So, as I mentioned a VERY long time ago (March 2008, to be exact), I'd been feeling rather discontented with the whole opera chorus job and felt that perhaps, money and benefits notwithstanding, it was not a good fit for me. I had also begun to work with other groups and found that they were much more satisfying experiences. I just wanted to give a quick update on my professional status over the past couple of seasons, since I've been concentrating on my personal life so much here....
The year after I was bumped from tenure track and hired only as 'leave replacement', I was bumped yet again, back to extra chorus. It turned out that the tenure-track position had been eliminated entirely, and had been given to a bass-baritone instead.
Then, this year, the final insult....after twelve years, the chorus director saw fit not to hire me at all. In addition, I can't seem to get arrested by any of the local opera companies--and the irony is, I'm singing better than I ever have! Ah, the vagaries of the performer's life....I have to smile when I hear civilians speak of how awful it is to have no job security in this recession--welcome to my world!
Oddly enough, though, I've not been out of work all this time...although I haven't been doing much opera, choral and early music work has filled the opening left by SFO, and has been berry berry good to me. Instead of opera chorus, I've been blessed to be hired with AVE, American Bach Soloists, San Francisco Symphony Chorus, and Philharmonia Baroque (my latest conquest) as a core member, as well as for solo work with Soli Deo Gloria, Marin Oratorio Society, and possibly (I'm waiting to hear back) San Francisco Choral Society, not to mention a church job at St. Dominic's* . Let's see....better pay...more personal satisfaction....a few rehearsals as opposed to weeks of them...no makeup, staging, or costumes to deal with....and much much more stable personalities to boot....I ask you, what's not to like? I think my dissatisfaction may have been specifically with opera, not with singing in general. If I can find more solo work that pays well, and continue to have the luck to be able to sing with the groups I mentioned before, I could be pretty happy with my place in the singing world.
*Yea, even though said church job forces me to be in the same room on a regular basis with the ex-boyfriend....remember him? The universe DOES have a rather sick sense of humor, does it not?
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