I'VE JUST WON AN AUDITION FOR THE PORTLAND OPERA ORCHESTRA!!
*aaaaahhhhhhhh*
And here's my official story behind my official announcement:
People are sooooo nice in Portland. And I don't know if it's the fact that I've lived in Chicago for a year and a half, but the fact that people can start conversations with you and NOT be creepy about it is something I haven't run into since Colorado. And even there you're a bit hesitant to continue the repore. But here... ahh. People make you feel welcome. And they all agree, Portland's a nice place to live. So why not convince others of the same?
So after a four and a half hour plane ride (Chicago's farther away than you think from the northwest!), a checkin at approximately 11:00PM Portland time, and a night in a great minisuite with a luxurious king bed that was ALL MINE, I woke up Saturday morning pretty enthused. I grabbed a bagel from the restaurant downstairs, took a shuttle back to the airport and rented a car. I then went back to the hotel, changed, and psyched myself up for taking this audition that I've spent a meager three and a half weeks preparing. I've gotten mega audition help in general from Mitch, and Yampolsky took about an hour coaching me on the specific excerpts, so I felt like I could actually win this thing. Of course I didn't want to jinx it - hence my last entry.
I checked in a little before 10 and got assigned to be Cantidate Number Three. As per many auditions, I was corralled into a warm up room with a couple other people already in there. They asked a Russian gentleman to audition first, and this friendly Portland woman named Barbara introduced herself to me. She's actually already in the opera, and was auditioning for a higher spot. Nice to have someone non-threatening to talk to. After Barbara went in, I asked the Russian guy how he did, just trying to adopt this friendly Portland attitude. And here was his response:
"Fine, fine, I did fine. You know, I have so much experience with this type of thing that I can tell when I do well and when I don't."
Huh. Seriously, what do you say to that? I think I smiled and kept on warming up.
My preliminary audition comes up. I'm led into a room with a couple mantras in mind, Lindsay's suggestion, "I'm gonna win this, I'm gonna win this...", and Mitch's infinitely helpful words to get me to relax while I play, "Dumb Casey, dumb Casey..." I started with the Tchaikovsky, which was a little shaky from nerves, and proceeded to the four excerpts they had instructed me to play. My bow control was a little shaky, and it felt like I was trying to force the sound, but my left hand, for all my nerves, was fairly stable and I felt like I played pretty well in tune.
After me, Barbara, and the Russian guy, there were three other people to audition in our group, and afterwards we all sat and chatted around a table in the breakroom. After a while, Jessica (the personnel manager) came in and announced, "Okay, they would like to hear cantidates one and three. The rest of you, thank you for coming." That was me and the Russian guy - the four other nice people said their goodbyes and took off.
I then had a disastrous time finding lunch with the hour I gave myself in between the announcement of the finals and the time I wanted to start warming up. I thought I found a deli place with my GPS, but failed to see it, and nearly got completely lost in downtown Portland. I finally managed to find a Burger King, and had a diet coke and a sorry excuse for a salad. I was trembling slightly from the caffeine infusion without a substansial amount of food. This concerned me, but I got a bag of wheat thins back at the breakroom and my shakes were soothed. (This MAY have seemed like a superficial detail, but the last thing I wanted at the most important audition to date were shaky hands.)
The second group of prelims was made up of four people, and I had made it back just in time for the announcement that ALL of them had been cut. Me vs. Russian guy, who, as it turns out, actually has had tons of experience. Concertmaster of the Nova Scotia orchestra, playing in the Boston and Houston symphonies... this guy has SERIOUSLY won some auditions. But I couldn't let him freak me out... not when I was this close.
The final round for me went amazingly well. I was steady and focused, trying my best to anticipate every appropriate action for my arms to take. I was musical, and in tune. I left the audition room feeling great, and kept telling myself that no matter what happens, I should be proud for playing so well in a high pressure situation.
After about half an hour of me and the Russian guy (who I learned from the two sentences we spoke to each other was named George) sitting in this room nearly silently went by before Jessica walked back in. She turned to George: "Thank you for coming, but the committee has decided not to offer you a position at this time." She turned to me: "Casey, we would like to offer you a position."
Immediately that scene in Little Miss Sunshine where Olive screams when she learns she's going to the pageant began playing in my head. I graciously met the audition committee, made sure I solidified contact info, and spent the next four hours on the phone talking to nearly everyone I knew.
It may not be a salaried position, and I definitely have to get more work to get money to live off of, but geez - just knowing where I'm headed next year AND knowing that the place I'm headed to is just a few hours away from where Tom will be next year is a gigantic weight off my shoulders. It's not like I won't have to struggle at the beginning to make ends meet, but I'll be struggling in a city I love. West coast, tree-hugging hippies and a coffee shop on every corner. I keep fearing this is a dream and when I wake up, the security that I've just won won't be there anymore.
But the audition was Saturday and I haven't woken up yet.
Previous | Next