What does it take to become an opera star. Only very few make the leap into the worlds best stages. 90 percent of Opera Singers never manage to land a fixed contract at an opera house. The risk of burnout is acute as young as cough man realized early on. 2 2 2 says if you look at him as a business why am i saying many roles in the 1st 2 years but it almost cost me my Mental Health and by force i was overstretched both of all. The pressures are considerable especially on young performers. The 28 year old elsa devices has a promising career ahead of her. Here at the zurich opera house the french danish soprano is performing her 1st title role model well. Since kid theres a dress rehearsal today. Her costar is one of the worlds top 10 years piotr and. He laughs saying sheva a degree in june must nace opera 7 years ago at new yorks metropolitan opera alongside on a new trap. Set and this is why its a gift to sing a long time its of. Course tell. As a device which has been rehearsing for 6 long weeks as a special. This is its been very exhausting. Id say the rehearsals are the hardest part runs as you can as youre singing almost every day. Dance feel very demanding and i think i hope the performances are easier. Because right now ive almost run out of energy ive reached my limit test of its. The premiere is in 2 days time. I. Asked mick gregorian knows what its like to reach her limit. I had laws for them so i mean when i went on stage i was taught sewing up for i did and didnt have any single idea how to stick. To the lithuanian singer finds time between looking after her children doctor visits and rehearsals to meet up with me in her hometown of vilnius. In 2006 she cofounded the private initiative the vilnius city opera. It doesnt have its own venue its productions are hosted by the citys Congress Hall for. The most of it you know just like there are no dressing rooms and the stars do their own makeup but the performances are top notch. The ville new city opera is fostering a new generation of talent. We want and we meet young people and i think in those 12 years we did kind of big revolution in this country about really about the young people. These days the ville new city opera attracts world class performers who also sing at the bolshoi in moscow and the met in new york. On the way home from her souls osment gregorian tells me that she was almost destroyed by work i started with rolls i never saw any tiny rolls or something and of course i heard them myself when i was 30 i was dead already and i was always doing too much too busy roles. The breakthrough she was hoping for never came instead she started all over again and completely we learned her vocal technique she also learned to stop overtaxing her voice. A mistake many Opera Singers make just as so often i was to retort to. The fact that it sometimes hurts is a painful realization because youre loved doing it you know swords your bank balance especially when youre young it does open and thats actually quite an important point youre often forced to do certain things to survive financially. And so couldnt. Once they finish their studies which can take as long as 6 years an opera singer with a fixed contract in germany makes around 2000 euros a month before taxes a stage technician arent more. Or get a fast spender is an opera legend shes trodden the boards all over the world but these days shes mainly a director. Slight calm but shes currently staging on a shot in the woman without a shadow by rijkaard strauss. I could never say no youre always afraid youll drop off the map and never be asked again doc is now 80 this grown dom of german opera knows the industry inside and out. Shes been a singer a teacher and a managing director would. Also hope you know the daily beast. When most of you want to truly inhabit your role also as an actor. This is and always been a priority of mine and you need charisma when you go on stage and everyone should look at you. Thats what you must aim for. In 2 days time the curtain will go up on the opera manon in zurich. They got such a choice. Polish tenor piotr a big shower is getting ready to go on stage. Its what theyre going to argue over. 2 days the dress rehearsal a lot works well but theres also some room for improvement and a lot can still go wrong going to see a machine. How well can he judge his own performance this is the also. The school supposedly in mice. One of the biggest problems for Opera Singers is that we never hear ourselves and if you minus i dont know how my voice actually sounds he is very good and thats why its so important to have someone you really trust among the audience and such as your wife always see as if he said i know his voice very well and that all his performances so good i listen to his voice sing and i take note of what his teacher said specifically what he wants and how to find the optimal resonates and i hear if hes good to see. His wife gave up her own career as an opera singer to support his. Shes undoubtedly one of the secrets of piotr a big success. That. Still just the rehearsal is over tells the devices. I have been on stage for 4 hours since the show so it will be asleep she pushed us and it s. A good shelf the sesame i just love to dance about sikhism that was the 1st time ive sung the whole part from beginning to end. But as you can see i havent lost my voice and thats the main thing. But i feel completely drained. Being over the next 2 days ill try not to talk too much ill do some cooking some exercise ill try to relax a bit go over my role and work on 3 or 4 parts thats it. And thats thats as i desperately need a break a good book. And also a device that has been a member of the berlin state operas ensemble since 2017 when it reopened after years of refurbishment. She said. In the role of christian and what seems from good times fast 2 the production that kicked off the new season. 2 2 2 2 1 competitions are one way that singers can make a name for themselves. And admits that shes never taken part in one in her life. I just could not do that because i always had this huge fear of stage and i was just so afraid and i couldnt even 20 percent of. Years ago i really thought that i can come on stage and because it was like it was so big and its really physical its not just of here you know you stop to feel your arms or you know your face is thinking and of course you know hear it you know their heart beats disturbs your breathing and everything. Even now backstage in frankfurt shes palpably nervous. Shes performing the title role in tchaikovskys lyric one act opera elantra. I. Darent look general director of the frankfurt opera discovered her 5 years ago she. Just never took it for the 1st time as you think i always love. It so. Yeah its not for me because. I was very very serious. So i wish you want to thank you very much thank you michel position in the 1st scene yet shes always captivated me with not only her singing but also her simplicity in the 2 or in the way she can command attention by holding back and those on the off notes on quite at sea i know maria callas from a similar english. But in the little footage that exists. What you see is a woman who singing commands attention because she has presence even when doing very little. As in one comes out a nice. Its just not something that arsenic picks up on. My wish more singers had the sophistication and intelligence in key moments to do less rather than more on stage and gets to feel. Less is more. Its a phrase i hear often more making this film along with talk of pacing oneself and being in the moment. Music director of the Royal Opera House in london and tony up upon works with stars like Eunice Kaufman and on a new truck oh i ask why so many Opera Singers end up ruining their voices. I know the fear is the doing a thing is that those 01 of the Biggest Challenges for Opera Singers is knowing how to calibrate their intensity and emotion and also their volume. Is get seen far too many singers are too loud. Oh the atmospheric singing piano creates a more interesting atmosphere and zing and if see that if you sing too loudly youre going to get tired. Get schnell moved by in him aloud in the loud. Horn you were this was. Quieter known traumatic let me. Quote heard her 1st was was. Was was was. During. The. War. The. Her. But these days an extraordinary voice will only get you so far. Up her singers cant afford to ignore social media posting is now part of the job even the stars are doing it often sharing glimpses of their private lives. Such as on a trip go here shes posted a rehearsal with maestro no one would even notice was the beautiful kid. To keep going never to. Say. Much opens it does in theme movie stars you can feel this is this if i see some Opera Singers who are almost like movie stars by you and thats ok its just thats most but their job demands a certain respect and concentration and consent at sea on thats the most important thing that they made a comedian cant make a career yet about and when you have to get up on stage and prove yourself a new every time psyching eat this model us money east is. Think a month and this is. The magic i feel that the job is losing some of its magic. Because people can see that were just normal and all this is so i see it in myself. As a tool when i go to the opera and theres a singer. I go straight to instagram or facebook to find out who they are or you tube is. But i think you can lose yourself and social media can see in does a medium. Then you can end up thinking youre a good singer. Just because you have 30000 followers. 2 these days the industry is teeming with people who are talented singers but more importantly look good. Nowadays you have to look like a model at least on your record covers sometimes when you see someone on stage you wonder how they managed to look the way they do on their record. And to say you cant blame the singers its the fault of the people who know nothing about singing and base everything on looks. They only cast certain types was it how do you see. The im going to feel its my i knows what shes talking about she sung in opera houses all over the world over the weekend. You know it was an offshoot totally talking about this this guy. Oh yes bill rose to go to a certain types you have to be thin young you have to be affordable the situations getting worse and worse. Come to. I hear my voice is getting deeper i never felt comfortable singing soprano theyd say to me anyone who says good morning the way you do cant be a soprano kind of pencil braeside. Do you. I. Was prospect no child fassbender always said youre not really a soprano you dont enjoy your upper register and i would say yes im always glad when im allowed to go deeper all this father saw inside that was a clue and now finally i found the fact that feels right to me. She isnt the only opera singer who spent years singing in the wrong. In germany in particular operatic training could be improved the country is home to one 3rd of the worlds opera houses. But germany is failing to properly train young talent. The soloists performing in germanys many opera houses tend to come from the u. S. Russia and increasingly also from south korea and china. Here in kenya in garfields maya is something of an exception. I salute the singers from overseas are much better than us this is why is that when they have to understand to training up. There are 24 state conservatories in germany. But their graduates dont always amount to much. From sponsorship and the 820 Young Americans auditioned for me i could hire 19 of them and me and but if i auditioned students in german conservatories before 19 of them on employable. Maybe one kind of noise in the flies type so obviously theres something wrong with our system. About us we could learn from those other systems that are doing something right as goodman flushed was mr my last option yes i always thought that germanys conservatories were world class but it seems that the standard of teaching lets students down. Slouched the nursery possible that the best voice teachers on here are overseas because they were unhappy with the conditions here. And just keep i think there are very few teachers actually experience at this stage 1st. Spin and. They know this theory but they dont know the practice. A lot of rules praktica into all spin dont. Even. Belong to it since lloyd teachers are people who failed to make it in the music world using good frustrated singers who were no good. But who study technique is woman of the 15 votes from. Here to me its a serious 1st up sort of the steam training is done by people who arent passing on technique but rather their own complexes and problems i get a complex on probably. More over singers from russia the u. S. China and south korea are more disciplined than their german colleagues thats the conclusion reached by a recent study commissioned by the bettles month foundation. But regardless of where they come from all Opera Singers have to learn to resist the opera worlds many temptations as well as agents promising big bucks. Agents have always been dangerous complex because obviously they make their money from singers so there are more respectable agents who really help singers nurture their voices because they have a vested interest. But if a singer goes and ruins their voice never mind theres always another one waiting in the wings im pretty negative in this respect. But voice needs time to develop. A singer needs to learn their limitations as a device tells me these are the prerequisites of a lasting career. But some agents expect the impossible from singers thats what feet of feet a manager of a design. I would think lots of managers say look there are 365 days in the year lets do as much as possible movies this. Get the smog this is for me thats 50 but at my age you tend to think come on. I can do it im young. And i can do everything. That in this off must but if thats what youre always thinking thats what you do. Its the way it is with soap its the more you use it the less of it there is thats how it is if you dont give your voice a break it gets less and less and suddenly youve got nothing left to work with and i can tell you when you. Asked me gregorian also thought she could do everything when she was young but then she had a vocal crisis in her late twentys she was faced with the choice of carrying on knowing she was ruining her voice or starting all over again from scratch and learning a whole new technique. She opted to make a new start. Then in 2016 she sang the role of tatyana and eugene at the bar in berlin. Her potential was obvious but she was unable to demonstrate the full extent of her talent. This time of production was really hard for me because 1st i was pregnant my father was dying and he was next to me it was some of the moment specially when i thought i could manage. She divided her time between rehearsals and the hospital her father himself a famous tenor eventually died but she had to keep going. You cant cry extreme than was before the performance after performance but in the performance im kind of i notice me and then all of us make. In the summer of 21000 were gorean captivated the opera world with a stunning performance as a zalmay. Her voice was powerful. Rising. After her star turn at the prestigious results book festival shes now in demand all over the world last carla the met emma while opera house in london are all eager to engage her. First of all you must have it it can call the cards or whatever i mean but its really just. You know we must to have this big big emotions always we cant share with with people and with the years you must learn how to control those emotions without stopping them. But cosmic gregorian is hardly an overnight star. She has spent years owning her craft. And she takes nothing for granted. So i got a bit of a plot a chance but i always say that if you do everything right at the start of your career and success will come to you as a young singer you dont always have to be striving for success but when youre young you have to learn that serenity thats from that sega of my niggas arc ive often turned down major opportunity. And when i felt that im not in a position to do something as well as id like to know one does me all my good work or. Might mean that the wheel of your career turns slower. But thats good because you can use the time to build up your career step by step. Just fundamental. Opera is a tough Business Training as an opera singer and going on to earn a living as a performer takes not only talent but stamina to. For those who persevered its a great privilege. To be created to do small story the 2nd. Largest politics business. Worldwide crisis and. The story is an era that defines our march to. 1979 the big bang that created todays. 15 minutes. What secrets lie behind. Discover new adventures in 360 degree. And explore fascinating World Heritage sites. D. W. World heritage 316 get the map now. This is d w news live from berlin thousands of people are trapped almost daily in beaches as wildfires close in the blazes cutting off escape routes forcing people to flee to the shoreline and hope of rescue authorities are struggling to keep the firestorms at bay well talk to a man who stayed behind to fight the flames also on the show