Clarity & Confidence - the key to presenting yourself (before you've even sung a note)

An exclusive Audition Oracle blog post by director Nina Brazier.

 Photo: Michael Wharley

From sending in your CV to presenting yourself in an audition  - what exactly is a director looking for in a young or emerging singer?

Clarity

Correspondence should be clear and direct from the outset, starting with a concise, well-laid-out CV.  Don’t include jobs that are irrelevant to your career as a singer – I was once sent an 11-page CV which was obviously also used for temp-work!  It should be clear from your application that you take yourself and your work seriously, and this should be reflected in the quality of everything you submit – your headshot, your CV and your website (if you have one). Make sure you are happy to be judged on anything of yours that is available online – those Youtube videos from a few years back may well be dug out, so if that’s not the quality of your work now – get them taken down.

Headshots should be an honest and professional image of you (no iPhone shots and definitely no pets in shot) and should preferably be something close to how you present yourself in an audition.  It might be obvious, but CVs should avoid unusual fonts; reading it should be effortless, we shouldn’t get lost in the swirls of Edwardian Script or even Comic Sans.  If you have too many masterclasses to squeeze on your CV, make an executive decision and leave some off.  Check all your attachments before winging off that email – each one should be clearly labeled, as at some point it will be placed in a folder with many others, and it makes it much easier to find later. Every now and then I receive beautifully-written application emails with no attachments!  Later correspondence is also incredibly important - be clear about confirming your audition time or requesting NAs during the rehearsal period, and reply promptly and professionally. If you have unanswered questions (Is there a warm up room?  Will I need to bring my own pianist?) think ahead and try to ask them early in your first correspondence rather than creating more email traffic later on.

The whole of the above can create an impression of you as a person before we have even heard you sing a note – how professional and ‘together’ you are, regardless of age or experience.  On the other hand it could also create an impression of someone flakey and unreliable before we’ve even clapped eyes on you.

LEFT: Cherise Lagasse and Timothy Morgan (Alcina and Ruggiero) in Ryedale Festival Opera's Alcina. Photo: Gerard Collett.
RIGHT: Rowan Pierce and Turiya Haudenhuyse (Elisa & Aminta) in Il Re Pastore (opera scenes) at the Royal College of Music.  Photo: Robert Workman

Confidence

Walking into an audition must be an incredibly nerve-wracking experience, and I have so much respect for singers and the sheer guts it must take to present to a room of strangers – or perhaps worse, colleagues or friends.  Unfortunately I can’t assist with how one projects this precious confidence – unless I’m preparing your audition rep that is - I can only talk about it from the other side of the table, but I hope the perspective will be useful nevertheless.  As I mentioned before, try to present something similar to your headshot if you can – if anyone has come into the waiting room calling out your name and then looking confused when you declare yourself, perhaps double-check that your headshot is an honest representation of who you are (I don’t mean forego the glamour, we are in the opera industry after all!).  What I ideally want to see is a warm, confident person who is comfortable and in control of their talent.  This warmth and friendliness goes a long way for me – as a director I will have to spend weeks with you, so as well as (of course) you being right for the role, I also want to know we’re going to have a nice time together.

I know everyone has an opinion on audition outfits, and I’m sure I’m not saying anything new.  Making an effort in your outfit (not too short or tight), hair (clean and preferably off your face, there’s nothing worse than hair waving around to distract a panel from the actual singing) shoes (clean and relevant to the outfit) is definitely a good thing, and will get you a long way.  Crucially, you need to be confident and comfortable in your outfit, and relaxed so that you can concentrate on the most important part – the actual singing.  If you carry off a put-together look with ease and confidence, it continues to add to the impression of you as a person that cares about how they present themselves and their abilities to the outside world, and that’s exactly what we’re after.

Two further things I can suggest for auditions, again perhaps obvious, so forgive me if I’m saying things you already know.  Cancellations: of course we understand when situations or illnesses crop up unavoidably - the best thing is to be honest and direct with us.  If you do have to cancel, try to do it as early as physically possible, and if it has to be done on the day, by phone to make sure a message has got through.  If you’re ‘suddenly’ stuck in France, surely you know the evening before?  If you are struck down with a bug, let us know first thing in the morning, not just before your audition time – there might still be time for us to invite someone else who is standing by hoping for a slot.  If you cancel in a late or thoughtless way and you apply for an audition at a later date for the same company – the chances are they will remember, and might think twice about inviting you again.  Secondly, it can be a useful thing to be early if you can.  I know this is not always be possible, but if another singer is unavoidably held up, you might be able to swop with their slot, which stops the auditions getting delayed, and puts us all in a good mood!

Through the crucial early stages of hearing from singers and then meeting them in person, I can’t underline enough the importance of the clarity and confidence with which you present and express yourself.  When it comes to a decision between two equally-good singers, it might just tip the balance.

Nina Brazier, director