Question on Stage Fright

I'm a 58yr old spinto tenor, studied voice part time for 25 yrs I sang in weddings, funerals, and at senior living places, but I always had a problem singing in front of people or an audience, my voice is never up to par when I sing in public, but when I'm at home alone I'm at my best vocally, I was told when I was in my mid 30's and even today should be in the opera house singing opera, is what I studied for, but I guess stage fright is what I fear the most, is there something I could do to fix this? I feel I'm never at my best, is it possible I can send you a youtube video of me singing an aria?, so you can see if I'm doing something wrong. I will probably die on stage like Caruso, but of fright.

I can empathize with your situation. I feel the same but only in auditions. Performances I'm usually OK. I would be happy to review a recording or video. The main thing we can do to conquer stage fright is to be well prepared both musically and vocally. If we are confident in what we are to do we can convince ourselves to go through with what we fear. Being prepared musically consists of knowing your music with absolute certainty. For me this comes through repetition. The more the better. Being prepared vocally means knowing exactly what to do to make your instrument work. Many of us function well without thinking when we have no stress in our studio at home. We get used to this automatic approach and then when we go onstage the added emotional stress changes the condition of our body. This change of condition interferes with our automatic functioning that we enjoyed in the studio. To overcome this we have to learn and understand the principles that govern the function of our body when we sing. By knowing what the body should do when we sing naturally we can consciously make sure we do those functions in performance that might fall apart under the stress of the situation. This is essentially the basis of technique that singers talk about as being so important.