Opera singers can get experience by being involved in amateur musical productions and entering competitions. Some opera singers will send sample recordings of their work to opera and theatre directors.

Required skill:

Employment conditions:
Most opera singers work freelance or have a short term contract with opera companies, choirs or musical theatre groups. Unfortunately, this is a very competitive area with little job security, and very few permanent jobs with salaries.

Earnings depends on an individual's experience. Opera singers tend to be paid for each concert or recital they give, or for a particular length of performance run, maybe 8 or 12 weeks. There are many pay rates listed, which depend on the venue (such as opera house or concert hall) and the type of performance (live, recorded or broadcast).

Real life examples:
Andrea Bocelli is an example of a successful opera singer, with a long successful career in music spanning over 37 years. Bocelli is the most-selling artist in the history of classical music and is well known for his beautiful voice, famous for songs such as 'Time to Say Goodbye', duet with Sarah Brightman and more recently working with Ed Sheeran on hit single 'Perfect'. After performing evenings in piano bars and competing in local singing contests, Bocelli signed his first recording contract with the Sugar Music label. He rose to fame in 1994, winning the preliminary round of the 44th Sanremo Music Festival  performing "Miserere", with the highest marks ever recorded in the newcomers. 

An unsuccessful example could be those entering talent competitions like 'Britain's Got Talent' and 'The X Factor'. Jonathan Antoine is a classically trained English tenor and rose to fame after appearing on the sixth series of 'Britain's Got Talent' in 2012 as one half of the classical duo Jonathan and Charlotte. Jonathan trained at the Royal Academy of Music. Although releasing a debut album and follow-up album between 2014-2016, I don't think they were classed industrially successful and since then he has not released any new music. Jonathan is an example that although modern platforms, like singing competitions, are helping individual artists in their performing arts career, some do not pan out in the long run or in the same way.

Aspiring pop singers send demo CDs of their work to local venues and check adverts in local recording studios. One successful pop singers, Madison Beer, gained her popularity through showcasing her talents on social media platforms, like YouTube and TikTok. Another way pop singers have gained status is by auditioning for organised talent competitions, such as The X factor and Britain's Got Talent. One direction, the most famous boy band globally, entered the seventh series of 'The X factor' and I think their succession proved the authenticity of talent competitions, encouraging also aspiring artists to do the same.

But also, opportunities in holiday resorts and in cruise ships helped Jane McDonald in her rise succession in music. Her self-titled debut album hit number one in the charts. She has also appeared in musicals and with her one-women show and is still growing today. Even established singers often supplement their income with work as session singers or backup singers for film soundtracks, studio recordings or the advertising industry. Marisha Wallace, currently Becky in 'Waitress', was also auditioning for roles in movies while performing on the West End. She can be seen for singing for a few seconds in Disney's live action remake of 'Aladdin'. This would have pushed her name further out into the industry, arguably giving her the opportunity to tour as a singer.

However, if unsuccessful in their intentions, some artists will settle with being social media ‘influencers’, as a way of making a living and still being able to do what they love, performing. Anthony Gargiula is an example artist. Anthony has a 112k following on Instagram and posts covers of recent pop songs, while also still working at local events (like seasonally at Disney Land) to pass by as a smaller influencer who hasn’t necessarily ‘made it’ with his music career yet; despite a few viral Instagram videos, and also TikTok videos. In conclusion, Anthony still has to resort to the traditional ways of promoting his music and finding work, despite the technical advancements for marketing.

Employment conditions:
Famous pop singers usually negotiating their own contracts, as they can be considered freelance; unless they have an agent, who would be in charge of this under the stars supervision and say. However,  the vast majority of pop singers must combine performing multiple job to make ends meet.

Pay rates vary, depending on the venue (a club, London theatre, regional theatre, a pub, on television or in a recording studio etc.) and type of performance (live or recorded). Usually a singer is paid per gig although some might have a regular spot in a pub or club.
On the down side, there are still expenses and fees to pay, such as manager’s fee, publicity and transport costs.

The rise in pop music could cause a decline for opera music, vice vera, and I believe this has become the case through the last century when opera was at it peak. When the term 'pop song' was first used in 1926 was arguably the start of an evolution for the modern pop music industry. Moving forward, in 2018 it was reported that 17.4% of people listen to classical and opera music, whereas 56.1% of people listen to pop music; becoming the 'dominant' genre of music. It correlates that the introduction of pop music was at the cost of the opera, and many more, genres. This may impact the amount of gigs and work opportunities available to opera singers today as most concerts and festivals attract their customers through the pop music industry. 

In spite of this, pop singers have also known to collaborate with and help opera singers. Ed Sheeran (best British male solo artist) collaborated with Andrea Bocelli (winner of the 44th Sanremo Music Festival) on one of his most popular songs 'Perfect', which was viewed on YouTube 250 million times. I believe this is evidence that pop music and opera music has become a keen combination and, due to this, more pop artists are impacting smaller opera artist in the sake of interdependence. Another example of a pop artists collaborating with a opera artist is Celine Dion and Placid Domingo and Gary Barlow and Katherine Jenkins. I believe this has brought more recognition and popularity to this genre of music, as well as the individual artists, while also bringing opera fans back to pop music and the artists.

Another factor that shows how both roles relate and impact each other is the fact that both roles are considered freelance. Despite working in different genres of the industry, the competition against each other is tough. Especially for artists just starting off by scraping every performance or gig they can  when this becomes limited due to the amount of aspiring performers today. This may lead to the performer having to seek a different route to have a break in their career. For pop singers this could be getting a degree or formal training to make them possibly more employable, at the cost of debt and time. Opera singers could gain experience through amateur musical productions, again costing more time and money.

Whilst the stage design, actors, costumes, props, and lighting are obvious parts of any production, sound design is one of the subtlest (but important) parts of the entire experience. Previously, sound effects would take days to produce but today production teams can simply look up sound effects and download them. Microphones are also much smaller and easier to use than ever before. Again, the production aspect mandatory for musicals has become the cheapest and least time consuming it has ever been. This means the industry can reserve its money, while also making more through the finer quality of everything through the development of technology.

Despite this, I have also researched into the remaining areas of musical theatre to consider as my specialism to keep open minded and receptive so this knowledge I gain from this task will most benefit me in my musical theatre career. After careful consideration, I opted against the two as I feel more passionately connected to singing, combined with the knowledge most of my musical theatre targets (set individually and by my lecturers) involve pushing myself vocally due to confidence. However, while acting and performance is still a huge component in singing performance, I am confident that what I learn will benefit me toward my triple threat goal in musical theatre.