Kein' Angst Baby! [Paperback]

Barry Lenson (Author), Dorothy Maddison (Author), Gail Sullivan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 1994

A guide for American singers wishing to find employment with opera houses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The authors, two sopranos who have sung successfully in Europe, offer solid advice on all aspects of the process, from planning an audition tour to selecting appropriate audition repertoire. The tone is encouraging and upbeat.

Kein' Angst Baby! has helped many Americans to start successful singing careers in Europe.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When it comes to operatic careers, many are called but few are chosen. Almost anyone who aspires to a life of singing opera and making a living at it faces a series of sometimes difficult decisions. One of them is whether or not to try for a career in a German-speaking country. For a long time, it was a given that Americans seeking operatic careers had to start in Europe and build their reputations before they could hope to find work in their native country. That move is no longer requisite, thanks to the growth of apprentice programs and regional opera companies in North America, but German-speaking countries remain a valuable source of singing jobs. Anyone who hates living out of a suitcase but who still wants a full-time career as an opera singer will find those positions especially attractive: German houses employ their singers on yearly contracts, which makes having a home life and a career a much more realistic possibility. The home life, of course, is outside of American culture, a reality that is brought squarely home in this useful little volume.

Kein' Angst, Baby! (the name comes from the German version of Magnum P.I., and means "No problem, baby!" or "No hassle!"), written by a pair of singers who hit the German audition trail and found gainful employment, is a valuable resource for anyone considering such a move. It will help some singers to plan their audition tours--and help dissuade others from even trying it. Included are basics such as what to pack; how to budget; names and addresses of agents and opera houses (they list more than 100 of the latter in Germany, Austria, and German-speaking Switzerland); a guide to the German fach system (the means by which roles and singers are pigeonholed by voice type); and a lot of things that you might not consider until you're in the midst of your tour. While there will never be a completely satisfactory substitute for having a teacher who's been there, a friend already ensconced in Germany who can offer sage advice and contacts, not to mention the free use of a sofa bed, Kein' Angst, Baby! is the next best thing.

Review

"Born from experience, this book is an invaluable acquisition for singers wanting to break into today's operatic world..." -- Alan Blyth, Opera Magazine, December, 1991

"The book is chattily written, cheerful . . .it is full of solid, practical advice..." -- John Rockwell, New York Times, August 11, 1992

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: [e-mail] (December 31, 1994)
• ISBN-10: 0964378701
• ISBN-13: 978-0964378704
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,716,882 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars (A qualified) useful to the American singer in Germany, November 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Kein' Angst Baby! (Paperback)

I used this book as a manual for doing exactly what the authors did in the fall of 1994. I did not find an opera job in Germany, but I had a lot of interesting leads and I think if I had had more time and had taken a slightly different strategy with what kind of job I was looking for I might have found something.

The book was fairly accurate except for a couple things. First, the market in Germany for American singers has dried up considerably since the first few years the wall came down. Many houses in eastern Germany are closed due to loss of government funding, or have smaller budgets. In the beginning there was a clamor to show support for the West by hiring American singers, and now they would much rather hire German singers. The economy in eastern Germany was not too good when I went in 1994, which contributed to the trend.

The second reservation I have about this book is the text of the business letters requesting auditions. There were grammatical errors in some of them and one in particular (the one with "ausserordentlich" in it) was too gushy. I highly suggest anyone using this book to have a native German speaker check their letters before sending them out.

One thing the auditioning American singer will find is the book's comments about agents' and Intendants' strange behavior are extremely understated. My kudos to the authors for being so careful, but here's the poop: There is one very well known and prestigious agency with an assistant director who is unbelievably rude. Not only did he scream at someone for warming up in the hallway, but he threw someone out for chewing gum in the lobby the year before.

Some advice I would add to the book, or give to those contemplating a German audition trip is: Germans want much less vibrato (at least for soubrettes and other light sopranos) than is normal in America. If you are a soubrette and do not speak FLAWLESSLY and with NO ACCENT you are not going to get a solo job. But chorus jobs often pay more and they give you a chance to absorb the language.

Do NOT audition sick, EVER. If you get sick, it's much better to miss the audition than to make a bad impression. They will remember that you sang sick which is a waste of their time.

If you sing for ZBF and they don't like you, none of the ZBF's will like you because they can be kind of a Saftladen. On the other hand the ONLY audition I got from an agent was from ZBF, so maybe I should be nicer.

Americans might have better luck auditioning for Broadway type musicals in Germany than for opera since it's often in English. I met several Americans who had careers in that. Toi toi toi! - Emily Baehr