Do You Really Need to go to Conservatory to Have a Career in Opera?

Maybe? Maybe not.

Here’s a radical thought I don’t fully agree with - but I think we need to wrestle with:

Is it truly necessary to go to conservatory to become a professional opera singer?

My answer? A soft yes. But I’m more interested in the question itself than the answer.

Let’s take a quick look at the legends: Pavarotti. Callas. Freni. Name any GOAT.

Ask yourself—where did they study? What young artist program did they do?

Some of them went to school, yes. But more often, they built careers by working closely and consistently with a teacher, moving to hubs where world-class opera was being made (Today? That’s Germany TBH), and forming relationships with coaches, conductors, and agents who were willing to invest in them deeply and take professional risks.

Opèra Comique Paris, Illustration by @marthaeasonsoprano

Fast forward to today - we try to replicate those relationships by paying an institution for them. We pay tuition for limited access to faculty - sometimes without even choosing our teacher. We train in cities far removed from where the real hiring is happening. And we graduate not only in debt but under-equipped: patchy language skills, little business knowledge, and very few actionable career tools or a basic understanding of the industry we have trained for.

The institutionalization of training has made this path transactional instead of transformative. It’s depersonalized a process that should be driven by curiosity, ownership, and deep artistic hunger. It should be informed by preparing you for an extremely competitive industry. But are you sure your conservatory education is giving you that?

Here’s the truth:

At the end of the day, you are the one who has to figure out how to sing.

And if you want to build a career? You have to figure that part out, too.

So let’s talk about what actually matters. These are five skills—five areas of development—that give you a real shot at a full-time singing career, regardless of what school you did (or didn’t) go to. These are the things that largely aren’t (but should be!) taught in conservatories to prepare you for the opera industry.

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1. World-class Unique Singing Skills & Something to Say

You need to be able to sing.

Not just in the academic, technically sound way. I mean sing in a way that feels free, liberated, and communicative - so that an audience actually feels something when you open your mouth. That takes great technique, yes, but also strong physical habits and a mindset that treats singing like a high-performance sport.

And you need to speak. Not just in English. If you're not fluent in at least one other language (and yes, fluent means you can communicate comfortably), start studying. Conservatories often hammer home the importance of language, but let’s be honest - most aren’t actually teaching it effectively. And now, with access to more free resources than ever, the responsibility is on you.

You can't wait for people to teach you.

That’s the hard, professional truth.

We are swimming in information now. Need to learn German? Your diction isn’t up to par? If you do some searching and learn how to learn, you can definitely accomplish these things in less time and for way cheaper. The average cost of one class at a university will run you $1,200 on average. If you learn how to book cheap flights, you can easily spend that money just traveling to Berlin and enrolling yourself in a much better language course- including room and board! Which do you think will be more effective?

The truth is, when you take responsibility- sometimes you can learn something at a much better quality for way cheaper. When we go to a school, we are going for the diploma at the end. But to make a career as a singer, you don’t need any official paper to show proof you can do the job. What you do need are the skills required. I hate to tell you, but a paper will not prove anything to your audition panel.

I’m going to upend a massive industry secret- most people with hiring power in the opera world do not care where you went to school or that you even studied studied singing. The world really only cares if you are a compelling and skilled artist.

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2. Learn to See Yourself as a Professional Artist (Not a Student)

One of the biggest mental shifts you’ll need to make early on is the transition from student to professional. From young artist to artist. And anyway, if I hear the term ‘young artist’ to describe anyone over the age of 25 it makes me want to scream. It’s weaponised vocabulary that keeps singers underpaid and stuck in unrealistic expectations abut the career (another rant for another time!).

Here’s the trick: this transition doesn’t start when someone hires you. It starts in your mind. The sooner you begin taking ownership of your art, your preparation, your identity, AND INCOME as a working singer, the better.

Build a sense of “with or without you” energy.

This means: “I’m doing this. I’m building this career. Want to help me? Amazing. Don’t? That’s okay- I’m still moving forward.”

Being a professional doesn’t mean you stop learning. It means you take full responsibility for your learning. It means you stop asking other people if they think you have a shot at this—and start building a body of work that answers that BIG question of ‘will I make it?’ for yourself.

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3. Business Skills & Real Industry Knowledge

Opera is a business. If you want to work, you need to treat yourself like one.

That means understanding how to budget, how to communicate, how to negotiate, and how to build a career on a razor-thin profit margin. Most full-time singers still have lean years. Very few make it into the top-earning 1–2%. And nearly everyone will pivot at some point in their career.

That’s not failure. That’s just reality. And that’s why building a wider skillset is key. Conservatories aren’t telling you this. My opinion? Not only should they be making sure you understand this reality, they should also be preparing you for it. But mostly- you should be preparing you for it.

Start here:

• Learn about personal finance early. Build an emergency fund. Begin investing for your future early. This also means you need to be making an income early. Please understand, you are absolutely going to have to work your ass off.

• Understand what taxes look like for freelancers and artists.

• Learn what a stop loss is and why you need one for your career (i.e., a financial boundary that protects you from going broke chasing your dream). Seriously read this article on stop loss, it’s gotten more feedback than most of my articles.

• Learn about social media and marketing. There’s an anecdote about an aspiring author asking a bestselling author ‘How do I become like you?’ And the bestselling author responds, ‘You’re already an author, now you just need the bestselling part’.

• Learn about the actual current industry you are entering. Where are the jobs? Here are two great resources for you if you’re interested in Germany (where more opera is performed and more singers are hired than anywhere else in the world). The Online Course Getting Started in Germany and the Free Crash Course: Is the German Opera Market Right for You?

Want to keep creating and performing long-term? Then you need to make your career financially sustainable—not just artistically fulfilling. The two don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand.

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And this is where my paid subscribers get a little gift. About a year ago, I started taking social media and marketing my career seriously. It isn’t about posting cute selfies and saying ‘look at me!’. Having an effective social media strategy is just that strategy. And? Providing actual value. So if you’re a paid subscriber (and if you’re not you can become one for 5$ a month, cancel anytime) then you can get The 5$ Instagram Guide for Classical Musicians for free HERE.

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4. Understand Singing as Sport

Your voice is your body. And your body is your instrument.

Which means: you need to train, fuel, and recover like an athlete. Poor health, poor sleep, or poor nutrition will absolutely show up in your singing. Ever had acid reflux? It can ruin a career. I will tell you that first-hand.

I want to be clear- I’m not talking about how you look. This is not a discussion about aesthetics. It is a discussion about fitness, endurance, and your physical ability to perform.

And I’m not telling you this as someone who merely hits the gym and tries to eat healthy. I’m telling you this as someone who has solo-ran over 80 miles through Tuscany and competed in 3 marathons last season. I’m telling you this as someone who has pushed 400 performances in her career as a fest singer- meaning I have had and recovered from multiple overuse injuries and burnout. Singing is absolutely an endurance sport.

You need to:

• Understand injury prevention.

• Build physical endurance.

• Learn vocal health fundamentals.

• Practice measurable development.

This is why I created the Practice Journal Method - a tool I developed to track vocal health and technical progress, recognize injury before it takes hold, and stay sharp across a grueling performance schedule as a fest singer. It’s based on consistent observation and work- nothing magical or glamorous- but that’s why it is effective.

If you want a long career, this mindset shift - from singer-as-artist to singer-as-athlete - is absolutely one key factor in longevity.

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5. Grit & Resilience > Perfection

Let’s be honest - no one is really telling you how hard this is going to be.

They’re not telling you that you might end up broke and in a foreign airport.

They won’t tell you about the overuse injuries and the underpay.

They do not tell you about the loneliness of moving to another country.

They don’t tell you that you will have to fight for equal pay and treatment as a woman in the industry.

That a large part of the job is about the objectification of your body and voice.

That substance abuse problems are rampant because so is burnout.

That there is a complete lack of education around mental health in the industry.

That even if you succeed, the gig might not last long.

Being an opera singer is not glamorous - it’s exhausting, complicated, unstable.

And yet, for those who really want to see what’s possible, it’s worth the weird, wild ride. If you really go for it, it will change who you are and make you into a bigger person.

I once worked with a director who said, “Always make the weirder, braver choice.” I think about that a lot when it comes to how I live my life. You need to be able to quiet down and listen to your internal guidance system that will tell you what direction you are meant to go in, even if people think you’re a little nuts.

Move countries. Start that risky project. Sing the strange role. Let singing be your passport to the world - but don’t let it be the whole world. Keep expanding beyond it. Let singing crack your life wide open - but don’t cling to the title of “opera singer” like it’s the only thing that gives your life value.

Happy Singing,