Career Advice

Starting and Developing a Career

By Celia Novo

Experience has taught me that the truth is always the best approach. A career in classical music is not simply one's job; it is a choice that will demand great sacrifice. Young artists must have dedication, ambition, and resolve. They must want to succeed more than anything else, or they will surely fail.

Artists making the transition from training/education programs to professional work have unique needs and require special care and guidance. I believe these young artists are the future of our business, and without them the art form will become stale and irrelevant. Therefore, I feel an obligation to assist and support young artists in properly establishing themselves as professionals.

To better serve these singers, Novo Artists has created an Emerging Artists Division (EAD), which offers a separate and customized "home" for beginners. We work with young artists and carefully advise them on apprentice programs, teachers, coaches, repertoire, which jobs to go after, and which ones to forego. We work with these clients to help them prepare mentally and physically for auditions and to learn how to comport themselves as professionals in every regard. If they attain sufficient success while in the EAD, we can exercise the option of moving them up to our Principal Artists Roster where we assist them in securing better paying and more artistically rewarding engagements.

For a beginner, the selection of an agent or manager can be a difficult, complex, and often traumatic process. In choosing a personal representative, artists are committing to someone who not only arranges for auditions and assists in finding work, but someone who supports their interests and negotiates their contracts. For all practical purposes the agent/manager is the artist's full business partner, and should therefore be expected to foster good will and help the client create an attractive, positive, and desirable persona. The ideal agent or manager must have impeccable credentials. He or she must have a comprehensive knowledge of repertoire, casting, and programming, as well as access to a wide range of presenters. Most importantly, the agent/manager must have a good reputation for honest dealings. This very close business relationship must be built on openness and trust, or it cannot be mutually beneficial.

If the singer is in a training program, he or she can ask the opera company's artistic administrator or casting director whom they respect, trust, and like to work with when making casting decisions. The singer can also seek out successful singers and ask them if they are comfortable in recommending someone they personally know to be honest and hard working. Above all, the young singer must remember that it is better to wait for the appropriate partner than to be represented by someone who has a poor track record. To put yourself, your reputation, and your future in the hands of someone who is uninformed, unprepared, ineffectual, or not totally honest is far worse than having no representation at all.

Singers beginning their careers must never allow a personal representative to put them in a position where they cannot deliver the goods. The singer must be aware that some agents might promise more than they can deliver: some might not be very good business people, or some might have limited musical knowledge. Worst of all, some may not have good relationships with presenters. These are all essential factors that significantly affect an artist representative's overall success.

Securing representation may be the artist's first professional validation, but getting hired is what truly counts. Clients should appreciate that managers can open doors and offer guidance, but the artist must nail the audition, earn the job, and give the performance. The artist's professional conduct and behavior as a good musician and good colleague will often determine whether he or she is reengaged or not. A dedicated agent achieves success by working tirelessly to help clients find the right teachers and coaches, accurately evaluate and reevaluate marketability, prepare for auditions and performances, and make productive career choices.

Auditioning and casting also offer significant challenges to artists and to managers. Rejection cannot be taken personally. This is extremely difficult because the artist is "the product" that the manager is selling. The artist must understand that decisions are rarely based solely on a single audition. A variety of factors come into play. It's not just the beautiful voice or the perfect technique that gets hired. Nor is it only the "friend of a friend" who prevails. The person who is engaged and reengaged is the reliable professional, the consummate colleague, and most importantly, the low-maintenance artist.

While clients should have realistic expectations, managers owe their clients their diligence and informed judgment. Your agent should earn your respect through informed selectivity, excellence, and reliability. A good manager never makes inappropriate recommendations or unreasonable requests.

It may sound overly simplistic, but for artist and manager alike, beginners and experienced professionals, there are no substitutes for integrity, high standards of professionalism, and good old-fashioned hard work.