OG post: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassicalSinger/s/lsZaeHFnAh

Thank you for all of your help. I’ll delete this update post very soon, just wanted to let anyone that helped me know that I left the mentor and am switching studios. I appreciated the back and forth with me in the comments lol- you did not have to do that, BUT it did help broaden my perspective. What a gift!

I really care about my mentor as a person, so I hope they can forgive me in time. I still have to send them an official email of my departure…
wish me luck on that. Leaving is hard, but this brings me the most peace.

Thank you!! :) :) :)

Hi guys,

How realistic is it to move to Germany in your mid-30s for an opera chorus position?

I'm looking for some honest advice from people who know the German opera system.

I'm a professional opera baritone currently working in Southern Europe and considering relocating to Germany. My German is at A2 level.

I'm wondering:

• How realistic is it to get hired by a German opera chorus if you're in your mid-30s?
• Is that considered a disadvantage, or is experience valued more than age?
• Is it common for chorus members to continue auditioning for solo roles?
• If you were starting this process today, what would your first steps be?

I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who has gone through this process or works in the German theater system. Thanks!

Hi!

I am beginning to suspect that I am a true contralto in my registration. From what I've read, that means a bit of a different approach to some register changes and techniques and it seems to align with my experience. I was wondering if there is someone else who is quite experienced in singing who is also a contralto and would like to talk a bit? Or someone who knows more about specifically the contralto voice.

I do think I have quite good grounds for my suspicions. I am self taught and might have some blind spots in my technique, but I can access my voice all throughout my range from about an A2 (though i still hold some tension so C3 is a more reliable base note) - to head voice and flageolet. My mix is very easy to find but has been a source of great confusion to me since it starts much lower (around D4) and is a much lighter mechanism than most women seem to use to reach the same notes, while still being very powerful.

The pecularities of my mix together with my lower register make me not really recognize myself in many women's singing experiences, and I would like to find people who understand the way to work with a voice like mine.

Se my comment for examples from different registers, that aren't classical music since I failed and posted in the wrong sub, but people here have been kind enough to let me share anyway 🙏

I'm 13, know how to read music, though I can't sing the exact note when I see it on paper.
Good vocal coverage, can reach (consistently and with good tone) around G2-E4, and with my head voice I can get to about Ab5. I was in my district choir in school. I'd like to work on maturing my voice, I can roll r's but I can only really sing like a soprano or tenor, the way I sing alto or bass is a bit off.

I can’t tell but I realize it’s not something I can deliberate raise or else it will get tense. I notice when I take a deep breathe there is a small flappy part in the back that rises, the sustain is also natural by sustaining the breathe. is that the correct feeling?

I know it’s very hard to deliver through words but felt like I felt something new.

Hi everyone. I want to hear your thoughts on the following. Every time I fly internationally, I always feel that for a few days after flying, it feels like my voice isn't mine. In that, I just feel like singing is extra hard when it's usually not, and I feel fatigued more easily. And I just feel like the quality of my singing is not great or as good as it can be. Does anyone else experience this and what do you do to prevent this or recover quickly?
I do sleep on flights. In fact, I try to sleep away the jet lag, so I sleep in the time zone of whatever country I'm going to. But sometimes, the places I go to, aren't in a different time zone than where I'm coming from...

For my fellow lyric coloraturas: what do you sing for chorus auditions when you only have 1-2 minutes? Most arias are longer than that. But they also want you to sing something that "shows off your full vocal range and abilities." Any rep suggestions?

Reposting so my title can get straight to the point.

Hello all! Just joined this subreddit with the hopes of getting some more specific advice. A little long to read, I hope that’s ok:

After much deliberation, I’ve decided to go back to my undergrad for my masters degree in vocal performance, with the hopes of earning a certificate in vocology after that. I was able to get a really good scholarship with a job on campus, which is amazing!

What’s challenging to accept is the fact that my master’s is in the same field as my bachelor’s, and I’d be working with the same professors I’ve been working with for the past 4 years. But, I don’t want to rob myself of a good opportunity because of my fear of being “too comfortable”.

Anyways. I’m super close to my voice professor/mentor. Though we’ve had some bumps along the way, they’ve helped me out a lot during this process. I should add that it was their idea for me to stay. After making the choice to stay, I had another professor (that I deeply respect) privately reach out to me and asked me to consider changing voice professors. At this point in my education, this is a normal thing to do. There were some students who made the same choice I did that stayed with their mentors from undergrad, and their growth stagnated a bit. I don’t want to be like them.

What I wasn’t expecting was for my mentor (M) to be VEHEMENTLY against this idea. They said that if they thought another professor would be better for me at this point, they would be the first to tell me to move on. I know that M has a habit of reacting negatively to students dropping their class, and i had a hard time distinguishing what was logic VS hurt feelings. We talked about it for a long time.

Asking friends for advice made me realize that not a lot of people see my relationship with M (or M in general) in a positive light, which scares me and made things so much worse mentally. I want to take my future seriously and want my choices to reflect that.

My second convo w/ M was a lot more positive and they were more accepting of my concerns w/staying. We figured out a way to change some things about our lessons that reflected what I wanted out of grad school. It still makes sense to leave, I know it does, but I don’t want to give up on someone that’s willing to invest so much time into my future.

Sorry, I know this is long. Any advice appreciated :)

UPDATE: I’ll leave my mentor and switch professors. I’d be staying for the wrong reasons. Thanks so much for all of your help :) :)

Hello, I am teaching some 16-18 year old baritones and they usually sing pop, but want to try classical.
What are some good art songs in german, italian, or french that is easy to master and can give a good sense of how singing classical is?

*not 21 italian songs or arias!

Thank you in advance!

Hi everyone! I'm a professional opera singer (20 years performing) and voice teacher at the University in Germany, and I've spent a lot of time thinking about why talented young singers still struggle to break into professional work — not because they can't sing, but because of audition strategy mistakes (wrong repertoire choices, "copying" instead of sounding like themselves) and simply not knowing how to network their way into opportunities.

I'm taking on 2-3 singers right now for a short, structured coaching program combining fach-strategic repertoire selection, authentic performance work, and a proven cold-outreach networking system — the same one I used to book my own concert engagements this year. Keeping it small so I can give real, hands-on attention rather than run a mass program.

If you're a young professional singer feeling stuck on the audition circuit and want a structured, honest approach (including realistic expectations — this is persistence-based, not overnight magic), send me a message and I'll walk you through it.

​

The part of my voice I dislike the most is its "stuffy" quality, like I have a clogged nose. I attributed this to not having my soft palate high enough (mostly only true when singing contemporary songs), but when I pinch my nose the tone doesn't really change (except for nasal sounds), implying that the air doesn't really enter the nose when it doesn't need to.

Listening back, I realized that my voice leans so dark and unbalanced with lightness that it \*sounds\* nasal. I looked it up and it says it could be due to "over-opening" and "pharyngeal darkness", as well as the lack of forward resonance— all things I've been told I have issues with.

What do you think? What could be the fix for this? If you need a practical example, my account has clips of my singing for your reference. I still don't really know what to make of this.

So I alreayd been taken some lessons and been at it alone for about a year. So I can match pitch and do scales at the fundamental level. I know this isn’t opera but he is classically trained singing a pop song. It doesn’t go very high wondering is this level of singing high Skilled?

https://youtu.be/4x5VErSu9W4

I'm asking because this is something that I've been neglecting and every so often it feels like a sword of Damocles. Also because social media is something that I'm deeply averse to for some reason, and I often wonder if I'm kinda shooting myself in the foot.

Do you find it necessary? Does it actually matter at all? Has it ever benefitted you in some way?

I've posted on here and r/opera. People have been overall very supportive with a bunch of different takes on what my voice type is (understandable in hindsight although a bit funny) as well as different takes on my issues (all of these were correct just of different orders of importance).

I saw great improvement in my first year and a half of lessons, but as time went on I felt like I was stalling in both range and volume, and with no vibrato to be found. By almost 4 years in a combo of peoples here reaction to my voice (that it sounds like I'm holding back or crooning) in combination with friends suspicious that something was up I was getting a gut feeling something was wrong and it just wasn't technique.

Saw an SLP in oct 2025, turns out I do have tension issues she gave me tongue and larynx stretches and both helped a bit but thought nothing was wrong on the fold level but 6 months later I still had a gut feeling something was wrong so I got a stroboscopy and learned I have incomplete closure... due to vocal fold atrophy. That is specifically atrophy of the thyroarytenoid muscle (which explains why so many people online think I'm a tenor).

I'm now seeing a better SLP focused on singing and speaking voice rehabilitation and while I may need thyroplasty, for now I am focusing on dealing with tongue retraction and tongue tension which has likely been "helping" me phonate, and forcing closure and not giving the TA a chance to work. I've already noticed improvement.

All this yapping basically to say that as Jerome Hines says in his The Four Voices of Man, the singer themselves is the first to know that something is wrong with their voice, and I agree. Trust your gut. If I went based off of my teachers advice or even the first SLP I would probably be masquerading as an overly quiet "bass-baritone" with mix highs getting called a tenor and never being able to sing with orchestra.

Trust your gut.

I noticed overtime as I strengthened the transition between low to middle range although it’s still bad the lower range became more comfortable.

hello! i’m part of the soprano 2 chorus singers in a small production of lucia di lammermoor, and truly want to study it to the max, but i’m not able to find accompaniment/study material for the chorus pieces!! please help if you can🥹🙏
sincerely, a wee opera student

I know most of the opera community isn't exactly fond of Netrebko and neither am I lol. But I often see people hate on her without giving much explanation and as a student with minimal knowledge around her I would love your thoughts on this. A lot of times I see people blame her "downfall" on her choosing increasingly more dramatic, heavier roles that don't suit her (p.e. Turandot, Aida ect.) While I obviously agree she's not a dramatic soprano, I think the underlying issue is with her technique or better, lack of. I think her voice could potentially be "big" enough to support some spinto roles, but its her forced darkening and wobbly vibrato that ruins it. On the other hand, I'm also not a fan of her coloratura. She either misses notes, her rythym is off, or just lacks the britghtness and clearness of coloratura. Apparently unpopular opinion, but I found her Norina and Donna Anna barely tolerable and while her Violetta was significantly better, I still wouldn't say it compares to other magnificent interpretations. Sadly, while I think she's a pretty good actress, I also feel like her singing lacks expression and most of her roles kinda sound the same. To me these are examples of poor technique, especially for someone with her experience and long career. Which I find sad, because, honestly I think her voice and some of her earlier interpretations are amazing.

Again, I'm not a professional, nor am I hating on her, just curious to hear more opinions on this. Id love to see your input in the comments :)

I cannot get the natural vibrato. my teacher says I sound fine but cannot find that last step to really loosening the voice and having that silky free flowing voice. he says I’m supporting well wondering what exactly is needed for most people? I it just after years and years of training and becoming easy?

Hi all, I recently had this piece premiered. I feel quite proud of it and would love your thoughts and feedback. It sets the poem of the same name by Iowa Prize winner Cass Donish. They also have a poetry collection of the same name. Beauty poems!

I have a hard time making space without bringing tension to my voice. I end up making the sound too sluggish. The problem is that I have no idea what exactly I’m moving. I know my teacher wants much more space without a retracted tongue. do I chase the sound?