AILSA CHANG, HOST:
In this economy, consider the opera singer. More and more elite singers are leaving the stage at the heights of their careers because the work just isn't manageable anymore. Laura Atkinson with Louisville Public Media reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ANDREW POTTER: (Singing in non-English language).
LAURA ATKINSON, BYLINE: At 43, opera singer Andrew Potter has finally made it. His voice is at its peak. He's making more money than ever, booking lots of gigs. But in an open letter to the opera industry last month, he announced he's retiring from the stage.
POTTER: We just have to start telling the truth, and that is that unless you're in the top 1- or 2% of singers in the world, this is not something that you'll be able to sustain a family with.
ATKINSON: Potter is good but just outside that 2%. Last December, he sang in a metropolitan opera production. And for him, that's when it became clear he could barely afford to do this work.
POTTER: I'm looking at what the housing would be for my family to be with me, and I'm going, I can't afford $12,000.
ATKINSON: Singers are expected to fund their own housing for the six-week rehearsal period before shows even start. They also cover their own transportation, managers' fees, taxes, extra training, all of this shelled out before they even get paid for their gig.
POTTER: Which takes our bank account pretty much to zero.
ATKINSON: Rarely is there money to invest into retirement or to pay for healthcare. And while opera often seems glamorous, the reality is quite different. For one, there's a lot of travel. There are over 100 opera houses in this country, from famous ones in New York and Chicago to smaller ones in Omaha, Nebraska, and Springfield, Missouri. Potter says it can be grueling.
POTTER: There were nights sleeping at rest stops on drives across the country because you can't afford a hotel, and, you know, I'm making a thousand-mile drive for a $300 travel stipend.
ATKINSON: For working opera singers, that's another hidden cost - the time away from home. When things are going well, a singer can be on the road for most of the year, traveling from state to state, gig to gig. Clark Evans, a baritone from Kentucky, knows the feeling well. The more successful his career became, the harder it was to manage.
CLARK EVANS: I mean, it's like living two lives simultaneously because it changes so much with the kids, you know, growing up. What is it going to be this time when I leave? Is it going to be the same? And it almost never is.
ATKINSON: So Evans announced his early retirement from opera this year at the age of 42.
EVANS: I'm ready to be a better home-husband and home-father instead of being a great road father.
ATKINSON: These financial and personal pressures tend to catch up with singers around midlife, says Katherine Phares. She's a voice professor at Bowling Green State University who studied hundreds of professional opera singers and found they began changing careers around age 39, when life may require more financial stability.
KATHERINE PHARES: Making real money that you can invest. You know, that's when many people feel that the rug is pulled out from underneath them.
ATKINSON: Singers rarely stop singing because they are tired of making art. It's the institutions that are struggling financially with an aging donor base, declining federal support and high ticket prices that keep people from returning, and that squeeze extends to the people making the music. For many Americans, working hard and being good at their job still doesn't guarantee the life that work is supposed to provide. Opera singers just live that tension loudly on the road, on the stage, in front of an audience until, sometimes, it's time to walk away. For NPR News, I'm Laura Atkinson in Louisville.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
POTTER: (Singing in non-English language). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.