About Opera Singers

Opera singers have peculiar vocal traits that make them specially suited to the opera genre. There are many different types of voice, all suited to different roles and repertoires. But professional opera singers all share a few things in common, such as rigorous training, full schedules and a globetrotting lifestyle.

Operatic Voice

To sing opera and truly sound good at it, one needs some particular vocal characteristics. It may seem that a singer of Broadway musicals could easily sing opera, but this is actually rarely the case. A truly operatic voice has great clarity, lots of power and excellent flexibility. One major distinction between an opera voice and any other is volume and power. Opera performances are not amplified, so a singer needs to have the ability to reach the back of the theater with the power of their voice alone. The qualities needed to be a great opera singer are innate. An operatic voice can be trained, but the special qualities cannot be taught. On the other hand, many opera singers really only sound good singing opera. An opera singer attempting to sing pop songs or even Broadway show tunes often sounds overdone and out of place.

Types of Voice

Opera voices are classified by range. Male and female voices each have three main ranges into which they are divided. The deepest male voice is bass. The middle range is baritone and the upper range is tenor. For females, the deepest voice is alto, then mezzo-soprano and soprano. There are shades and subsets within each voice type. For example, a lyric tenor sounds different than a dramatic tenor. An individual opera singer's roles and repertoire are determined by their voice type. For example, someone who sounds excellent singing Mozart may not sound so great singing Verdi and vice versa.

Education and Training

Almost all professional modern opera singers have a college or equivalent education. In order to train their voices, students of opera spend long hours singing with teachers, usually accompanied by piano. Prospective opera singers are also expected to have training in acting, as acting is an important part of opera. Students also study languages and the International Phonetic Alphabet; because most operas are in languages other than English (Italian, French, Russian and German are the most common), it is vital for the singers to have a good idea of what they are saying, in order to give the words the proper emotion. Many prospective singers also participate in pre-professional programs, such as San Francisco Opera's Merola Opera Program.

Job Description

The life of an opera singer of course focuses on stage productions. This involves a lengthy process for each production of auditions, rehearsals and actual performance. But there is more to an operatic career than that. Many opera singers make recordings of operas or solo projects, and many also give recitals. An opera singer's life usually involves lots of travel and a schedule that may be full two or three years in advance.

Famous Opera Singers

Many opera singers since the advent of recording have become household names, or nearly so. Enrico Caruso was the most famous tenor of the early twentieth century, and is still considered one of the greatest ever. Maria Callas, the Greek soprano, had a rather brief but brilliant career in the 1960s; her voice is considered by many to be the greatest female operatic voice of all time. Luciano Pavarotti is synonymous with Italian tenors, and his Three Tenors recordings with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras made opera accessible to a new audience. Some rising stars of the opera world today are Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon, Russian soprano Anna Netrebko and French soprano Natalie Dessay.

Resources

• More on voice classification