The Truth About “Making It” as an Opera Singer

Letting Go of the Outcome and Falling in Love with the Process | A Mindset Shift for Classical Singers

🎭The Hidden Truth Behind Success

Tony Robbins once said:

“You are rewarded in public for what you have intensely practiced & refined in private!”

As an artist, on my dream path, I know exactly what he meant.

The easiest and most obvious thing for me to do here or on social media, would be to share my magical day in a production, as a successful opera singer - the production photos, the orchestra, the beautiful costumes, the stage.

But that’s not real…

Most of the time… I am not on stage. 

Most of the time.. I intensely practice and refine my art in private.

Reel vs. Reality

We live in a world obsessed with success snapshots.

But the singing artist’s life is so much deeper.

Social media is saturated with beautiful success stories, but the reality of the singing artist is different.. Alongside those big magical moments, there are years of DEDICATION, and… of setbacks and challenges.

Lately I found that the attachment to the ultimate opera dream can make us, opera singers feel well.. Miserable. 

The Race To The Top

For years I wanted to get to the top. I needed to be that famous amazing singer who sings at the most famous and prestigious opera houses in the world!

And something inside me still yearns for that.

But that race to the top was making me miserable. 

The Voice That Said “You’re Not There Yet”

I became so obsessed with my dream that a voice inside me kept whispering:

“You’re still not there,

“Why aren’t you singing on the biggest stages yet?

"Will you ever get there?"

"How come there is this huge gap between the level you sing, and where you actually perform…"

These questions followed me everywhere: while practicing, while I was playing with my daughter or walking my dog, they even creeped into my dreams.

The more I wanted it and it wasn’t there, that hard feeling in my heart grew. 

It actually became harder to imagine myself making it to the top. 

I started wondering if it would ever happen, or if it’s just a childish dream of mine. 

It felt like my dream was fleeting away and away from me, while I was trying to chase it and make it happen.

I thought I was focusing on my dream in a healthy way, but what I did not realize was that I was actually focusing on… its absence. And so, I was attracting the absence of my dream.

✨ The Shift: Letting Go of the Outcome

That realization made me understand that I have to make a huge mental shift!

I must let go of the outcome.

Letting go doesn’t mean giving up.

It means TRUSTING — that the right opportunities will arrive when you are ready.

We cannot control when the “big break” comes.

But we can control how we show up today.

What I Choose to Focus On

Instead of obsessing over the biggest stages, I now focus fully on:

• Becoming the artist I want to be

• Living my craft, wholeheartedly

• Doing the work that fulfills me

The Four Pillars of the Unstoppable Singer

Through this shift, I’ve found four pillars that I practice daily and keep me grounded, motivated, and growing as an artist:

1. Daily Vocal Practice - to master your instrument.

2. Studying Music Daily - to deeply learn your repertoire and become the best musician you can be.

3. Networking & Creating - to build real connections and share your work with the world.

4. Mental & Physical Well-Being - to connect to your inner compass and develop true resilience in this demanding career.

And so we are focusing on the art, on creating, singing, learning, growing, putting it out there, and praying that our devotion will also be received in the external world. So when the glorious opportunity will arrive to us in a divine way - we will be warm, ready, confident, and humble to embrace it.

Our success as singing artists is now measured by committing to our craft, showing up, and becoming a little bit better every single day.

And maybe, one day. The devotion, the committed work, and the endless dedication will become unignorable wherever we decide to go. 

The act of this daily repetition and surrendering to the process is sacred, if done full heartedly. 

This is a tough mind game, and one of the most important things that the singing artist needs to nurture on this process are our thoughts and feelings - what we read and consume, how we wake up and feel every single morning, how we handle doubts and questioning our path. But this is a topic for another blog post.

A New Horizon

There is something scary about letting go of the dream.

Letting go of this hold.

I was holding it so tightly… that everything felt stuck.

Now, by letting it go, there is room for growth, there is less pressure on myself, and I could hopefully allow things to arrive more easily.

Because instead of focusing on the pain and setbacks, on what if’s, and on what’s missing now you focus on your craft, seeing the open purple-pink horizon of endless ways to walk in.

Now there is an open space to welcome new opportunities.

Now you are making decisions from a calmer, and a more connected and flowy grounded place.

Any decision that you will make from that place will lead you to that beautiful horizon which is never ending, always changing, and evolving with you.

By evolving and nurturing the artist you will tune it to that inner fire deep inside your heart which is burning with knowledge that will direct your path, and will help you believe in yourself and in your journey.

It May Look Like Overnight Success, But It Never Is

One day you might win that grand competition, or maybe someone will hear you and will open those big doors for you, and it might seem to everyone else like an overnight success, but only you and I will know that it was not. 

What was it? Days, and weeks, and years of devotion to the practice, to learning, to singing, to exploring and refining the craft and the mindset so devotedly, so deliberately and so dedicatedly to become that great artist that can shine in stressful or magical moments and make it happen. 

Those small daily efforts—the practice, the networking, the learning—may seem like small acts, but they add up.

I believe that if you truly dedicate yourself to the process and to your growth as an artist, great things must happen.

Believe in yourself, take one step at a time, know your dreams, but let them be, for now. Allow the space for them to come when the time is right.

🌈Let’s Walk This Path Together

Join our Opera Singers Resonate Community - a supportive space for singers - a place where we can speak openly, support one another, and grow into the artists we’re meant to be.

Listen to the Resonate Opera Podcast - "Making It" as an Opera Singer - Focus and Dreams.

Follow and connect on Instagram for more inspiration:)

I wish you a wonderful singing journey filled with depth, growth, and success - both internal and external.

With love,

Shiri.