Well, it’s been quiet here at the blog for some time, so I thought it might be a good thing to tell you what I’ve been up to. I went down to Los Angeles this past Sunday to take the audition for the 3rd chair viola position (Assistant principal) of the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Monday. I didn’t win. Not even close. But I played well, and I was in plenty of good company, for this is a plum spot in arguably the best financially positioned orchestra in the world, with a great, iconic performing space, and the hottest young conductor in the world in his first year as music director.
Last week, someone on Twitter tweeted a line from the television program 30 Rock: “An audition is a grotesque carnival of human misery”. Truer words have never been spoken. No matter what you do as a performer – playing an instrument, singing, acting, even presenting a visual arts portfolio – being called out onto the stage to play little snippets of music as technically perfect, yet ineffably musical as possible while under the most intense pressures – including money, vanity, reputation, personal neuroses, disappointing your favorite teacher – is one of the most excruciating and unrewarding activities that humans voluntarily deign to undergo. A couple years ago I auditioned for a similar position with the Seattle Symphony, which you can read here, here, here and here. I’ll give no similar blow-by-blow this time, I just don’t have it in me. But I’ve emerged from another fruitless, grotesque carnival with my playing raised to a new level, and with a recital program beginning to form in my mind that I’m very excited to start working towards. Besides, I love my orchestra, the Oregon Symphony, my first and only real job as a musician, and I have many wonderful colleagues and friends that it would have pained me greatly to leave, so life goes on, and I am content.
Here are a few snapshots that I took during the afternoon after my role in the audition came to an abrupt end: