Today we’d like to introduce you to Chelsea Coyne.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Chelsea. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
When people ask me, “What do you do for a living?,” I typically respond with, “I am an opera singer.” But my career has evolved in so many different ways, that, simply, “I am an opera singer,” doesn’t really cut it anymore. I suppose an easier answer now is, “I am a Cruise Director with Seabourn Cruises,” but that still doesn’t sum up who I am or what I do. I like to compare my life to a handheld fan. In the same way that a fan slowly opens and expands, I keep adding skill sets and experiences to my existence, adding to what I do, but never stopping or taking away from my core agenda or passions.
I began singing at a very young age. My favorite picture of myself was taken when I was three-years-old. I am pictured standing barefoot in my kitchen, wearing an over-sized t-shirt that read “Texas Turkey” with a picture of an armadillo on it, my hair pulled up in a messy ponytail, and a hairbrush in my hand, functioning as a microphone, during a clearly inspirational performance.
I, fortunately, always knew that I was to become a professional singer, too. Although the life of an artist is ever transient and unpredictable, I feel incredibly blessed that I have always known my calling.
I began studying classical voice at 12-years-old. I was always involved in the choirs and musicals in school – I LOVED to sing. At 16-years-old, my voice teacher at the time gave me my first operatic aria to learn, “Mon Coeur s’ouvre a ta voix” from Saint-Saens’ opera “Samson et Dalila.” Because of this aria (a song from an opera), I fell in love with opera and decided that I wanted to be an opera singer. I had never even seen an opera at this point in my life, but I was so taken by the intensity and passion required for this type of singing, that I knew it was the path I wanted to take.
I stayed close to home for my undergraduate studies. I attended Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX and graduated from there with a Bachelor of Music degree. I loved my time at TCU. I was fully immersed in Music, day in and day out, and I studied under two different mentors who truly helped to mold my musical career – my private voice teacher, J. David Brock (who is the head of the voice department at TCU today) and my choral conductor, Ronald Shirey (who left this world after I graduated). My love and passion for music, especially classical music, continued to grow and I continued on my operatic journey.
After graduating from TCU, I moved to Cleveland, OH, where I earned a Master of Music Degree and an Artist Diploma Certificate from The Cleveland Institute of Music. There, I was taught by Dr. Mary Schiller, one of the most eccentric and interesting people that I have ever encountered. Dr. Schiller is known as a technician, a teacher that really tries to develop a strong vocal technique in her singers, and uses a more scientific approach to singing, rather than a lofty, whimsical, metaphorical approach (which is quite common in the singing world). Mr. Brock and Dr. Schiller had very different approaches to teaching, yet both were completely valuable and necessary for my development as a singer. Under Mr. Brock, I felt that I was able to be passionate, emote, and truly tell my story as a singing actress. I loved singing with Mr. Brock. I felt free and supported and, well, good. He really believed in me and supported me as an artist. In my first year of study with Dr. Schiller, I felt stifled, bridled, and controlled. I was not “allowed” to emote until I perfected my technique and this was difficult for me, as a young, singing actress, to accept.
When I would get too passionate while singing, my jaw would tighten and Dr. Schiller would yell, “Stop! Do it again. Release your jaw.” I would start singing again, cautiously, then surrender to the music, and, again, “Stop. Release your jaw. Again.” She would hold on to my ponytail while I sang and pull my head slightly back, to keep my head in alignment. She would tap my left should when it started to rise. She would tell me to “release, relax, stand taller, not too tall, relax, breathe, support, relax, release, stop, do it again…” and that was in the first ten minutes of my lesson. I had always been a stellar student and I wasn’t going to start failing now, not in singing, not in the craft that I was meant to be GREAT at. But we continued to struggle through my lessons because my technique wasn’t developing fast enough and she wasn’t “letting” me emote in my performances. I will never forget the day when she stopped me in the middle of a song, looked at me sternly and said, “You have got to stop relying on your looks and acting to get you through life. If you do not develop a solid technique, you will never have a career.”
On that day, I stopped surrendering to the music and focused only on my technique. I wore a neck brace for two months straight, only when practicing, to re-train my head/neck to stay in proper alignment. I would stare in the mirror for hours, watching for any microscopic bits of tension in my jaw or mouth, I had a constant dialogue in my head, “release your jaw, relax, breathe deeper, support, relax, release your neck, relax, relax, relax.” Do you know how challenging it is to relax when you are trying to be perfect? At times, I considered quitting singing. I thought, “You were good enough back home, but you’ll never succeed on a bigger scale – on a global scale.” But I loved performing too much to give up, and even though, at times, I couldn’t even remember if I was good at this whole singing thing, I pressed on. I never got much praise from Dr. Schiller, even though I knew I was one of her prized students. Perhaps, this was her method of making you tougher; I did become tougher under her instruction. I stopped looking to outside sources for validation and I established my own system of judging myself.
I graduated from CIM with my Artist Diploma Certificate in 2010 and decided that I was going to set off for Europe to become a European Opera Singer. Easy enough, right? I had no idea where I was going to live or work or sing and I didn’t have much money saved, but MANY people have moved to another country with absolutely nothing to their name, so, why not? I had to go for it. I had to take a risk and I had to see if I even stood a chance in the real operatic world.
First, I wrote to Mr. Brock, who teaches at a summer program in Austria called the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS), that I had previously attended under his instruction in 2006, and I asked if there was a spot for me this summer. Mr. Brock put the wheels in motion and was able to offer me a scholarship to participate in the program once again. I will forever be grateful to him for continuing to believe in me, even past our time together. So, I participated in the program and in those 6 weeks, I decided that I was going to go to Berlin at the end of the program. Berlin was the place to be. There were several major opera houses there, the cost of living was reasonable and the trains from Berlin led to anywhere in Europe. I moved in with an old friend and wrote to agents around Europe. I sang for several European agents and a small agency agreed to take me on. As I was waiting for this agent to line up auditions for me, I also responded to open calls. I traveled down to Athens, Greece, where they were holding open auditions at the Greek National Theatre. I sang through my entire aria in the audition, which I felt was a huge success, as the gal before I got cut off after ten seconds, but nothing came of the audition.
Afterward, I went to visit Acropolis and Parthenon. On my way up to the Parthenon, I took a seat in the Theatre of Dionysus. Being an artist and a person who has devoted my life to the performing arts, this was a very special moment for me – to sit where theatre originated. After reflecting for several moments, I heard a voice and it simply said, “Go home.” At that moment, I felt very calm and assured and knew that I was meant to leave Europe. It had always been my dream to sing and live in Europe, but something didn’t feel completely right about it, and the Universe told me that it was time to leave. I remember clearly that this was a Thursday and I was on a plane, back to the United States, on a Tuesday. I have always been a person who relies on quick instinct. Some people would call this impulsive – I prefer to think that I simply don’t waste any time.
I returned home and life led me back to the world of Musical Theatre. A friend of mine from my TCU days was conducting a musical entitled “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” in Denton, TX, and he needed a Rona Lisa Peretti (a character in the show). He encouraged me to audition, and, after some resistance, I agreed. I was an opera singer, after all, I didn’t sing in musicals. Well, I got the part and it changed my life in a huge way. I met some of the best people that I have ever known while working on this show, including my best friend and his husband, plus my spiritual mentor, More importantly, switching genres forced me to REALLY learn how to sing. I had to stretch and train my voice in a new way.
After I closed “… Spelling Bee,” I auditioned for “She Loves Me” at an Equity theatre in Fort Worth (Stage West) and was cast as Ilona.
Again, I had to continue to work on my vocal technique in a new way and I was loving the stage again. I find that there is a different kind of freedom in Musical Theatre that just isn’t possible in Opera – for me, at least. I was very happy with this new musical journey. But, shows here and there and a random gig every now and then do not pay the bills. I was teaching private voice lessons to children between the ages of 10-18 in Haslet, TX during the day, eating fast food dinners in the car on the way the rehearsals at night, and MAYBE fitting in a date here or there, but for the most part, my social life consisted of the theatre. And I didn’t have a savings account. Don’t get me wrong, I was very happy in this grind, but it didn’t feel sustainable to me. I was in my late twenties, so this kind of lifestyle was totally acceptable at the time, but is this what I wanted for my life? Living paycheck to paycheck, audition to audition, gig to gig?
In January 2013, I saw an advertisement online for Stiletto Entertainment, a cruise ship production company, looking for singers, namely opera singers who could crossover into other genres. Hmmmm? I had never thought about singing on a cruise ship, but it seemed enticing – an 8-month contract on a cruise ship, traveling to exotic destinations while performing. What appealed to me the most was 8-months of consistent work, which translated into a consistent paycheck. Also, they were holding auditions in Oklahoma City, only a three-hour drive, so, what the hell?
I drove up to Oklahoma and arrived completely overdressed to this audition. Most of the singers were in jeans and t-shirts and I rocked up in a gold cocktail dress, hair in curls and a face ready for the stage. I was used to opera auditions… Regardless, I walked in confidently and first sang the song that they gave everyone to sing, Kelly Clarkson’s rendition of “A Moment Like This.” I sang it, not very well, because I’m not a pop singer, and the audition panel seemed uninterested. They then asked me to sing my own selection, which was “O Mio Babbino Caro” by Puccini. The second I started singing this aria, the entire panel looked up from the table and listened intently throughout the entire piece. When I finished, they gave me a couple more songs to look at and asked me to come back in 30 minutes after I had learned them. I came back, sang, and was asked to stay for the dance call. I danced and was asked to stay and have my picture taken, as they were placing me on their hire list. This meant that they wanted me, but didn’t yet have a place for me. Basically, I had to wait for one of their current singers to either quit or get fired. I was happy but left in limbo. And then, I lucked out. In June, I received an e-mail that they had a place for me in August. I accepted the offer and in August 2013 I flew to L.A. for six weeks of rehearsals.
I could write pages and pages about my life at sea, but I will be brief. I joined a cast of eight performers and over the course of six weeks, we learned six different 45-minute production shows that we would perform on the ship. We lived in an awful apartment in L.A. during that time and rehearsed six days a week. Then, in September, we flew to Vancouver, Canada and I joined my first ship, Holland America’s ms Statendam. Ship life, as we call it. is a completely different world. You live, work and socialize with the same people day in and day out. We, as a cast, performed 3-4 nights and week and for the rest of the time, we were off. During the day, I would go to the beach or take a tour to a historical church or kayak down the Amazon. For the first time in my life, I was making a decent salary as a professional singer AND traveling the world. Life was perfect.
I accepted a second contract with Holland America and did the entire process all over again. While at sea, I learned about “guest entertainers” or “headliners.” These performers have solo shows. I decided that that was the next step for me. My music education came in handy. I took popular operatic arias and musical theatre tunes looked at the full original scores and arranged them for a 5-piece rock band. I wrote my show and premiered it on my ship in December 2014. I created a reel and sent it out to several agencies. The stars aligned for me and my agent, Dominique Bennett under Barry Ball Artists, who still represents me today, wrote me back in just a few short days and asked me to join her roster. I was actually shocked. I had sung at regional opera houses and won some vocal competitions in my school years, but I didn’t have major credits. I was so grateful that Dominique was willing to take a chance on me.
Work didn’t come quickly though and Dominique warned me that this would be the case. I signed with Barry Ball Artists in January 2015 but didn’t go out for my first guest entertainer ship gig until September 2015. But when I did go out, I absolutely loved it! I basically signed a deal that had me fly out to a Princess Cruises ship every other week as a guest Opera Singer, starring in a big production show called “Bravo.” I would fly down to the Caribbean, star in this show, sing another 30-minute solo set with a string quartet, and then I was free to do whatever I wanted in-between. It was a dream job. I continued for three seasons because gigs like this are incredibly hard to come by.
However, I decided to walk away from this dream job in January of 2018 because of, yes, a man. I had ended a VERY toxic relationship in October 2017 and just couldn’t stomach being around him anymore. We were performing on the same ship and as much as I tried, it felt impossible to avoid him. I was an emotional wreck by day but mustered up every ounce of strength that I had when it came to performing. I painted my face and continued to perform at a high level even though I was completely distraught and heartbroken. Half of the time, I would look out into the audience and he would be sitting there, to taunt me, no doubt. I knew that I couldn’t continue like this. I would start sobbing every time I had to leave my house to get on the plane to join the ship again for another performance. In the end, I confided in my agent and I broke my contract. For me, there was no other option. I was completely miserable in that environment and I knew that I would never be able to heal from that experience unless I completely got away. So, I did. I left the job I loved, with no alternative lined up, and it was one of the best decisions that I have ever made.
I told my agent that I was done with ships and to only book me on land. I was back in Dallas and I started taking random promotional gigs here and there and working for my sister’s company, as well. Well, only a few weeks after I had left Princess, my agent e-mailed me and said, “I know that you said no more ships, but…” Seabourn Cruises was looking for new Cruise Directors and my agent wanted to submit me for the position. I had only been an entertainer on ships; I wasn’t technically qualified for this position. I had observed plenty of Cruise Directors over the years and it was never a position that I coveted. They worked long hours and were cheesy and weren’t “real” entertainers. My agent assured me that things were different on Seabourn. On Seabourn, their Cruise Directors had to have a REAL entertainment background and they were also expected to perform. So, this job would allow me to be the artist that I am but also feed my more analytical, task-oriented side. Despite my dramatic decree to never step foot on a ship again, my first instinct was to submit for it. I always go with my gut on major decisions and my gut said to go for it. This was not something that I had sought out, but something that had found me. Surely, that meant something? I told my agent to go ahead and submit me and let’s see what happens. She did and five minutes later I received a response saying that they were very interested and that I would receive more information when they had a position available. Great. Another opportunity hanging over my head with no definite offer.
Well, on April 2nd my agent wrote to me in the morning and said that Seabourn wanted to schedule a phone interview with me that day. I agreed. After an hour interview and a string of e-mails, I received an offer. They could offer me a position as an Assistant Cruise Director, as no one can just walk on as a Cruise Director with no experience. I agreed and on April 13, 2018, I was on a flight to Barbados to join the Seabourn Odyssey.
I fell in love with Seabourn on day 1. The ships are beautiful, luxurious and they attract a sophisticated clientele. The guests know and love Classical music and they appreciate art and culture and good food, and I was suddenly in their world. I enjoyed being an Assistant Cruise Director, but I had set a goal to be promoted to Cruise Director within a year. I told myself that if this didn’t happen, I would move on. Well, I lucked out and after six weeks on board, I was offered to step up to the role of Cruise Director in July when the acting Cruise Director went on vacation. I have been a Cruise Director with Seabourn since and couldn’t be happier.
In my time with Seabourn, I have sailed the Caribbean, crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Portugal, down to the Canary Islands and then East to Europe. I have traveled all around the Mediterranean down the Suez Canal through high-risk waters (yes, pirates still exist) to the Middle East and Asia. All the while, I am connecting with fascinating people onboard, working with people from literally all over the world, performing music that I truly love, hosting shows and conversations, scheduling events and activities for an entire ship, managing a team of 20+ musicians, entertainers and production technicians, and somehow still finding a bit of time to explore our amazing world. A typical contract for me is 3-months, that is 3-months onboard, working 10-12 hour days, seven days a week. That’s right, there are no days off, there is no such thing as sleeping in. If an emergency happens onboard, I am on the bridge giving instructions to the guests and if the ship were to start going down, I would be one of the last ones onboard. This job comes with a lot of responsibility, a little bit of stress from time to time, but so much fulfillment. I can’t imagine a more perfect role for me and I am incredibly grateful to the Universe for always guiding me on this most interesting journey. I can’t even imagine what spectacular things await me in the years to come.
Has it been a smooth road?
Has it been a smooth road? Absolutely not.
I touched on some challenges in my previous (LONG) response, but I think my main challenge as a singer has been that I always felt like I was so close yet so far away. I never truly broke into the professional opera world. I audition well, but was never quite good enough to get the job – in opera, at least. I always perform well, but in opera, I always had this block in auditions. There was a fear of not being good enough, of failing. I think that I succeeded in Musical Theatre and the cruise ship auditions because I didn’t feel that I had anything to lose in those auditions, as those jobs weren’t my “dream.” I was free in those auditions, and, therefore, performed well.
But what all of this has taught me is that sometimes our path is not so clear and we have to surrender to what the Universe has designed for us, In short, if it’s easy, it’s right. All of the opportunities that have truly come to fruition for me came to me easily. I now pay attention to this practice in every area of my life. I don’t muscle through tasks in the same way that I used to. This isn’t to say that I don’t work hard or struggle from time to time, but I know when something isn’t meant for me and I don’t fight it as my younger self would have.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love that Dallas truly has something for everyone. There are great restaurants, museums, parks, theatres, concert halls, shopping, sporting events. It is so eclectic and busy, yet you can still run into a warm, friendly face every single day.
It’s a BIG city. Sometimes, it feels too spread out and I wish that it had a more “home town feel,” but I think that certain parts of Dallas still offer that warmth.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ChelseaCoyne.com
- Email: chelsea@chelseacoyne.com
- Instagram: @thesirenoftheseas
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