In Operaland in the US, "audition season" has historically peaked in the weeks immediately before and after Thanksgiving, with a big surge in the first two weeks of December.
I guess 2008 missed the memo, because it appears I have 3 auditions before the end of this month. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining - far from it!! - but (since I already had a lesson booked in this period) what this means is 4 trips up to NYC in the next 10 days.
Auditions are, as anybody who has ever done one knows, a curious thing. This year I've been so busy with gigs that it all feels a bit remote, and I need to see about finding that "audition mentality" after a year which has been far more about performing (in large spaces, over several hours in front of an audience primed to react) than auditioning (in a small room, for maybe 10 minutes, for people who almost have to stifle a reaction lest it be overinterpreted). One of my favorite quotes is from Noel Streatfield's children's novel Ballet Shoes where one of the characters points out, "If it was a performance, it would finish with applause, and a classwith comments but an audition always ends in... silence" (a paraphrase, as I don't have the book to hand). Aside from the obligatory "THANK you!", that's pretty much exactly it.
So. Time to take the dress out of the closet, spruce up the arias, and get myself ready for a hefty few days travelling to and from New York. As bizarre as auditions can be, there is always something exciting and motivating about this time of year; in this profession at least, autumn is a time of opportunities and new beginnings. Here's hoping.
I guess 2008 missed the memo, because it appears I have 3 auditions before the end of this month. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining - far from it!! - but (since I already had a lesson booked in this period) what this means is 4 trips up to NYC in the next 10 days.
Auditions are, as anybody who has ever done one knows, a curious thing. This year I've been so busy with gigs that it all feels a bit remote, and I need to see about finding that "audition mentality" after a year which has been far more about performing (in large spaces, over several hours in front of an audience primed to react) than auditioning (in a small room, for maybe 10 minutes, for people who almost have to stifle a reaction lest it be overinterpreted). One of my favorite quotes is from Noel Streatfield's children's novel Ballet Shoes where one of the characters points out, "If it was a performance, it would finish with applause, and a classwith comments but an audition always ends in... silence" (a paraphrase, as I don't have the book to hand). Aside from the obligatory "THANK you!", that's pretty much exactly it.
So. Time to take the dress out of the closet, spruce up the arias, and get myself ready for a hefty few days travelling to and from New York. As bizarre as auditions can be, there is always something exciting and motivating about this time of year; in this profession at least, autumn is a time of opportunities and new beginnings. Here's hoping.
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