Interview: Beth Taylor Pt3
Welcome back to the third part of my fascinating interview with the exciting young Scottish mezzo, Beth Taylor. We have heard about her beginnings and her formation as an artist and mused a little on where she will go from here. This time, we concentrate on her experiences this year (2021), and how the new rules necessitated by Brexit have severely affected all British singers working, as many of us need to do, in Europe.
Brian Bannatyne Scott - You have spent a lot of this year travelling around Europe for concerts and operas, and your schedule for the short-term future looks just as frenetic. I know myself that a singer’s life is not all glamour and applause but involves a lot of exhausting journeys and booking in and out of hotels and apartments. You seem to have been doing even more of this than most. Is this your choice, or are you being driven on by your (very good) agent? It can be very difficult for a young singer to refuse engagements, but sometimes it needs to be done to remain sane, and in good voice. Even without Covid, the Classical scene here in Britain, and even more so in Scotland, is very narrow with too many singers fighting for too little work. Covid has made this worse, as the restrictions here have been utterly draconian, and I understand that you have been forced abroad to find work. The problems have been compounded by Brexit. Without getting into the politics too much, can you tell us how the new rules have affected your schedules and your work? No one outside the business really seems to know how catastrophic Brexit has been for artists. Can you give us an insight into how things have changed?
Beth Taylor - I am very lucky, as I said previously, that my agent has never pushed me into anything. I am probably the guiltiest culprit of my own exhaustion and semi-burnout at times! I have got better at my work/rest balance since I left college, but I do so love my job, and love being part of so many different projects, that I do find myself filling out a lot of my spare time with recitals here and there. This summer was an incredibly well-aligned series of events (partly earlier postponements and partly contracted work) that just ran one after the other, allowing me to travel round mainland Europe without needing to return to the UK. Others must, however, have been astonished at my travels, as I managed to carry out work between May and June in France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark!
As regards Brexit, very simply put, it is not in any way beneficial to anyone who works in the creative sector. All the pleas from the various artistic organisations across the UK have fallen on deaf ears. Government responses along the lines of: “You saw this coming, so you should just have left your job” or, as reported in the Huffington Post of an interview with Elton John, “Well, he was touring before we became a member, so he’ll be fine!”, these responses would be laughable, were the circumstances less serious. I admire the fact that Elton is speaking for all of us, and not just for himself. Very few of us have access to the kind of funds he possesses for the travel and accommodation needed for touring. We all must unite against the blatant lies and jingoism represented by Brexit. His anger and frustration speak for all of us!
Before all of this, many emerging artists from the UK would have made breakthrough debuts as a result of last-minute jump-ins across Europe, leading on to more engagements and successes. Before all this, it was simply a case of travelling over and doing a job, a job, incidentally, which contributes £5.5 billion to the economy and brings out the “Best of British” culture, talent, academic excellence and artistry. Now, in many cases, that is simply not possible, as many member states have imposed incredibly severe rules, necessitating having a visa.
For example in May 2021, I was involved in a touring concert performance of Handel’s ‘Giulio Cesare’ in Basel, Switzerland for several days and then a one-day rehearsal/performance in Madrid. I needed a work permit for Spain. I was there for 24 hours! I also needed some documentation for Switzerland, a problem further exacerbated by Covid shutting down most offices, meaning that every document and application took three times longer to process. For one week’s work in May, I needed to begin the whole process in February.
I’m currently waiting for an appointment with the German Embassy for a work permit for my upcoming back-to-back contracts in Frankfurt and Berlin. What would have been cause for celebration in a sparse year, has turned out to be the cause of great anxiety. A UK citizen is entitled to 90 days out of every 180 “visa free” access to Europe (although even this is not universal, depending on the purpose of your travels). This might seem fine if you are going to Mallorca for your holidays, but, for an opera singer, or a touring company, this can easily be swallowed up in ONE contract! Then you are expected to wait 3 months for that allowance to reset or to get a visa and/or work permit to continue.
For me, this became a necessity, as once again, the pandemic gave me only two options between June and July this year: return home from Denmark and quarantine for 10 days, then go to France and quarantine for 10 days, sing two concerts in two days, and then return home and quarantine for 10 days
OR
Stay in France for three extra weeks without quarantine.
There was no debate there. However, I am now facing the consequences, having only 30 days left of my “allowance” of 90, which isn’t even enough to cover the first contract.
BBS - At this point I refer readers to my series ‘A Singer’s Life’, where I wrote at length about the way singers’ contracts work, and what is expected of us.
BT - I am grateful to the theatre companies in Germany, who are working very hard to send me the various immigration “pre approvals” I require, although that alone is ridiculous when I didn’t require them before, and have social security and a pension set up there already!
You would think that, with the inevitably much higher demand for visas and work permits, the embassies and consulates (who often charge service fees on top of the already expensive visa fees) would open up more and be available more than once a week (or often once every 3 weeks) for visa appointments.
Not a bit of it! Despite the urgency for many of us, we are entirely at the mercy of these centres, and nobody seems to realise how badly prepared this country is for these crucial changes and for the catastrophic effect that Brexit has had on our industry, and many others too.
For everyone’s use and potential preparation, here is a list of the paperwork required for my 1 - DAY contract in Spain:
1) Application Form
2) Payment £120 (£75 for visa, the rest in ‘services’)
3) All flights and accommodation booked, and receipts to show (bearing in mind that for some contracts, this might mean paying for 2-3 months accommodation in advance, before being paid anything)
4) An accountant’s letter, hand signed to prove nature and financial presence of business.
5) Three years of tax records and copies
6) A letter from the local police confirming good character!
7) Invitation letter from the company, hand signed
8) Contract, hand signed with copies
9) CV and copy of Masters’ Degree
10) Pre-approval form, signed by the authorities on behalf of the company
11) Employer declaration, hand signed with copies
12) Proof of financial stability (in some states, proof of having £80 a day to spend, over and above rent. Remember, we can often be staying somewhere for 2 to 3 months)
This is all solely the result of Brexit!
BBS - Wow! The mind boggles. Thank you so much, Beth, for this shocking description of what is happening now. I can only say how lucky I was to have had a career when we were part of the one family that was the European Union, when I could go anywhere in Europe without a visa, pay my local taxes at the point of work, and basically go around a huge border-free continent, all of it my home. Obviously, there are flaws in the EU, but it now seems almost impossible to work seriously in Europe as I did for so many years.
But, apparently, we’ve taken back control, and the future’s rosy?
Many thanks for taking part in this interview, and for finding time, between filling in visa forms, for telling us a bit about your career so far.
