From Choral to Solo...and Back Again?

Like oil on water, there's probably good reason for the conventional wisdom that solo singing and choral singing just don't mix. And yet, there are growing numbers of professional singers who are bridging both worlds and are building complete and joyful careers singing both solo and choral repertoire. In fact, for many, it is the choral part of their careers that is most gratifying to them.

Before Marilyn Horne was a renowned opera diva, she loved nothing more than blending into a group of singers. Growing up she sang in school choirs and often paired up with her sister for duets. She was one of the founding members of the Roger Wagner Chorale, singing everything from Monteverdi to doo wop.

But there came a moment—she was about 20 years-old—when she knew that if she wanted to pursue opera, she would have to give up choral singing. "It messes with the vocal production a little bit and very much with the blending," she said. "And when you're in a choral group, you have to blend."

Horne went on to a star-studded opera career and when you listen to her huge mezzo-soprano voice filling the largest halls, it's hard to imagine it disappearing into the fabric of a chorus. There's probably good reason for the conventional wisdom that solo singing and choral singing just don't mix.

And yet, there are growing numbers of professional singers who are bridging both worlds—and, while alert to the potential pitfalls, are building complete and joyful careers singing both solo and choral repertoire. In fact, for many, it is the choral part of their careers that is most gratifying to them.

Coming Home to Choral Singing

Reid Bruton started his singing career in 1997 with the Los Angeles Opera but found his true musical "home" singing in the Los Angeles Master Chorale. "With opera, it is more about the confidence, the acting, the character I am playing," he says. "I was trained to sing operatically, but I always felt I was putting on a mask (and in some instances I am!). It is not as true to my heart as when I am making music with the Master Chorale. I sometimes have to search to find the "heart" in my LA Opera chorus work."

Baritone Tad Czyzewski aspires to a career in opera but finds great satisfaction singing with the Master Chorale of Washington. "I have a big voice, I have to rein it in for the choral singing," he says. "Don [McCullough, former artistic director] hired me because he likes his professional singers to bloom, to be able to sing anything from the Verdi Requiem to Britten a cappella."

"At the beginning of your career, you need to be able to sing in a variety of styles, venues, with a variety of organizations," says Barbara Peters. "To make a living at it, at least until you're somewhat established, you must do it all."

So far, he says singing with a chorus hasn't messed with his operatic vocal production too much. "I haven't told my voice teacher that I sing in this group," he confesses. "He feels it is detrimental to an opera singer. But I love choral music. That's where I started out, so to give that up is a depressing thought."

Necessity, the Mother of Invention

For professional singers starting out, there is little thought about giving up anything. You take whatever puts bread on the table. When soprano Barbara Peters was establishing her singing career in New York City in the 1980s she sang in church choirs, orchestra choruses, and ensembles hired to record new music. She did solo recitals, solo work with symphony concerts, off-Broadway gigs, regional opera, and even private parties. And always she was entering competitions, both domestic and international.

"At the beginning of your career, you need to be able to sing in a variety of styles, venues, with a variety of organizations," she says. "To make a living at it, at least until you're somewhat established, you must do it all."

Even if you're on track to sing opera, choral gigs can be a godsend for the up and coming solo singer. "The choral gigs are the best-paying and a more frequent source of money," says Czyzewski.

As they progress in their careers, singers often find their voices—and their hearts—steering them in a certain direction. "Vocally, singing opera, and exclusively opera, trains a voice to emerge, rise above, and take on an individuality and a 'presence' not always conducive to choral/ensemble singing," says Peters, "particularly for women's voices."

For Bruton, going back and forth between choral and solo work has presented no problem, he says. In addition to singing with the LA Opera and the Master Chorale, Bruton sings regularly on motion picture soundtracks and as a pop back-up singer. But he has an unusual voice—the lowest of low basses.

"It's almost a gimmick," he says of his voice. "It's harder for higher voices. It's probably hardest for sopranos to be both an operatic singer with a full operatic sound and to sing in the Chorale. A lot of my opera girlfriends are afraid of the Master Chorale. They say, 'I would have to sing straight toned, it would limit my sound.' Yet there are a handful of them who can do both...hats off to them."

One Voice, Many Colors

Baritone Paul Max Tipton has come to believe that the argument between choral and opera singing is misplaced. Tipton sings with Conspirare, the professional chamber group out of Austin, Texas, as well as doing solo and opera work around the country. Most of his colleagues in Conspirare are solo artists and half of them sing opera roles. Tipton says the group often talks together with the artistic director, Craig Hella Johnson, about how to "breathe together" as a choral ensemble.

"Craig's approach to singing is that you have an instrument that is capable of a wide spectrum of expression healthily," says Tipton. "It is the same voice that can release a Bach aria in a 'Passion,' and can sing lovely placid moments in Palestrina. It's all about attention to the body and to the health of the mechanism. It requires a deep knowledge of your own voice and technique."

"If you are going to sing to a big house, a little more of your body has to be engaged and you have to know how to do that healthily," he says. "You can't use the same kind of approach if you are doing Palestrina. The question is: How do you scale down the amount of sound or the type of sound you are producing when you are in an ensemble?"

Czyzewski has had to learn to be a smart singer, so that he does not hurt his voice. "I have a very high range," says Czyzewski, "but I never go into that part of the tessitura in choral singing because I can't. In ensemble sound I would never try to do a high F# in a bass section. It would be more like an opera high F# than a choral high F#. I would never attempt something like that in a small ensemble."

Even if you're on track to sing opera, choral gigs can be a godsend for the up and coming solo singer. "The choral gigs are the best-paying and a more frequent source of money," says Czyzewski.

Natural Singing

Rebecca Risser, a singer and a voice/speech pathologist in Carmel, Indiana, works often with singers like Czyzewski who are striving for a professional career. She believes it is important for singers to find a natural way of singing that's flexible, rather than trying to fit into a voice type. "In college, the goal is to produce a fabulous voice," she says, "and sometimes you end up in a cookie cutter. The voices that have made it big have gone off and studied with an individual who refused to be part of the cookie cutter."

"You have to find your voice," she says, "not the singing machine."

Bruton agrees. "In your vocal studies, if you feel inundated and overwhelmed with "operatic technique" then you may not be meant to sing operatically or you may need to change teachers," he says. "Vocal technique should not get in the way of you making music, of expressing yourself vocally. Unfortunately, young singers are pounded to death with heavy vocal technique early on and pushed into auditions so that they get on the stage...often too early."

For Bruton, singing naturally also means "being honest, singing from the heart, and being true to yourself and to the song." That's why he keeps coming back to choral music.

"That is where I make real music," he says. "It would not be a fulfilling musical life if I was just doing opera. Even if I had the big, operatic solo career of someone like Sam Ramey, I don't know if I would be fulfilled with just that. I need more personal connection to the music."