’t get everything right in the music rehearsal, at least I have until that date to really get it… but ideally before that! In that first month we were just touching on so much stuff. That was tough. I love to be really prepared. It’s hard to feel behind. That is literally my nightmare: to walk onstage and they say "OK we’re starting on this page" — and it’s a page I’ve never seen before!
Opening Night (and beyond)
Preseason came to a close on September 26th and it was time for opening night. Unusually, the season opened with two largely off-stage partial-chorus operas (Tristan und Isolde and Don Giovanni). It was not until La bohème, on the third night of the season, that the whole chorus appeared onstage together.
Brian: Walking in the doors that first night and not signing my name up here but signing my name down here. You know, that was big… that was a big moment. I had been thinking about that for a long time: “Boy, I’d really like to sign my name down there.”
Readers probably don't have the slightest idea what Brian is talking about! So here’s a little “inside baseball” on the inner workings of the Metropolitan Opera: when you walk into the stage doors at the Met, there is a sign-in sheet for the regular chorus on a podium to your right. The extra chorus sign-in sheet is taped to the wall above it.
Sara: I think the moment it felt really different was the first Bohème when the curtain opens and the audience claps… because I’ve been in that audience before, clapping like “OH MY GOD, THAT SET’S AMAZING!” Also I just really love Bohème, and Musetta was one of the first opera roles I performed. That moment was when I felt like, “This is really happening!” People come here and they see this beautiful, mind-blowing set and there’s just this warm feeling in the house. That what it’s all about.
Brian: It was exciting! La bohème was the first opera I ever saw at the Met and now I'm sitting on the set! It was really a thrill.
Patrick: People kept coming up to me and saying things like: “Welcome to the first night of the rest of your life!” and "You’re going to spend a lot of time in this Parisian quarter you know!" With my top hat, costume, and beard (when I had it) 2 , people kept telling me I looked like a Charles Dickens character. During my fittings, the costumers said “We made a new one for you because you’re going to wear it literally hundreds of times” and I thought: “That's cool… I like the sound of that.”
Sara: On Bohème opening night the women of the chorus put up these amazing decorations all over my dressing area and everyone gave me presents. My desk was overflowing with gift bags and cards! It was incredible!
With the excitement of opening night over, our three fearless choristers can reflect on what it took to get here and what lies ahead.
Brian Anderson as Frederic in Pirates of Penzance at Arizona Opera. Photo by Tim Fuller
Sara: My life has changed completely. Almost like a flip… a 180. So much has changed: the rhythm of my days, my outlook on things. One of the biggest things is that I know where I’m going to be this year. Before, it was hard to plan a couple months out. Things could change so quickly.
Patrick: Every year, as an extra chorister, when I sang my last performance on the stage, I would really savor it because I always knew this could be the last time I sing on this stage. I was enjoying it and taking it all in and really savoring the moments.
Brian: I really feel almost like I graduated in here, because I really felt like I was developing my choral singing ability the whole time.
Patrick: Because I was in the extra chorus for five years, I had a decent idea of what life was going to be like and what I was getting into. My wife and I had a long talk about how it’s going to be. I’m going to be gone in the morning, my daughter will be asleep every night by the time I get home. We're prepared for that and when the grind starts - when it gets really crazy... well I hope I will be as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and excited as I am now!
Sara: And now there's a knowledge “I will be here… I’ll be working here next week”. I know where I'll be in January, I know what I’ll be doing next April… that’s a really different way of thinking about my life. The change is almost too much to put into words.
Your humble reporter is happy to report that we have opened three shows since these interviews: L'italiana in Algeri, Guillaume Tell and Jenufa, and Sara, Patrick and Brian are singing and performing in them admirably. They are off to a great start and we look forward to many more years of seeing them on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera!
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That was your tireless reporter’s first purchase after getting into the Met Chorus too! ↩
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It really was a great beard! Patrick was asked to shave it for Don Giovanni — talk about sacrifices for the job! ↩
Edward Hanlon, graduate of McGill University and University of Michigan, is a happy Long Island boy making good with the Metropolitan Opera. Favorite roles include Figaro, Sparafucile, Dick Deadeye, Sarastro and Nick Bottom with companies such as the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Lincoln Center Theatre, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Des Moines Metro Opera and the Glimmerglass Festival. He dreams of singing another Figaro with his beautiful wife, soprano Tanya Roberts. His first novel is is due to be released
this summer
...
at the end of the 2017-18 season
... umm... someday? Check out his website and follow him on Facebook or Instagram.
So You Want to Be in the Chorus? Part 1
An oral history of the auditions, decisions and opening nights of the the Metropolitan Opera Chorus’ three newest members.
An oral history of the auditions, decisions and opening nights of the the Metropolitan Opera Chorus’ three newest members.
New Choristers at the Metropolitan Opera: Brian Anderson, Sara Heaton & Patrick Miller
This year, three new singers have joined the ranks of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus as full time singers: Sara Heaton, Patrick Miller and Brian Anderson. It has been a career and life changing transition for all of them. To get a sense for what it means, I sat down with them to listen to their experiences and the path that lead them here. Here are their stories:
Before the Audition
All three singers have had solo careers throughout the country and worked in the extra chorus at the Metropolitan Opera.
Sara Heaton: Since I graduated in 2007, I’ve been doing young artist programs and building up my career as a soloist. In the beginning I did mostly opera and quite a bit of new music. For the past few years, I’ve been focusing more on concert work with symphonies and chamber music ensembles and doing recitals.
Brian Anderson: I traveled a lot from the time I finished my Adler [Fellowship at San Francisco Opera]. Then I ended up making my [New York] City Opera debut and latched on with them. I was covering and singing second cast kind of stuff but it was great because I could be home. But then when they went belly up that source of income dried up for me.
Patrick Miller: After I finished the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, I worked professionally for 10 years, singing leading roles mostly with small to medium-large houses along with my wife, who is also a singer. Five years ago I started working in the extra chorus; it was a great "side job" and provided stable, dependable pillars of income and family time throughout the season. It also conveniently coincided with the birth of our daughter.
Sara: I’ve been doing extra chorus for three years now.
Brian: For the past 5 years, I would say I’ve been more or less transitioning to staying in New York more and traveling less. Especially since my daughter was born in 2011. So I went and auditioned and got into the extra chorus and I just kept doing that.
Brian is married to Christina Thomson Anderson (also in the Met Opera Chorus) and has four children, ages 20, 17, 8 and 5.
Sara: It wasn’t until a few years ago that I even knew you could be a full time singer in the Met chorus. I did the audition to be in the extra chorus and when I did my first extra chorus show here, it was just eye-opening to learn about the full time position. I can't believe I didn't hear about it earlier on in my career and education. I realized that this is another way to have a singing career.
Patrick: As a soloist, unless you are in a situation where you’re working with a particular house, (like the Met), that’s hiring you frequently enough, you’re traveling a lot, you’re staying in hotels, you’re out of town for weeks and sometimes months on end. I wanted to be closer to my family, so doing extra chorus work meant spending time with them. I was going to be home for extended stretches.
Patrick is also married to a singer and has a five year old daughter. All three singers hoped for an full time position with the chorus.
Sara: It has been in the back of my mind since the beginning. I was a little bit torn, because there are a lot of things I really loved about the freedom to create my own performing schedule. Just in the past couple years I’ve formed some special relationships with musicians I collaborate with regularly and, given the schedule at the Met, it will be a little more difficult to do gigs with them during the year.
Patrick: It was much more fun than I expected… not that I was expecting that it wouldn’t be fun! The experience of working with 80, or sometimes over 100, singers - that many great voices in one room was a rush. I’ve sung in choirs all my life, and you’re usually hired to pull other people along. To be in a group where we were all leading the charge musically and vocally… it was a real pleasure because you immediately felt that you would achieve something great artistically. Many of my colleagues were accomplished soloists before joining the Met Chorus, and joining such a fraternity of artists is exciting. I never felt that anywhere else but here.
Sara: I tried not to think about it too much because it wasn’t a given. I assumed I would do the extra chorus for many years and then, maybe, I would get a full time thing. But I certainly wasn’t counting on it and I didn’t set my hopes on it too much.
The Audition
Patrick: I remember postponing my audition a couple of times: first I was out of town, then I was sick. I finally did my audition some time in October.
Sara: I sang “Je veux vivre” [Juliette’s first act aria from Romeo et Juliette] in my August audition.
Both Brian and Patrick heard in December that they would be called back for a full time position on the 14th of December.
Brian: I had heard about two weeks ahead of time that I was going to be doing it which was great because it gave me a lot of time to prepare.
Patrick: We both got dressed in the extra chorus locker room and warmed up in there at the same time. I was in the bathroom and he was in the dressing room - finding a space to vocalize in this city requires creativity, and sometimes you have to share!
Brian: Singing for a chorus audition is different from a solo audition. Maestro Palumbo is looking for the voice to do certain things that should blend into the rest of the section. Being in the extra chorus I learned so much about what it means to be in the chorus (also, of course, being married to one!) I learned the demands of the job and the level of musicianship he expects and what it really means to sing in an ensemble as opposed to singing solo. It really is, to me, a big difference.
Donald Palumbo (chorus-master of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus): 1 First and foremost, there has to be a basic amount of sound produced for work in a large opera house. If the voice is so small that it won’t add to the sound, that’s a strike that’s going to be pretty hard to overcome, even if it’s a pretty voice. I also evaluate the purity of the tone and whether the vibrato is controlled. I want to determine whether the voice maintains its shape and focus throughout the the range, and, in particular, whether it gets pushed past the beautiful point in forte singing. Intonation is also critical. Problem signs are a constant sagging in pitch or a tone with no spin. If a person has a beautiful voice that sits below pitch, that would create problems in the chorus.
Brian: I sang “De’ miei bollenti spiriti” [Alfredo’s Act 2 aria from La Traviata]. You send the chorus office a list of arias. They pick two and then you choose from that. But Maestro Palumbo just wanted to hear the one aria.
Patrick: For the callback I sang The Flower Song [Don José’s Act 3 aria from Carmen]. There is some strategy involved in selecting what you sing in an audition, but essentially you should offer the arias that best show off your technique, vocal color, and artistry under pressure. For me that was Don José.
The Decision
Patrick & Brian learned they were accepted over the Christmas holiday.
Patrick: My wife, daughter and I were in Minneapolis over Christmas break to spend a few days with my parents. It was New Year’s Eve, and we had just finished some shopping. My wife says, “Is there anything else you want?” and I say “I just want a job. A job I can be proud of - that I can support my family -that I can feel like I’m making a contribution.” That was about 3:30 pm.
Brian: I think I heard about a week after the audition. But I just kind of knew. When I did the audition I felt really good about it. Sometimes in auditions, somehow you just know that you’re doing something right. And this was one of those times. I was ready, I really prepared, and I said, if it doesn’t happen now whatever… but I couldn’t have done any better.
Patrick: I pull into the grocery store parking lot and look down at my phone… I remember it was snowing… and I see a missed call from the Metropolitan Opera and I was like “that’s weird… why am I getting a call on New Year's Eve?" So I check the voicemail: “Patrick, this is Donald Palumbo calling. Please give me a call at your earliest convenience”. My heart started racing… I was like “Oh this is it, this is it!" I called back and he wasn’t there. When I got back to the car I said “umm… Donald Palumbo just left me a voicemail…” and my wife was like “THAT’S IT, THAT’S IT! YOU GOT IT!” I said “OK, let’s calm down here” (we Minnesotans try to avoid assuming "best case scenarios"!); I’m trying to wrack my brain to think of some other reason he might be calling me. I got home and told my parents and they were really excited. My parents had been hoping and praying for this, as we all had, for quite a while.
Maestro Palumbo did call back an hour and a half later and offered Patrick the job
Patrick: And the best part about it: I told you I had that moment in the car where I said this is all I want. I checked the timestamp on the voicemail and it was right at that time. It was between 3:30 and 3:45., within a couple minutes of when I said that, that Palumbo called me. And if my ringer had been on it would have been an even better story! Why couldn't I have had my ringer on???
But what about poor Sara!?!? She had auditioned in late August, but March rolled around and she still hadn’t heard from the Met.
Sara: I didn’t hear anything until some time in the early spring when they asked me to sing in Fidelio and Nabucco.
Sara had been hired to sing extra chorus. That was all she expected to sing with the Met in the 2016-17 season.
Sara: I had those chunks of time already blocked out in my schedule for the Met productions, and I had other solo engagements throughout the year in addition to some freelance work as a grant writer. Then on July 29th (it was a Friday) I got a call from Kurt Phinney saying: “I wanted to see if you were interested and available to start the season with us on Monday as a full time soprano in the chorus." I pretty much started freaking out!
Kurt Phinney (Chorus Manager): The hire was last minute because a chorister decided that they wanted to retire but hadn’t come to that conclusion until very late. Maestro Palumbo always has a keen sense of the talent pool at his disposal and ultimately it’s his call. Sara was the number-one candidate for him. And I think everyone that was listening at the audition concurred whole-heartedly because not only is she a great singer but also a great colleague. It was a convenient thing that we had someone so good already working here. So actually, it was one of the most easily resolved casting crises we’ve ever dealt with. With Sara, the choice was very easy.
Sara: After the conversation with Kurt, I had the weekend to mull it over, talk to my husband, etc.. On Sunday I called Kurt to tell him I accepted, and I was here for rehearsals on Monday!
The decision to join the Met Chorus was not one they took lightly
Brian: It’s somewhat of a challenge for our family; both of us doing this job and having two small kids but at least now they are both in school during the day. It’s just the evenings that are tough — I won’t get to put them to bed a lot.
Sara: I was excited, but it was also a little bittersweet. I had to cancel several engagements I had coming up this year. An added complication is that my husband and I recently bought a house in Beacon, which is beautiful, but it’s not like living in the city and being around the corner!
Brian: I don’t think I would have even tried for the job if we didn’t think we could make it. And once I was given the job, we went to find quality child care and look at the schedule for what the year would look like for us. Where’s going to be the easy time, where’s the challenging time?
Sara: My husband was really proud of me and just really excited. He’s a musician too, so he appreciates both the enormity of being offered a job like this, as well as what it means to not be pursuing a solo career anymore. We did discuss not seeing each other as much anymore given that it’s a long commute but we’re open and flexible to seeing how it goes.
Patrick: You feel validated as an artist. I really feel that an investment has been made in me. That there’s one spot and I’ve been chosen to take it.
Sara: I remember feeling this wave of relief. I had been working as a soloist for so long but to have that recognition from this company was this emotional wave like… wow! It was really gratifying and humbling at the same time to feel like somebody at that company thinks I’m good enough to be there. Even though I had done extra chorus before it was different. There’s a lot of weight to that.
Patrick: It’s an honor, but also a responsibility. You feel immediately that you want to "step up to the plate” and deliver every time you open your mouth.
End of Part 1. Click Here for Part 2
Edward Hanlon, graduate of McGill University and University of Michigan, is a happy Long Island boy making good with the Metropolitan Opera. Favorite roles include Figaro, Sparafucile, Dick Deadeye, Sarastro and Nick Bottom with companies such as the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Lincoln Center Theatre, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Des Moines Metro Opera and the Glimmerglass Festival. He dreams of singing another Figaro with his beautiful wife, soprano Tanya Roberts. His first novel is is due to be released
this summer
...
at the end of the 2017-18 season
... umm... someday? Check out his website and follow him on Facebook or Instagram.
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From an March, 2009 issue of Classical Singer Magazine. Interviewed by Rachel A. Antman. ↩