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Behind the curtains of any great production, there’s a group of people that help to make the magic happen when the lights go down. One of those unsung heroes at Syracuse Opera is Michael Shannon, from London, Ontario. As the resident coach for much of the 2012-2013 season, Shannon will be responsible for ironing out the kinks with the performers. He combs through the most difficult parts with them: the tough pronunciations, the style, the feeling and all the nuances that give opera its deeply layered power. It’s a job that Shannon, 26, never thought of before it was specifically suggested to him by friends and mentors. Today, he couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
Q: How were you chosen for the position?
A: Usually it’s done by an audition process and usually, as coaches, we’re playing for so many singers’ auditions that we rarely do auditions ourselves. But this was actually word of mouth. One of the other resident artists, Jonathan Christopher, was selected via the audition process and Douglas {Kinney Frost} had emailed the artists to see if they knew of any coaches because they couldn’t find anyone through the audition process. I sent my materials to Douglas, he gave me a call, we talked on the phone and a couple days later he called me and asked me to come. That was about two months ago.
Q: What did you study {at McGill University in Montreal} to set you on this path?
A: I studied voice at school. And I’ve played piano since I was 2. But I always was fascinated by singing and I sang in choirs, and I decided I’d audition at McGill and if I got in, I’d go, some kind of sign. So I got in and I went. And then it was interesting. I took all the courses that singers took, but I always felt like a double agent, not sure necessarily if I belonged to that world or not. I had a couple mentors who saw this dual personality in me and they said you should think about a career as a vocal coach because I would get to be in the world of singing and opera and use all my talents. I’m so glad I met those people because I can’t imagine doing anything else. It’s a perfect fit for me.
Q: What are your responsibilities as a coach?
A: You’re responsible for helping the singers achieve their best work. And that can entail helping them with languages and style and making sure that musically things are cohesive and preparing them for when, on their first day of the opera, to make sure that all the nuts and bolts are taken care of because there’s a limited amount of time to put together an opera. As a coach, you’re the singer’s best friend. You wear a number of different hats. You’re their ally, psychologist, mentor and someone with an outside ear because a singer can’t hear what they sound like because it’s inside of them. You’re out there, basically like a sounding board for them to give them your opinion.
Q: Is there an artist or piece you’ve worked on/with that you’d call a favorite?
A: It’s funny. The whole favorite question, people often ask, favorite this and that. Mine always seems to be that what I’m doing now is my favorite. Almost out of necessity. Not to say you can’t get genuinely enthusiastic about every piece that you come across, but the thing that you’re doing in the present moment, if you’re really dedicated and involved and present for that—it has to become your favorite. There’s a reason some of these things survive.
Q: Tell me about someone who’s had a major effect on you professionally.
A: I got a chance to work with a master coach, Martin Katz, and he wrote this book called The Complete Collaborator. It’s such a labor of love. He’s able to really pick and choose the salient features of our life work and is able to really condense this information in a really accessible, heartfelt way. Working with him and just watching him work was just incredible. He did five-hour master classes for three days. I was there with my pen and paper writing down. You’re always searching for a better analogy, a better way to explain something. You can write it down scientifically. But it’s the way the information is received in that present moment, the way that person takes that information that lights a spark and to watch him work and watch his brain work and how he adapts to individual singers. I strive to be able to be that present to be adaptable to each and everybody’s individual needs.
