Eric Ferring
Embrace Uncertainty
The purpose of this project is to provide a collection of transcriptions from the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. This project seeks to give a platform to all parts of the vocal performing arts to better understand the lived experiences and mentality of those professionals. In collecting stories from the COVID-19 pandemic Eric Ferring, tenor, spoke about the impact of the pandemic on his career, which was just emerging from the young artist stage. Additionally important to him is the advocacy that has been emerging from AGMA and the Soloist Coalition.
Eric Ferring, tenor
Interviewed March 26, 2020
TB: Starting on a positive note, what is the best thing that has happened to you in the last week?
EF: I would have to say the distribution of ideas from the AGMA Soloist Coalition. I am one of the group's founders, and we have created a coalition where people can come for questions and speak their piece. I have been so heartened to see people from every tier of the career, gender, race, and orientation involved in our conversations. We would never have been able to put those people in the same room if everyone had been working. And so, we are capitalizing on an awful situation by coming together as a group. Soloists are individuals by nature, and creating a collective voice is difficult. So, I have been really heartened by those conversations this week.
TB: Would you mind sharing your background and where you are in your career?
EF: Sure, I am a tenor from Dubuque, Iowa. I did my undergrad at Drake University in music as a voice performance major. Then, I went straight to my master's at The Boston Conservatory and received a Masters in Music in Opera Performance. I had two years as a Resident Artist at Pittsburgh Opera and just finished two years at the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. I have worked with Opera Theatre St. Louis, Santa Fe, Wolf Trap, and Seagle Music Colony during the summers.
Now, I am a full-time freelancer. I am one month into the freelance world, and I have to say it is not going the greatest, but here we are! I finally took off my young artist wings, and now I am trying to fly as a freelancer.
TB: Also, congratulations on the Glyndebourne competition!
EF: Yes, I was so excited to receive third prize! Honestly, I applied on a whim because it happened to be on a day off where I could run to New York. So, I did it and then was told that I was in the semi-finals and was one of 20 singers from 39 countries to go to Glyndebourne! We had a week of coaching, masterclasses, and conversations, and I would have been so happy just to have been amongst those people because there was some really phenomenal singing. But I was chosen as one of the six finalists and got third. It was a very, very exciting adventure and certainly helped me cover some of the losses from cancellations that I am now incurring. Glyndebourne is truly the magical place that everyone says it is.
TB: Could you describe where you were and how you first realized that your life was going to be directly affected by this pandemic?
EF: When I was in Glyndebourne, the UK was the only country in Europe that hadn't been grossly affected. When I went to the airport, I saw more masks than I ever had. And I am a mask wearer by nature of singing (love the Humidiflyer when I travel!), so I am usually the one who receives weird looks. But this time, no one was giving me looks because everyone had masks on.
As I came home, I went directly to my first freelance gig in North Carolina. There was already an air of caution about getting too invested in the process because everyone thought it was only a matter of time before we got cancelled. So, I was preparing myself for this awful reality, but also living in the idealism of working on a production and the discovery that is so exciting in that process. That was the first week, and then at the end of that week, the show was cancelled. We had four amazing days of rehearsal, and then poof, it was gone.
TB: Can you talk about the logistics that were impacted for you when this gig was cancelled; travel, housing, etc.?
EF: Yes, every company provides different things; sometimes housing is covered, sometimes you get travel covered. In my case, the show was postponed after four days of rehearsal, and they did provide travel reimbursements for our original travel as well as our new flight home, which was very generous. We were allowed to stay as long as we wanted, and there was no rush because we were staying at provided housing. They hosted a "We're postponed!" party with the general director. It was a real family vibe, which I think everyone really appreciated.
They did end up paying us 20% of our contracts, which under force majeure, they weren't required to pay us anything. I thought it was a very generous offer. They are remounting the production in January, and if you are in that, you'll get your other 80%. I believe I will be doing that production so that I won't lose any of that money, hopefully!
I'm a very type-A person, and my stuff is currently in storage because I wasn't supposed to move to Tampa, where my partner lives, until the end of that gig. So, I moved to Tampa three weeks early with only a suitcase. There were a lot of personal logistics that were affected by that as well.
Yesterday, I had another cancellation for a gig right after North Carolina in New Orleans for another Magic Flute. There is no sense of what will happen in terms of payments. They are an AGMA company, unlike North Carolina, but I get the sense that we may not receive anything. Again, they are in their right not to do so. New Orleans did pay us a stipend to cover travel, and housing for the gig ahead of time, so I cashed that check and paid for my Airbnb and rental car expenses. I am now fully unemployed but not sure if I even qualify for unemployment.
TB: For the gig in May, how do you feel about that?
EF: Frankly, I am feeling a little desperate about needing it to happen. I am looking at losses of around $14,000 so far. As someone who just left a young artist program and who now doesn't have a consistent paycheck, that is a gigantic loss that my savings can only handle for so long. Even though I am a type-A budgeter, there is only so much I can do. The gig in May is a one-off concert, but it will pay my rent for the following month. So, I am feeling desperate about needing it to happen. Because if it doesn't happen, I don't have anything until June. That is my biggest contract of the year, Santa Fe. If that cancels, I am completely f*****.
I am blessed to have a full schedule this year and have a bit more comfort in that than many of my colleagues. But like anyone, you have to have a lifestyle, and once you make more money, your spending generally increases. Though I've been trying to watch to make sure that that lifestyle creep doesn't happen, especially now that money is in question.
Of course, the whole way we're paid per performance puts the entire risk on the performer, even if we do not have a cancellation due to COVID-19. We could easily cancel because we are sick or even have the sniffles, and we would receive zero [compensation]. We live a very high-risk lifestyle. But high risk often means high reward, which is why soloists are generally paid higher than their colleagues in other parts of the career, but we have less protection as well. Something that I'm passionate to address in our union and our collective bargaining agreements in the future.
Still, I am feeling very desperate and very uneasy. I do have a fiancé, and we live together, so I have that stability. He is a doctor but in residency, so he doesn't make much money either. We have to be very frugal—about the food we make and what we buy—in ways that we haven't had to be before. That is an interesting shot to reality about where we are.
TB: Does your partner being a doctor in the hospital play a part in your worries?
EF: Yes, it is a huge worry. They have COVID-19 scares every day. He wears a mask all day, and when he comes home, he immediately washes his hands and takes his scrubs into our spare room. He wipes down every single thing he might have brought back from the hospital. It is very scary.
He is a pediatrician, and although many people with COVID-19 in the hospital are elderly or immunocompromised, there still have been children with COVID. Some immunocompromised children are very sick and could get it from their parents too. They had a scare just last week with a child, and Jake thought he might be positive too. What would that mean for us when I am basically staying home all day? It is very scary.
Jake is amazing, passionate, and dedicated to what he does, which is one of the reasons why I love him. But it is scary, and he is scared. All the doctors are afraid, and rightfully so. We live in an unprecedented time. In the past, I'm sure nobody thought that we would have a situation like a world war or having to hide under desks because of a nuclear disaster; those things seemed so far away. Today, the whole world is being humbled by a virus, and we thought we were pretty invincible. It shows you how vulnerable we truly are.
TB: What would you say is the hardest lesson you've learned so far in this situation?
EF: Expect and embrace uncertainty, and that goes for basically every part of the career. If you are getting housing provided, expect and embrace the uncertainty of not knowing what you are coming into anytime. Embrace the uncertainty of not knowing how the rehearsals are going to go. Embrace the uncertainty of how you are going to feel on a performance day. Embrace the uncertainty of whether or not you are going to have your next gig because of COVID-19.
It is really easy to get crazy and in your head. (Especially as a tenor, we have hundreds of years of people thinking we are crazy! [Laughter]) I am consistently trying to tell myself to embrace the uncertainty because there is just no other way. It is a part of the field, and it is especially part of the field now. So, if you get all worked up about things that you can't control, you will never perform your best because you are preoccupied.
TB: I know you are working many hours with the Soloist Coalition. But how is this impacting your creative process?
EF: I am not sure that my creative process is really running right now. You mentioned the Coalition, and that is where I have my creative juices going; developing creative solutions for everyone because all artists are being impacted right now. Frankly, I don't know what the stage is going to look like after this. And I am not sure me practicing singing right now is the best use of my talents and time. I haven't been practicing, mostly because I am mourning. And that is not where I need to be right now.
My creative process is not in my art right now. It is in the logistics of moving our career forward. Being an artist is not just being an artist on stage, and I realize that a lot more now. The survival of the art form is not just making sure that I stay afloat financially so that I can perform. It is actually about me protecting every other artist in case this happens again. Force majeure language should not have zero percent liability on the company and 100% on the artist. If I don't help address that, it will never change. I am currently focusing my creative process on building a functional union and business to help singers find solutions that assist everyone.
TB: Is that something you will be looking towards for your future as well?
EF: I am currently on the Board of Governors for AGMA as a soloist representative. That is my present, and it will probably be my future as well. I am very passionate about equal representation and very pro-union. It is really hard for soloists—by nature of being individuals when we perform—to find a collective voice and power. We are 30% of our union, and the stronger that we are, the stronger our union is. Now, trying to get soloists more involved is easier than it ever has been. We are trying to capitalize and galvanize those people; to help them see the future so that we can coalesce around big ideas and make plans and policies that help us move forward. For example, other than force majeure, a big issue for us is how we're paid and when in the process. Before, I mentioned that we have always been paid per performance by nature of our career, and no singer has ever really cared. Because again, the higher the risk, the higher the reward. They would rather get $10,000 a show than $8,000 split through the weeks they are there. They want that extra money. But now, everyone is having a come-to-Jesus moment on every issue related to being an artist—whether that is how we commission our managers to how we are fundamentally paid. Why is it that if we show up unprepared, artists can be fired, but if we show up prepared, we are not compensated for that preparation? We are trying to figure out what we would like to see happen and the potential consequences those decisions may have.
TB: Reflecting back, how different was your life six weeks ago?
EF: It was very in the clouds because things were going so well. I was about to finish at the Ryan Opera Center, and things were quite well on that front. Then when I placed at the Glyndebourne competition, I thought, "More money to throw at my student loans!" Then I was going to my first of four Magic Flutes this year, and I was really excited to get some time with the role before Santa Fe. They are my most important contractor this year, and it is my highest level of exposure.
Now, I have not only lost money, but frankly and more importantly, I have lost the experience of having done the role multiple times. Part of me thinks that this whole year will be written off because no one is really singing right now. Everyone is still in shock from the cancellations. Just yesterday and today, we got a whole new slew of cancellations for April and May. I think that people believed we wouldn't get to the second set of cancellations after March.
I guess I'll never be so in the clouds again. That is what happens when you are brought down to earth by an event like this. It is sad because I feel like I was really optimistic, and now I live in a more pessimistic—or maybe realistic—headspace. I am not sure that headspace is the right place for an artist to live most of the time, but it's where I'm living at the moment.
A lot of my friends and colleagues are much worse off than me. We have the top-tier artists with contracts for five years out, and they're mostly able to weather this storm. But then we also have singers who just lost their last professional gig on the books. So, I am realizing that I am definitely in the privileged few who have the next year or two booked. Even though I am hurting, I am not hurting like my friends. That is what is driving me to do even more work with the union. To make sure that this stuff doesn't happen again and that artists are more protected than they were before.
TB: Could you talk about how you think that this may change the musical landscape in the future?
EF: I don't want to be pessimistic, but we will lose a lot of regional companies and small orchestral groups. Those who survive will do a repertoire that is much safer; smaller casts, smaller production size, and fewer performances. We will see that at the large companies and with fewer 20th/21st century "risky" productions that aren't The Marriage of Figaro, Magic Flute, La bohème, Tosca, or Madama Butterfly.
Maybe this is a positive. Hopefully, we will see companies collaborate on productions in order to mitigate the costs amongst themselves. Perhaps we will see more innovative collaborations that we haven't seen before.
We will also see lower fees. So no matter what our structure looks like in how we're paid, we will see less income. Some people—depending on where they are in the career—were already struggling. They will, unfortunately, continue to struggle even more. There will also be a reckoning in the career's middle and upper tiers, as there will be fewer jobs for everyone. That is the reality. No matter how much money the government will or will not throw at the arts, it is going to be quite a while until we feel any sense of normality.
TB: As someone who has just emerged from the young artist programs, what advice would you give to young artists as they go through this very challenging time?
EF: I am of multiple minds. One is to keep on the struggle, and there will be a brighter day. But I am also of the mind where I am not sure there has been a worse time to be an artist in terms of finances, at least recently—maybe 2008 [the Financial Crisis], but it is worse now. That encourages me to talk about correlating careers and feeding other interests and inspirations that singers have.
The union and leadership are a skill and a passion of mine. Advocacy is something that I am really passionate about and have fed throughout my years as a young artist and before in school by being a Resident Assistant and a leader in Residence Hall life. Now, it is birthing itself in the union and my participation there. So, I would encourage people to keep on keeping on and see where their passions lie. I know singers who are also photographers and web designers. So if you want to stay in the art world, there are a lot of options. I also know singers who work in arts administration. And I have singers who are financial consultants, fitness instructors, real estate agents, and many other things.
The world of an artist has lots of turns and forms, and no matter where you are in the career, the better you can prepare yourself, the better off you'll be. The best artists are the artists who have lived. This teaches us to be even more aware of the situations around us and prepare ourselves should anything like this happen again.
TB: Thank you for sharing that. Lastly, we have to end on a positive note. What is your video binge recommendation?
EF: I am an avid binger in terms of streaming series. I have two minds. One is medical dramas, and it is mostly so that I can randomly yell medical terminology at my fiancé and try to look impressive (or just make him laugh). I watched The Resident, The Good Doctor, Saving Hope, and I've watched all of ER and Grey's Anatomy. On Netflix, I am watching All American, which is a really great show about football drama in high school. That is currently my life between Zoom calls.
TB: It has been a pleasure to speak to you today.
“Nebbie” by Ottorino Respighi
Eric Ferring, tenor
Madeline Slettedahl, piano
“Il mio tesoro” from Don Giovanni by Mozart
Eric Ferring, tenor
Madeline Slettedahl, piano
About Eric Ferring
American Tenor Eric Ferring, a native of Dubuque, Iowa, is an alum of Drake University and The Boston Conservatory under the tutelage of Dr. Rebecca Folsom. He is a graduate of the Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist Program and the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
This season, Mr. Ferring was scheduled for an anticipated debut with Santa Fe Opera as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, as well as his company debuts in the same role with North Carolina Opera, New Orleans Opera, and Pittsburgh Opera. Mr. Ferring was also slated to perform Beethoven’s Mass in C with the Grant Park Music Festival and understudy Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) and Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) at The Metropolitan Opera this spring, but sadly, due to COVID-19, these productions/concerts were cancelled. Mr. Ferring did perform this season as Walther in Tannhaüser at Opéra de Rouen Normandie, and in concert, Mr. Ferring joined the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra for Händel’s Messiah in December.
Mr. Ferring will make numerous Metropolitan Opera debuts in 2021-2022, including performing Tamino in Die Zauberflöte. Mr. Ferring is also scheduled to perform at Santa Fe Opera in the summers of 2022 and 2023. Mr. Ferring will release his solo debut album under the Delos Records label in the winter of 2021.
Last season, Mr. Ferring returned to the Ensemble of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Performances during the season included Older Brother in Dead Man Walking and Tchaplitsky in Queen of Spades while covering Count Almaviva in Il barbière di Siviglia, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and Major Domo in Queen of Spades.
Performances during the 2018-2019 season at Lyric include his principal role appearance as Lurcanio in Ariodante with Maestro Harry Bicket, for which the Chicago Tribune declared him “the most noteworthy solo breakthrough of the production,” as well as the Young Servant in Elektra and both Gastone/Giuseppe in La traviata.
During his two seasons (2016-2018) as a Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist, Mr. Ferring performed multiple roles including The Protagonist in the world premiere of Ashes & Snow (now known as Savage Winter) in collaboration with American Opera Projects, Flask in Moby-Dick, and Nemorino in L’elisir d’Amore. Mr. Ferring was an Apprentice Singer at Santa Fe Opera where he covered Oronte in Alcina and was awarded the Richard Tucker Memorial Scholarship.
In addition, Mr. Ferring received Third Prize in the 2020 Glyndebourne Opera Cup, First Place in the 2020 Dorothy Lincoln-Smith Voice Competition through the National Society of Arts and Letter, Top Prize in the 2019 American Opera Society of Chicago competition, recipient of a 2018 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, as well as a Career Grant from the Sullivan Foundation, Third Prize in the 2017 Gerda Lissner Foundation International Voice Competition, and a Regional Encouragement Award at the 2017 Great Lakes Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. In 2015, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis presented Mr. Ferring a career award from the Richard Gaddes Fund for Young Artists given in recognition of his great vocal potential.
Mr. Ferring is managed by Fletcher Artist Management. For further materials and updates, please visit Mr. Ferring’s website at ericferring.com or his professional Facebook page.
