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Dalis Competition Draws Singers to San José

Michael Zwiebach on May 11, 2010

The Irene Dalis Vocal Competition may not ring bells of recognition in your head, but young singers are way ahead of you. That’s because the four-year-old competition, which kicks into gear May 22 at the California Theatre in San José, puts a lot of cash in singers’ pockets. An unusually generous founding gift from an anonymous donor ensures prizes totaling $50,000, including a $5,000 award that the audience gets to vote on (the Audience Favorite award) and $2,000 apiece for the seven runner-up contestants. All of which is in line with the philosophy of Opera San José’s founder, Irene Dalis herself: In San José, singers don’t have to starve or wait tables while developing their art.

Singers in the third annual Dalis competition

But there’s more. The Dalis Competition is the crowning event of the three-day West Coast Auditions for singers, also held in San José, where representatives of some 20 opera companies see more than 100 singers in order to fill roster slots for the coming season. So this is a competition that is also very much about getting a job singing.

For Opera San José, of course, the competition — which is independently judged — is just the tip of the iceberg. The company auditions hundreds of young singers for an incredible nine months out of every year. Even so, Dalis assures me, “I’ve been able to engage a number of singers directly from the West Coast Auditions. They come from all over America, and they almost all have agents.”

So what does Dalis look for, with her wide experience? “I ask the judges to choose the ones they feel are really ready to accept contracts — not on their way. There are some singers you hear and you think, ‘Uh-huh, very good, big potential.’ But there are others you hear who already communicate.

“I don’t know much,” Dalis says, modestly, “but somehow I can spot talent. You need more than a voice to make a career. I always tell my singers this before they sign a contract. I say, ‘You do know that only one in 10,000 succeeds — you do know this, yes?’

“The other day,” she continues, “one of our singers got the break. Last Monday, Deborah Voight cancelled Senta [in The Flying Dutchman] at the Met, and Lori Phillips went on and had a huge success. When I heard about that, I have to tell you, I cried.”

For singers, of course, the competition-as-audition format changes the focus a little. “If I’m doing a competition,” says tenor Alexander Boyer, who is entering the West Coast Auditions for a second time this year, and who will sing three roles with Opera San José next season, “I might bring a piece that I sing very well, though I would never perform the role, at least not now. Or pieces that are a lot of fun and are great to hear, but they’re from operas that never get performed. People who are casting don’t want to hear that.”

Still, Boyer, who sang Alfredo in Sacramento Opera’s production of La traviata this year, thanks to the WCA, enjoys the competition and hearing what other singers bring, and is willing to shake things up himself. “Last year, the first-prize winner did an aria from [Jake Heggie’s] opera Dead Man Walking. I had a nonoperatic piece — I chose a song by Sergei Rachmaninov, who I really love. I was kind of on the fence about it because it’s an opera competition, but I went ahead and it went off very well.”

How do singers handle the pressure and nerves of a competition? “It’s exhilarating. The nervousness amps up your adrenaline,” says Boyer. “Some people talk. When I’m backstage I like to do crossword puzzles — I like to do them all the time — it kind of calms me down. And I like to listen to everyone else.”

The competition has become a focal point of San Jose’s arts schedule. Comments Dalis, a native of the city, “I must say, San José is becoming an opera town.”