EMBRA Artists Management

Founder Peter N. Karp embraced the idea that the grand opera voices of the past were missing from the main stage and created EMBRA to provide complete management services for opera singers exclusively. His consistent vision, and steadfast demand for rich and layered voices, mandated that we populate our roster with distinctive voices, emotional actors, and consummate musicians, much like those performers that stalked the stages of the world's opera houses during the golden days of opera. EMBRA has followed that vision and our artists represent this philosophy. In 2005 Maestro Terry Metzger joined the company as a partner and with his addition a conductor’s perspective was added to the organization. It was after Terry joined EMBRA that we decided to add instrumentalists, directors, and conductors to our growing family. EMBRA also brings a broad based knowledge of demographics and marketing to the table via their Managing Partner. His forty plus years in the financial/legal community allow him to bring an “un-biased” view to the artistic world; something clearly in demand with today’s difficult economic climate for the arts. Since 2006 he has been consulting to opera companies on the aspects of how to build a better season financially by increasing ticket sales, adding patrons and donor’s, attracting the substantial sponsors necessary to insure a successful season, and to garner increased community support. An important aspect of our company is an active advisory board, populated with a group of classical opera and symphonic experts. With conductors, directors, voice teachers, coaches, linguists, and repertoire specialists that performed with, trained many legendary artists from the past, and/or continue to work with many of the renowned still active performers in opera. EMBRA affords performers an important career enhancing resource by providing access to these exceptional individuals who have the ability to impart how to sing and navigate the repertoire properly, allowing an artist to absorb and assimilate that information properly into their body. Additionally EMBRA maintains a network of quality accompanists throughout the country assuring our artists the best possible audition experience. We also encourage, and sponsor, specialized master classes and coaching opportunities with those experts that actually hire working artists. This provides singers the chance to actually learn what these experts demand when the artist competes for roles via the audition process. These opportunities also help to “build” the next generation of opera aficionados, those future ticket buyers necessary to keep opera financially healthy, by inviting the public to witness the training process. EMBRA takes no financial participation in these events and, in fact, has even supplemented the costs to insure artists the opportunity to attend. Auditing seats are offered at little or no cost to all students, seniors, young opera singers, and the general public. In 2008 we created a “Young Artist Division” to represent those artists fresh out of the University and Conservatory shell whose voices represent the EMBRA or what we call “Grand Opera” sound. Our intent was to assist these young singers in the building process of a quality career while offering the opportunity to secure work with appropriate companies under the watchful eye of management, preventing missteps or the problems many young artists experience without proper guidance. 2010 presented opportunities for us and we decided to modify this division of our roster and renamed it the “Emerging Artist Division” to accommodate an increasing number of artists seeking representation that, for whatever reason, had foregone management, thus reducing work opportunities in their early years. While offering only limited stage experience, and/or not being the appropriate age for most Studio Artist, Young Artist, or Resident Artist programs, these artists offer the EMBRA quality of voice and stage presence companies seek. For budget minded smaller companies these artists will offer an affordable alternative to our Main Stage roster. EMBRA offers opera companies a source for consummate professionals that can consistently deliver the highest performance standard on stage. Our artists are prepared to "rescue" a production when an immediate replacement might be needed on extremely short notice; something EMBRA experienced in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010 and again in 2013. In one instance the title role was performed with only one rehearsal held the day before curtain up. EMBRA takes great pride in providing such a service to an opera company in need. Artists can feel confident that we will provide an exceptional opportunity for career success by our actively investing time, continuously, developing their careers rather than just having them sit on a list of similar artists waiting to secure work. Opera companies and symphonies can be assured that our artists represent a standard of excellence above the norm; with special consideration towards those budgetary constraints most companies face today.