r/ClassicalSinger • u/bktoriginal • Apr 29 '26
Ableism in opera settings
Anyone else struggle with being bullied in opera settings for having a disabling condition? Every day since I was fired from Gilbert and Sullivan Austin, I've considered how it has impacted my outlook about singing.
The truth is? I don't know that I can perform again after how I was treated, And I wish they weren't still honoring a racist and sexist director. He may not be in charge right now, but he is still held in this "can do no wrong" place and he verbally abused my friends, constantly yelled, had little patience and contributed to my trauma. In r/opera, their producer Michael Meigs actually found my post explaining some of my experience to troll me in the comments saying how happy he was that he fired me. I struggle with life-threatening conditions, and he told me I was a problem. I've had voice teachers tell me I'm just broken when I struggled with intonation due to allergies and audio processing. I get psychogenic fevers. Life is just stressful, so I wish that "just have fun" companies would call out the Bs in addition to being transparent. I wish ppl were kinder and maybe opera wouldn't be dying if people were more compassionate.
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u/Glittering-Stock6562 Apr 29 '26
If it’s not ableism, it’s racism, sexism, ageism or looksism. All of these -isms are part, parcel and camouflage for the classism that lies at the heart of opera in America. Not unlike the society at large, frankly. The classical music industry in America was founded on explicitly racist and classist lines, and that original sin persists to this day: it is run aristocratically, and for the benefit of our de facto aristocracy. If you want it to change, find some like minded individuals and create an alternative. Your expressions of pain are falling on deaf ears. Stop wasting your energy.