Boston (OperaOnline.us.) - Singers toil for years to establish their niche in the highly competitive world of opera. The lucky ones gain regional and national attention. The really lucky ones make it to the international level, and can expect steady employment.
And then there are the truly select few – those who surpass success and enter a world inhabited by superstars such as Domingo, Fleming, Pavarotti, Netrebko, Voigt.
For the latter, it is their name on the marquee, as much as the composer's work that draws crowds and guarantees extra performances. Breaking into that select group is every opera singer's dream, but few achieve it.
OperaOnline.us publisher, Paul Joseph Walkowski, asked those in the business if they could answer the question: "Who is responsible for transforming a successful opera singer into an opera superstar?" He publishes the results of what he discovered in the November issue of one of the Internet's fastest growing opera publications, OperaOnline.us. "In researching the question," Walkowski says, "I found six necessary ingredients that always came up and without which even a successful singer couldn't go further."
"I wouldn't go so far as to claim, as Dr. Dulcamara, that I have the Elixir of success," says Walkowski, who is the former marketing director of a Boston-based advertising agency, and newspaper publisher, "but everything I have read and everyone I talk with who knows something about the business point to these six ingredients as being a necessary requisite to stardom."
Surprisingly, Walkowski says, while having a remarkable voice is a given and a requisite, voice is not one of the ingredients because it is a given. "Things I looked for were outside factors that were platforms that were used to catapult a singer forward and which all successful stars had going for them."
Walkowski says those who want to find out what those ingredients are will have to wait for the November issue of OperaOnline.us to come on line, November 1st. "I can say this," Walkowski explained, "the old saying about missing the forest because of the abundance of trees, is applicable here. For many singers," he added, "struggling to just stay employed and then time spent traveling between states take up a great amount of creative time, and while the jump from successful singer to star can be achieved by oneself, it is far more likely to happen if you have a creative person behind you who works the six ingredients for stardom on your behalf."
OperaOnline.us which is in its third year of publication is quickly becoming the place where those in the opera world who want to be noticed want to be seen. "If you're a singer, you want to notify other singers to check out this issue," Walkowski said of the November article. "I think it's informative and could prove to be very helpful for those who understand what is being said."
