Soloist skills for your resume and career

Opera Singer resumes don't follow the traditional format of resumes in the professional business world. The standard operatic resume lists the artist's name and voice type at the top, along with contact information and a headshot. Following that header, artists tend to list their upcoming roles or performance contracts, then roles they have performed in their entirety. After these sections of roles, artists will list concert and stage performances. Further down the resume, artists often list prominent directors, voice teachers, coaches, and collaborative pianists they have worked with, and then a list of additional skills comes at the very end.

As a director on the casting side, I tend to look first at the roles they have performed (or have coming up) and the company with whom they performed those roles. A lot can be inferred about a singer's abilities based on who has already hired them to sing certain roles. If a singer lists a large role, but it was done with a small company or a community-type production, that doesn't say as much about the artist as if they have listed more prominent companies.

After looking through the artist's past repertoire, I look at the list of who they have worked with within various capacities. In the operatic community, connections mean a great deal because people know people. If I don't know any of the directors, teachers, coaches, etc., that a singer has listed on their resume, I would be wearier of hiring them versus someone who has worked with people whose names I recognize.

All in all, a singer in the operatic style is going to benefit from listing roles sung with large or prominent companies and well-known teachers and directors on their resumes.