Why We're In Europe

Although it would be nice to be able to say so, American singers are not working over here because we love the European Life or because we're protesting the catastrophe that is the Bush administration. The fact is, there's more work here. Tons more. That and the relatively open immigration policies of the Germany and Austria is a big lure for singers who, like me, got fed up with day jobs and the incomprehensible singer management "system" in the US.
In a recent article for the Tampa Tribune, Kurt Loft writes about the crisis an American opera house must face when a singer gets sick, citing a recent occasion at Opera Tampa and the need for covers (who get paid to wait around in the general vicinity of the theater before each performance, just in case.) Now, it's possible that Mr. Loft exaggerated the dire situation an opera company finds itself in when illness strikes, but I think he's pretty much on the mark in that a company will then have to make some quick phone calls, almost all long-distance, in order to find a last-minute replacement. As I read the article, I found myself taking for granted that for Tampa to find an available Tosca within 500 miles would be almost out of the question.
Then I made a comparison. My theater also has performances of Tosca this season (16, in fact.) If a prima donna were to cancel, what then? Well, first, we've got 3 sopranos alternating in the role. Should, god forbid, they all be unavailable, I checked on the handy website Opera Base to see what theaters within, say, roughly 500 miles, would also have productions of Tosca going on.
Starting after April 1 (for new productions), I found ten houses. When I backed up to look at all the houses doing Tosca in the last 12 months, I found 12 more. That's 22 recent productions to pick from, in an area roughly the size of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland put together.
And that is not even counting all the opera houses who didn't stage Tosca within the last year. Who pays for all this culture? Opera, symphonies, art museums, theater, dance; it's heavily subsidized by the government. Which of course means that taxes are higher. Do people complain about high taxes? Sure they do. But the arts are a very big part of European cultural life, and a social democracy supports its culture. Thank god for that.