The Performing Artist's Life
in the New Information Age ....

from an interview for Wholenote magazine

What are the differences in the hiring system now?

It is necessary in this day and age to have multiple support systems if you want a truly satisfying career. However, it becomes extremely costly, both financially and for wear-and-tear, to fly out for auditions, certainly to New York where airfares, accommodations, and other such living expenses come into play. And often enough, when you go to an audition in, say, New York, I've found that, unless you have the 'manager of the millennium' or luck out with a magical time slot catching your auditioners particularly clear-headed, you could be singing like Maria Callas herself [a singer Linda Maguire is often compared with] but these 'impresarios' have been so saturated with countless 'perfect auditions' that they can't seem to differentiate between them. This is one of my observations of the system.

But aren't auditions just an inevitable fact of the industry?

That's the rumour, I'm afraid! ... But my work is so varied in scope, and I've been professionally successful in so many styles and categories of music, that it is simply impossible to show auditioners 'who I really am as a consummate professional' in an 8 or 10 minute time slot, especially if the pressure is on them with 25 singers outside in the hall waiting to be heard. My repertoire doesn't fall into a neat category or 'fach'. For instance, although I am a mezzo-soprano and make a fine income with my lower register, 90% of my professional operatic work is in the zwischen-fach repertoire - that is, actual soprano roles which are occasionally taken by mezzos. The Vitellia I did recently with Dallas Opera is a prime example of that. I mean, most sopranos have trouble with Vitellia - it's a role quite difficult to cast (which I find somewhat difficult to fathom, as it sits quite easily in my voice). However, in an 8-minute time slot, auditioners just don't have time or head space to gather and process the fact that I am a mezzo who sings such soprano operatic roles - it's an unusual thing, and confusing for them. I'm speaking mostly with opera auditions. If I can't be put into a neat and convenient little category ... well, they just don't have the time, the imagination, or the inclination in normal audition circumstances to 'get it', especially when I'm in with scores of other singers, the majority of whom obediently fit in their 'five perfect opera roles'. This web site lets them gather in this information at their leisure, and if my specialties still aren't clear - well, it's not that the full product wasn't presented at my end.

Again, I ask, aren't auditions just simply the only solution to the issue of casting operas?

That's the status quo opinion at the moment. But, as an artist, I've always had a problem with auditions, in that I feel on some judgment table in a very anti-theatrical environment. But, mainly, I feel that I am having to "prove something" which you simply can't "prove" - that which should just be allowed to flow from the most beautiful and greatest source - the soul. And no one earthly person or persons can or should be able to determine your worth. But that's what an audition is. It's a difficult thing to describe clearly. I have never felt pressure from an audience in this way. Auditions are a highly unnatural thing for me as a performer and artist. Performing for an audience is another thing altogether. Many of these impresarios will argue that they can't really hear the voice from a tape or a video. I'm sorry, but at some point, a truly qualified impresario can just look at a singer work and tell if something really special is going on or not. A picture says a thousand words. They could also click onto an array of impressive reviews on my web site. I've listed many of them - I've been lucky, practically all of my reviews have been positive ones. Artistic directors and impresarios can scroll until they find the reviewers whose opinion they respect, and see what they say about my work. They will soon also be able to read a message board from fans, many of whom adore my work. These are the persons who buy the tickets and fill their houses. After all that, if they still aren't sure, I would prefer to provide them with tickets to one of my upcoming shows (let them do the flying!) or they can invite me to audition and sing for something specific that they might have me in mind for. Otherwise, you are taking trip after expensive trip to do some unspecified cattle call. It's quite discouraging, demoralizing at times, and a terrible waste of artists' funds.

What about their questions of quality of voice and how your particular vocal quality will work in their particular house?

Well, very few impresarios audition in their own house anyway. Most of the audition spaces I've had to deal with have been painfully inadequate. So who's compromising first here? I look forward to technology improving enough - just as recordings have improved. You know, if an artist is talented, intelligent, well-trained and musical, they will know how to make anything in any house work. The advantage is that these are live and untouched performances (except for the CDs). This web site simply lays out quite clearly that I have flexible and versatile qualities - that I have a strong following and fan base - that not only could I do the job they require, but fill their houses while doing it. Certain things are undeniable and that's what this site lays out. It takes a certain panic, uncertainty, and subjectivity out of the hiring process. Artistic administrators can be even more certain through this extensive over-sampling available at their fingertips.