How To Become An Opera Singer: What It Is and Career Path

What is an opera singer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an opera singer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $26.91 an hour? That's $55,974 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 6,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreOpera SingerUS Average

Salary

4.4

Avg. Salary $55,974

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.2

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.18%

Asian 5.61%

Black or African American 9.49%

Hispanic or Latino 13.50%

Unknown 5.13%

White 66.09%

Gender

female 61.35%

male 38.65%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

4.2

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.6

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.0

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an opera singer

Explore opera singer education requirements

Most common opera singer degrees

Bachelor's

69.2 %

Master's

20.5 %

Diploma

3.4 %

Start to develop specific opera singer skills

Skills	Percentages
Chorus	49.14%
Tenor	26.42%
Education Classes	24.43%

Complete relevant opera singer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New opera singers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an opera singer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real opera singer resumes.

Research opera singer duties and responsibilities

Manage presence on Facebook, YouTube and SoundCloud.
Self-Employ internationally known opera singer, award-winning cabaret singer, actor with off-Broadway credits.
Self-Employ internationally known opera singer, award-winning cabaret singer, actor with off-Broadway credits.

Prepare your opera singer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your opera singer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an opera singer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable opera singer resume templates

Build a professional opera singer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your opera singer resume.

Apply for opera singer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an opera singer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do opera singers rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Opera singer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2021

Cons

I don’t like people telling me off all the time and when they are being sneaky and lurking behind your back and to get out of of my house and to get out of derby all together for good

A zippia user wrote a review on Nov 2019

Pros

i get to express myself