The Road to Becoming a Resident Artist
By Julia Lyon
Becoming a Resident Artist at Utah Opera is no easy feat. To begin with, the numbers are against you. Around 600 people typically submit applications for one of the full-time positions—four vocalists and a pianist—which last up to two years.
Most have recently finished a graduate music degree. They know that being a Resident Artist (RA) will bridge the gap between higher education and a career.
“What you learn in an academic setting doesn’t always fully translate to the professional world,” said Kevin Nakatani, Opera Education Manager. “So developing that understanding of how things work at a professional level is incredibly important. We help them take the next step.”
But, first, they have to get the gig.
Standing Out from the Crowd
Utah Opera chooses a select number of applicants for a live audition. Several days of auditions take place in Salt Lake City, New York City, and Chicago near the end of the year. Then, finalists are interviewed. A handful will win a position and join the USUO family the next fall.
But the number of openings depends on the year. This year there was only one.
Hundreds of Performances
One of the biggest parts of the RA program is K-12 school performances. The process of performing again and again for an ever-changing, unpredictable audience helps strengthen performers’ skills—and confidence.
During the 2024-25 season, RAs gave 128 in-school assemblies and presentations. To get there, they drove 9,500 miles in the opera van, lovingly nicknamed ‘Vroomhilda.’
They performed for almost 40,000 students at 110 different schools across the state—not to mention performing in community concerts everywhere from Primary Children’s Hospital to The Grand America Hotel. All of it not only improves them as performers but as public speakers.
Star Soloists
RAs are also soloists at the annual Messiah Sing-In in November and the Access to Music concert. They perform roles in Utah Opera productions at the Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre and typically study a principal role as well to expand their repertoire.
Regular voice lessons and masterclasses with sought after teachers, visiting artists, and conductors help them grow. The end result? Some RA alumni come back to perform in Utah Opera productions.
This October, Christian Sanders, who was an RA from 2015 to 2017, returns as Stuart Ullman and Delbert Grady in “The Shining.” Christopher Oglesby, who was an RA in 2017-18 and part of the 2018-19 season, returns as Alfredo Germont in “La traviata” next May.
“Anytime an RA has returned, they always say regularly waking up and doing a school performance at 8 am has built their confidence in their instrument,” Nakatani said. “When they go into auditions, they know what they’re capable of at any time.”
More than three decades after it started, the Resident Artist program continues to impact the opera world.
“The return on this organization’s investment in these wonderful artists goes beyond just the training of individuals for our stages,” said Christopher McBeth, Opera Artistic Director. “We are contributing to the opera and symphony art forms on a global level; many of the artists that come through this program are seen on cast lists all around this country and Europe.”
What our Alums Say
“The Utah Opera RA program welcomed me at a pivotal time in my life that shifted my trajectory from academia to performance and galvanized my self-image as a singing actor. Through ample performance opportunities all over Utah I began to grasp the breadth and depth of my capabilities; and as a company that quickly felt like family, Utah Opera was the perfect place to make lifelong friends and feel safe while learning the ropes of this complex industry.”
–Christopher Oglesby, tenor, who will be singing in “La traviata” with Utah Opera next spring.
“Working so closely alongside mainstage artists at Utah Opera deeply shaped the kind of performer I aspire to be and strengthened my confidence in contributing ideas freely in any room. The exceptional outreach and community engagement opportunities shaped me both on and off stage. Talking about my craft, and sharing it with others, made me sharper, more confident, and more certain of the kind of artist I want to be.”
–Sarah Scofield, mezzo soprano, who was an RA from 2023-25
“The RA program at Utah Opera was a critical and formative few years in the development of my career. It taught me so much about my own technique and operatic preferences as well as how the day to day ‘life’ of an opera company works. I learned an incredible amount about the intangibles of the career: how a company comes to serve its community through education and how an administrative team and artists on a production work together to present an opera to the community. I think Utah Opera is truly unique in this way, and I’m so proud to be an ongoing part of the Utah Opera family.”
–Christian Sanders, tenor, who will appear in “The Shining” with Utah Opera this October
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