For the past five months, I have been living, sleeping, and breathing with one intention: doing a successful audition for a slot as an extra chorister
with the San Francisco Opera. Lessons,
coaching, practicing, auditioning, keeping colds and flu at bay – all
funneling into that very brief performance of the Jewel Song from Faust on the
fifth floor of the opera house on a Tuesday mid-afternoon. Of course, I was terrified that I would forget
a few words or even worse – faint or vomit.
But I didn’t. At age 60, after a
20-year hiatus from singing, I was able to produce a sound much to my
satisfaction, and I was prepared and poised enough to make it through the aria smoothly.
My nervousness wasn't just about the audition. Because I decided to chronicle my year of transition in this blog, I felt the weight of boomers everywhere who are also trying to move on to some new challenge. I really didn't want to disappoint whomever might be reading this (those one or two of you!) with a failure.
Still, failure, I'm sure, is the result of my effort. I knew immediately that I would not be offered a slot because they did not ask to hear a second aria (I had prepared S’altro che lagrime from Clemenza di Tito by Mozart). Moreover, on the way out of the audition, I was handed a one-page summary of information about the Chorus, including the statement that this year very few positions are available in the chorus (italics is theirs). In fact, I learned today that the SF Chronicle critic Josh Kosman recently published an article on the opera chorus, including how tough it is to get a slot in it. “Robertson [the chorus director] hears about 100 to 150 auditions for new members each year - even though, he says, the turnover rate for the orchestra [sic] is only about one singer a year.” I knew it was tough. I knew it was nearly impossible. But if only they knew how much I wanted to sing with them!
My nervousness wasn't just about the audition. Because I decided to chronicle my year of transition in this blog, I felt the weight of boomers everywhere who are also trying to move on to some new challenge. I really didn't want to disappoint whomever might be reading this (those one or two of you!) with a failure.
Still, failure, I'm sure, is the result of my effort. I knew immediately that I would not be offered a slot because they did not ask to hear a second aria (I had prepared S’altro che lagrime from Clemenza di Tito by Mozart). Moreover, on the way out of the audition, I was handed a one-page summary of information about the Chorus, including the statement that this year very few positions are available in the chorus (italics is theirs). In fact, I learned today that the SF Chronicle critic Josh Kosman recently published an article on the opera chorus, including how tough it is to get a slot in it. “Robertson [the chorus director] hears about 100 to 150 auditions for new members each year - even though, he says, the turnover rate for the orchestra [sic] is only about one singer a year.” I knew it was tough. I knew it was nearly impossible. But if only they knew how much I wanted to sing with them!
1 comment:
Bravissima! Super proud that you went in there and did it.
Good to know the odds--you were auditioning for one of the best. Nerve wracking!
xo
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