I was in the lobby of the Alumni Theatre waiting to get my tickets for Kyle McDonald’s Conan and the Stone of Kelior in May 2022. Ryan Hofman boldly introduced himself, telling me he’d encountered my brother at UBC when he was studying there. I was intrigued to hear that while he was a singer he had recently studied business in hopes of working in opera. Little did I realize he would soon show me that he had taken the lessons to heart.

I have never seen anyone adapt so readily to their new world.

Over the course of the next year I saw Ryan get involved with several regional opera companies. First it was Southern Ontario Lyric Opera (SOLO). The picture from backstage was at the SOLO la Traviata in May 2023, just a year after we first met.

New Opera Lyra (NOL) in Ottawa was the next company Ryan brought to my attention. You may recall my interview with Andrew Ager, composer of operas getting their world premiere with NOL, including Great Gatsby, coming up in April. Ryan is not just the consultant promoting this company, he will also portray Tom Buchanan in the opera.

Ryan also talked to me about Opera York (a company I’ve reviewed before) although I was unable to make it to see their Die Fledermaus, presented this past November.

In August I was invited to Toronto vocal showcase 1.0, produced by Ryan, bringing 16 singers before an audience of opera professionals plus a few invited guests like myself.

Look at this picture and wrap your head around the fact that the most comfortable person you see at the centre is the new kid, Ryan Hofman. His confident yet easy manner made this event very enjoyable, not stuffy but fun. Singers looking for other sources of income might glance at this and be astonished that Ryan has done so much so soon. Part of it is his personality, but also his ideas.

I wanted to know more so I interviewed him.

~~~~~

Barczablog: Are you more like your father or your mother?

Ryan Hofman: I would say I have my mother’s smile but look similar to my father.

Personality wise, I am closer to my mother with my father’s humour.

I grew up in Peterborough, Ontario, where I first gained my love of singing in the Peterborough Children’s Chorus. Grew up singing the circuit as a boy soprano.

BB: What is the best or worst thing about what you do?

Ryan Hofman: The best thing about what I do is being able to make a positive impact on singers’ lives and being of service to the industry in hopes of making it better tomorrow than it was today.
The worst thing: trying to separate personal relationships from professional ones. As you know, working with friends can be beneficial but also can present some roadblocks along the way. This is why it is so important to maintain professional integrity in order to avoid nepotism and politics.

BB: Who do you like to listen to or watch

Ryan Hofman: Believe it or not, I listen to pretty much everything apart from country or heavy metal.

BB: What ability or skill do you wish you had, that you don’t have

Ryan Hofman: I wish I could clone myself, to be in multiple places at once, although I am not sure the world would be ready for that!

BB: When you’re just relaxing and not working, what is your favourite thing to do?

Ryan Hofman: Favourite thing to do would be watching reality television, going to the gym or watching the Leafs and Jays disappoint.

BB: What was your first experience of music ?

Ryan Hofman: Singing in the children’s choir at St. James United from a young age.
My first opera live was Tosca with the COC at the Hummingbird in Grade 9 (2004).

BB: What is your favorite opera?

Ryan Hofman: Tough to pick just one. Manon by Massenet I find to be a massively underrated and underperformed opera, but Candide and Gianni Schicchi are not done nearly enough. For the classics, maybe I am biased but Cosi fan tutte, Giulio Cesare and Don Pasquale.

BB: Singers come out of training programs, including the ensemble studio of the COC. And then what? Some people can make a living, some can’t. Stratford Festival and National Ballet function as places to employ almost 100% Canadian talent. Yet the fiction is out there that we need to bring in singers from abroad. Can you imagine Canadian opera with Canadian personnel?

Ryan Hofman: I am glad you bring it up; From what I have noticed from my years performing and administrating, just because you are in a YAP, does not necessarily guarantee longevity in this competitive industry. It certainly helps of course with all the resources at the artists’ disposal, but this industry is ever changing and ever evolving.

This is one of the reasons I decided to pursue this path. I noticed early on in my work with SOLO that there isn’t someone who specializes or champions regional companies from my knowledge in Canada and I saw a void that could be filled. The work regional companies do is just as important and my goal through working with these companies is to hopefully change the trajectory of them. A lot of it is circumstantial. Just because someone is singing with a regional company doesn’t mean they are any less of a success or any less of an artist. It is certainly not that way in Europe, so why should it be different in Canada/North America? Work is work. If you are getting paid for what you have been trained to do and what you love to do, that must be considered a success. Success comes in all different forms and every artist has their own story and journey.

BB: Nowadays it’s very expensive to live in Toronto. Can a performer survive without a day job?

Ryan Hofman: I think it is paramount to be multi-faceted these days. A performer can surely survive without a day job if they are consistently working as a singer, but it is a very small percentage. Most performers I work with or speak to are either teaching, working retail, as a barista or an office job to continue to finance pursuing their dreams. Yes, it is expensive living in Toronto, but it is also quite expensive pursuing music.

BB: If you could tell the institutions how to train future artists for a career in opera, what would you change?

Ryan Hofman: If I had any suggestions to institutions, it would be to incorporate the business of music into the curriculum. This would cover grant writing, entertainment law (contracts and finances) and the art of networking and marketing yourself as an artist. The more skills a singer can have, the more the can be set up for success. Knowledge is power. I believe this can give them the knowledge and education in order to feel empowered not only as an artist, but as a person as well. Networking, I really believe to be an art. It is important to put yourself out there. You could be the best singer at an institution, but if no one knows who you are, then you are still the best singer that no one knows.

Institutions, I believe, do their earnest in their efforts to help mold young musicians into exceptional talent; however, I think there needs to be a fine balance between the development of the craft and the development of the artist as an entrepreneur. I also think an emphasis on mental health should always be a top priority.

BB: Talk about your own educational pathway and how it prepared you for your current career.

Ryan Hofman: I attended the University of Ottawa for my Bachelor of Music and Master of Music from 2008-2014. I was first introduced to my teacher Ingemar Korjus, through the Ontario Youth Choir in 2006, while in high school. I finished my master’s with Christiane Riel, graduating in 2014. While living in Ottawa, I was fortunate enough to work with James Westman when he was in town. It was through our work together that led me to work with J. Patrick Raftery at UBC, where I graduated with a Master of Music in Opera in 2017.

Then of course, 2020 happened. Some life altering events occurred and this inspired me to pivot, as it did for many others, I am sure. I decided to take a leap and move to Toronto in April 2021 and enroll in the Music Business Certificate program at Humber College (all over zoom). My inspiration for this was the thought process of what I believe a lot of musicians think about daily: identity. If I were to lose my voice tomorrow, how would I identify myself? Singing is what I do, not who I am. I actually found this discovery to be quite liberating and freeing.

During my time at Humber, I was very fortunate to intern at the MRG Group, where I was the Intern, and later Coordinator of MRG Live. Through my work here, I learned more about concert promotion, production, contracts, and other necessary facets of the music industry.

BB: Describe how you made the connection at SOLO, at NOL and Opera York.

Ryan Hofman: I was first introduced to SOLO through my work as a soloist in 2018. It was merely through reaching out to companies to audition. I was fortunate enough to be involved with four productions.

When I decided to pursue my freelance work as an Artistic Consultant and Outreach Officer (yes, a mouthful for sure, ha), SOLO was the first company on my list I that wanted to reach out to. The idea really came to fruition in January 2022.

Being a musician and working in this industry requires not only persistence and resilience, but also resourcefulness. Working with a company like SOLO has also helped me grow as an administrator. It was through my collaboration with SOLO that I decided to continue to pursue working with more regional companies.

My connection with New Opera Lyra stemmed from a prior professional relationship with Andrew Ager. Through mutual connections and our work together at Rideau Park United, it was a no brainer to expand my work to Ottawa.

Finally, I was hired by Opera York for Die Fledermaus this past November. It was through working with this company as a singer that I decided to come on and work with them in a behind-the-scenes capacity.

BB: As I mention in my intro at the beginning of this interview, I first met you at Conan and the Stone of Kelior in May 2022. You fearlessly introduced yourself. Most people don’t have that kind of nerve. Did anyone (a teacher or mentor) explain to you why this is a good idea? OR was it simply an impulse..?

Ryan Hofman: I believe it was a bit of both if I am being honest. I remember taking a Business of Music class during my days at uOttawa about the importance of Networking that helped drive that mindset. It goes back to my earlier point that this is very much a relationship industry and if you want others to invest in you, you need to invest in getting to know them just as well. I did a little research before our interaction, and you were someone I wanted to meet. Being relatively new to Toronto at the time, it was important to put a face to the name. The more genuine networks and relationships you can form in this industry, the better. It is so easy to get caught up in the competitive nature of this industry that we often forget why relationships are important and how to develop and maintain said relationships.

BB: Do you have any teachers or influences you would care to mention?

Ryan Hofman: All the teachers and mentors I have worked with from a young age to today have all played an intregral role in my development:
Dr. Giles Bryant, Ruth King Seabrooke, Sally Pirie, Margaret Marris, Christine Slevan (Peterborough) Ingemar Korjus, Trygve John Ringereide, Sandra Graham, Christiane Riel, John Avey and Laurence Ewashko (Ottawa), James Westman and J. Patrick Raftery and Nancy Hermiston (Vancouver)

Thank you does not do enough justice.

BB: Please talk about the vocal showcases you’ve been offering.

Ryan Hofman: My inspiration for the Vocal Showcases came from years as a performer and working behind the scenes. Auditions can feel so stressful and like a cattle call, and I really believe this can have a negative impact on the singer’s psyche.

The vocal showcase is modeled similarly to what record labels and music companies do. Industry professionals, especially during Canada Music Week gather to hear unsigned artists or artists not working as much as they should be.

This model in Europe is often called “Death by Aria”. My goal in creating this unique platform was lack of opportunities for singers. I find there are high-calibre singers out there who do not have the luxury or privilege of representation and as a result, often get disqualified as organizations will go to agencies because it is what they know. Another important aspect of the showcase is to pick singers that are also high-calibre and gracious people. I believe this is vital in helping change the industry for the better. This not only encourages further camaraderie amongst colleagues, but also helps change the dynamic of the process in a positive way.

Originally I was just planning on organizing an audition for a conductor colleague of mine and then I heard other conductors’ inquiry on how to hear a fresh patch of singers. That was the light bulb moment where things really took off.

My first Toronto Vocal Showcase ended up having 16 singers, with 14 panelists representing 16 organizations from Toronto and across the country.

Instead of the usual “2-3 aria” requirement, I give a time limit (8-10 minutees) and list of the panelists and leave it up to the singers to decide what to sing and thus, best showcase them as an artist. I want them to feel empowered.

With every showcase I have done, I make sure to do a pre-showcase coffee social with the panelists and invited audience (arts patrons, critics, etc), as a means of making it more of a social event amongst colleagues and less of a work environment.

I decided also to take away the tables and have them dispersed amongst the sanctuary. The invited audience would then be seated in the balcony. This gives it more of a concert and showcase like feel and less of a high stress audition situation. In fact, the panel and audience are encouraged to clap after every performance. There is a certain psychology behind everything as well. By making it a closed invited, with an invited audience, it creates a much more nurturing situation in a controlled environment allowing for a positive experience for all participants.

I am happy to say that I just had a second singer hired from my Toronto showcase for an engagement in Ottawa in June namely Alexandra Beley. Holly Chaplin was the first with New Opera Lyra.

The plan is to make the showcases an annual event in various markets. The plan is to take this to Vancouver and Montreal this year.

And now Ryan directs a question back at his interviewer.

Ryan Hofman: As one of the invited audience members, what was your experience like and how did you feel about the afternoon as a whole? Do you think this is something that could be successful going forward?

BB: I was intrigued watching it. I’ve seen lots of auditions in the theatre world as a music-director doing community theatre and student theatre at the university level, also playing the piano for singers at auditions, plus a few as a singer. Yes it seems like a wonderful idea, and I’m glad to see that you’re expecting to expand this, repeating it again in Toronto and Ottawa as well as future showcases in Montreal and Vancouver.

The informality of it all (as I mention above, with that photo of you and the other opera professionals) was really good. If you want to hear the best of an artist it’s not helpful if you terrify them or make them feel unwelcome.

Finally I want to ask you Ryan, what do you have coming up (both as a performer and in your consultant role):

Ryan Hofman: Yes.
Singing in the world premiere of Andrew Ager’s The Great Gatsby as Tom Buchanan, April 19 & 20 at 7:30pm at Southminister United Church in Ottawa.
Tickets available here.
June 8th, 2024 Lord Nelson Mass with Cantata Singers of Ottawa: http://cantatasingersottawa.ca/wp/cso-60/

Working as Artistic Consultant/Outreach Officer with:
Opera York: Rigoletto-March 1st and 3rd at Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts
https://operayork.com/
SOLO: Carmen-March 2nd at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre
https://southernontariolyricopera.com/events/
New Opera Lyra: Great Gatsby April 19th and 20th
https://www.newoperalyra.ca/2023-24season