Audition #4

Thursday, April 15, 2010


Once again I found myself in the lovely harbour city of Sydney for my 4th audition. This was for the position of Tutti 2nd Violin with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Since my brother Matt happened to be visiting me from L.A., he came along for moral support (and to explore Sydney).


The repertoire I had to prepare for the audition was:


MOZART - Violin Concerto in A Major, 1st and 2nd mvts (including cadenzas)
SIBELIUS - Violin Concerto, 1st mvt (no cadenzas)
STRAUSS - Symphonia Domestica (fig. 72 until 5 bars after fig. 75)
BEETHOVEN - Symphony No. 9, Scherzo (opening 6 lines)
RACHMANINOV - Symphony No. 2, 2nd Mvt. (fig. 32 - 3 bars before fig. 35)
BEETHOVEN - Symphony No. 3, Finale (fugue in E-flat)
BRUCKNER - Symphony No. 9, Adagio (bar 57 until bar 69)
DEBUSSY - La Mer (fig. 35 until 4 bars after fig. 38)
MENDELSSOHN - Scherzo from Midsummer Night's Dream (opening until ltr. D)
PROKOFIEV - Classical Symphony, Finale (fig. 52 - fig. 54, fig. 55 - fig. 63)
SHOSTAKOVICH - 5th Symphony, 2nd Mvt., 3rd div. part (fig. 75 - fig. 79)
MAHLER - Symphony No. 9, 4th Mvt., Adagio (opening until bar 41)
STRAUSS - Don Juan (1st page) - 1st violin part
BRAHMS - 4th Symphony, 2nd Mvt. (bar 88 - bar 103) - 1st violin part


This time I woke up at 5:00 to catch that same dreaded 6:50 Tiger flight.  We parked at United Airport Parking and I was expecting the shuttle to drop us off in front of the Tiger terminal.  But apparently, shuttles are not ALLOWED to drop off at the Tiger terminal, so we had to walk (run!) from the Virgin Blue terminal.  Lo and behold, we got to the check-in desk 3 minutes after they closed for our flight.  3 BLOODY MINUTES!!!  The check-in girl was an absolute cow and we had to pay $145 to get on the next flight.


We arrived in Sydney at about 9:00, and went straight to the Ultimo Centre so I could warm up before my audition at 10:30.  This time, I was actually given at least 30 minutes to warm up and compose myself, which helped tremendously.  The coordinator came in to tell me what they wanted to hear: the exposition of the 1st Mvt. of the Mozart Concerto, Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream excerpt, and Mahler's 9th Symphony excerpt.  And then, showtime!


As I had anticipated, there was a liaison sitting at the end of the screen and she had instructed me not to talk whilst in the audition room.  So, I played the Mozart Concerto with the same accompanist as I had last time.  I felt much more relaxed inside and confident, and I concentrated on the character of the music rather than worrying about making mistakes.  This resulted in a much better performance, at least from my standpoint.  So I was a bit surprised when the liaison stopped me after the concerto and said "Thank you, that will be enough."  But I certainly wasn't shattered - in fact, I felt quite happy about it.  If they didn't like my playing, I really couldn't care less!


So after thanking everyone, I met my brother downstairs and we spent the rest of the day walking around Sydney.  He was amazed by all the bats hanging from the trees in the Botanical Gardens.  And the Circular Quay never disappoints.  But, he and I both agree that Melbourne is better, hands down.  At about 4:00, I received the call that I didn't make it to the 2nd round.  No big surprise there. So we spent the last few hours in Sydney having drinks and taking photos.


I was going to take an audition for the Queensland Symphony on April 27th, but they just sent the repertoire list, and they are expecting us to learn 14 excerpts in just under 2 weeks time.  I decided not to put myself through that much stress.  I don't really want to move to Brisbane anyway.  So it might be a while before my next audition, but I'll keep you posted!

Audition #3

My 3rd audition in my 40-audition challenge was today (Thursday, March 11th) for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Tutti 1st Violin. It has been a very challenging week already, with double rehearsals on Sunday, final dress rehearsal on Monday, the funeral for Gran (Lachlan's grandmother) on Tuesday and the opening night of BARBER OF SEVILLE on Wednesday. It has been, shall we say, less than ideal circumstances to prepare for a big audition. But I had put in the hard yards during the previous 3 weeks and was determined to see this through.


The repertoire that I was asked to prepare was:


1st and 2nd Movements of a Mozart Concerto WITH cadenzas (#5 in A Major)
1st Movement of a Concerto from the Romantic Period, no cadenzas (Sibelius)
Brahms - Symphony No. 4, 4th Mvt., mm 33-64
Mozart - Symphony No. 41, 2nd Mvt., mm 28-46
Mendelssohn - Symphony No. 4, 1st Mvt., mm 1-110
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5, 1st Mvt., mm 6-32
Strauss - Don Juan, page 3
Strauss - Don Juan, page 6
Berlioz - Symphonie fantastique, I - Visions and Passions, mm 3-24
Elgar - Enigma Variations, II. (H.D.S-P.), all
Dvorak - Slavonic Dance, Op. 46 No. 2, 7 bars after H - 16 bars after J
Mahler - Symphony No. 5, 3rd Mvt., mm 2-59
Haydn - Symphony No. 88, 4th Mvt., mm 1-83
Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet, "Dance of the People", #152- 3 before #154
Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet, "Morning Dance", 6 after #17 - 18 after #19
Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet, "Romeo and Tybalt Fight", #272-#280


I woke up at 5:30 this morning to try to catch my 6:50 flight to Sydney. Those of you who know me well are chuckling at the thought of me waking up that early. Well, it wasn't early enough, because Tiger Airlines apparently closes their check-in for flights that are departing in 45 minutes or less. I got to the airport with 30 minutes to spare and thought nothing of it... that is, until I had to pay $80 to get on the next flight!! Then my flight was delayed for an hour! No joke.


So I didn't get to Sydney until 10:05, and I was supposed to rehearse with my accompanist at 9:30. I sent her a text before leaving Melbourne to let her know, and she was very understanding. By the time I caught the train to the city and walked to the Ultimo Centre, it was almost 11:00. My audition was scheduled for 12:00, so I thought I would have a good hour to warm up. But when I got there, the audition coordinator asked me if I could please be ready to take my audition in 10-15 minutes.  :o  How unlucky could I be??


My run-through with the accompanist went brilliantly. I started to feel at ease and confident in myself. They just wanted to hear the exposition of the 1st movement of the Mozart Concerto, and then I found out which excerpts they wanted to hear: Brahms, Strauss pg. 6, and Haydn. I only had time to run through them 2 times each, and then I was called to play. GULP!


There was a screen up and I was instructed not to speak. The liaison between me and the panel sat at the end of the screen, directly in my line of sight. I think that threw me off, and the nerves kicked in. My Mozart Concerto sounded nothing like it did 5 minutes before in the rehearsal - I made a bunch of silly mistakes in spots that never gave me trouble before. There was a lot of "chatter" inside my head that I couldn't block out. I got more and more upset with myself as each note passed. After the Mozart Concerto, I played the Brahms excerpt and tried really hard to focus and play like I knew I could. It went pretty well, although I undershot the high B 16th note pickup in the bar after C. Before I could move on to the next excerpt, I heard the dreaded "Thank you," and that was it for me. They could have banged a gong and pulled me out with a cane and I wouldn't have felt more ashamed.


I thanked the coordinator and my accompanist and went to pack up my things. As I sat down to wait for the coordinator to come over and verify my phone number, I pulled a Roger Federer. (Not the happy champion, but the teary-eyed emotional loser.) I really had no intention of getting my hopes up with this audition - it's only #3 after all!! I was just so disappointed in myself for having played so poorly.


I spent the rest of my time in Sydney walking around trying to get to the harbour so I could at least get some photos of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge! It took me all day to get there and now I am so sore and tired. Tomorrow I am going to veg out and put this behind me. Surely I will have a really good audition between now and #40!! Thanks for all the support and kind words - you are helping me stay on track!

Audition #2

This was a casual violin audition (also known as "sub" audition), so I probably shouldn't count it as one of the "40" but I will anyway. It was for Orchestra Victoria, and it was back in April of 2006. I was asked to prepare the following excerpts:


Beethoven - Symphony No. 4, 4th Mvt, mm. 1-52
Mozart - MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, Act 1 Duetto, mm. 1-21 (same excerpt as the one I played for Opera Australia!)
Bizet - L'ARLESIENNE, Suite II, Allegro giocoso, mm. 1-17
Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet: Suite No. 1, Dance of the People, mm. 12-28 and the return of the same theme in C major for 15 bars
Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet: Suite No. 1, Presto (Romeo and Tybalt fight), mm. 1-36
Copland - Appalachian Spring: No. 2, Allegro, Figure 6 - Figure 10 + 2 bars


The audition took place at their offices in Albert Park, Melbourne. There were just a few of us auditioning that day, from my recollection there were maybe six total. We were asked to wait in their administrative office until the co-concertmasters had arrived and were ready to hear us. It was then explained that each of us would have 10 minutes to warm up in a separate room before our audition. Guess who got called in first? Yep, yours truly!!


The warm-up room was anything but warm, in fact it was really cold in there. They hadn't bothered to turn on the heat in the room until they let me in. I was also not given 10 minutes to warm up, but more like 5. So my hands were quite cold when they called me into the audition room. There was no screen, so I told the panelists that my hands were a bit cold. Jo, the co-concertmaster, came up and actually felt my hands! She said they weren't that bad, that I was probably just nervous. Yeah, that didn't help. So, on with the audition!


They had me start with the Beethoven excerpt. I think I played it pretty well, but the male co-concertmaster (can't remember his name) asked me if I could play it again and use more dynamic contrasts. So I did. my. best... Then they asked me to choose an excerpt to play next. I chose the Copland excerpt, as I identified the most with that one, and I felt pretty confident with it. As I got about halfway through, I stumbled on a passage where I had changed a fingering the day before. Duurrrrgh!! Bad idea!! I won't ever do that again. They thanked me for my "efforts," and needless to say, I didn't get the gig.


It was after this audition that I thought I would never be successful. But now, almost 4 years later I'm about to pull up my socks and try again! Next post will be about my audition for Tutti 1st Violin with the Sydney Symphony - jumping in the deep end with the sharks... hoping I come out alive!

Audition #1

My first audition was back in September of 2005, just 3 weeks after I moved to Australia. It was for Opera Australia in Sydney. Although they perform at the famous opera house, the audition was held in a different building. I was asked to prepare the following excerpts:


Puccini - MANON LESCAUT, Act 1, beginning to mm. 29
Beethoven - LEONORE Overture, 4 bars before the Presto to 21 bars after
Mascagni - CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA, Intermezzo (all)
Mozart - MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, No. 5 Duettino, beginning to C (2nd Violin part)
Offenbach - TALES OF HOFFMANN, Finale of Act 2, reh. 118 to 7 bars after 124


I also had to prepare the 1st movement of a Mozart Concerto and the 1st movement of a violin concerto from the romantic period. For these, I chose Mozart's 5th Violin Concerto in A, and the Sibelius Violin Concerto.


It's hard for me to remember a lot of details of the day of my audition. I think I was really overwhelmed. I do remember being brought to a big room filled with lots of other hopeful violinists, and being given a number. It's sort of like waiting to be called at the deli counter, but instead of coming away with some lunchmeat it is you who are served up on a plate. When I was about 2nd in line to be called, they brought me to a private warmup room and told me which excerpts they wanted to hear. I remember the first one was MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, but I can't remember the other one. While I was warming up, I could hear the some other violinists warming up as well. It's very hard at that point not to compare yourself to the other fantastic players that you can hear. I'm sure that I psyched myself out at that point, and my confidence was nowhere to be found. 


I was ushered out onto the stage where there was a lonely music stand and a big screen blocking out whoever was back there listening. So I played the first excerpt, and I thought I did pretty well. But before I could start the second excerpt I heard from behind the screen "Thank you." That means that they had heard enough. So I took my music off the stand, turned around and walked back to the big room, with the sound of my footsteps on the hardwood floor ringing in my ears. I was asked to wait until they posted the results to see if I made it to the 2nd round, even though I knew already that I hadn't made the cut. So I had to try to keep it together in front of all these other people, when all I wanted to do was get out of there and put this behind me. I hadn't yet build up my audition artillery - the thick skin I so desperately needed.


Looking back, I can at least say I tried. And I had a lovely time in Sydney! What a beautiful city... I did learn that I needed to put a lot more into my preparation next time, and to practice more efficiently to achieve better results. Next up, Audition #2 - my audition for Orchestra Victoria back in April of 2006.

An Introduction

My name is Bernadette, but my friends call me lots of different things. My preferred nickname at the moment would have to be "Bern." I'm 38 years old and about to embark on the arduous, often painful and humiliating, journey of auditioning for symphony orchestras. I will likely be competing with other violinists who are in their early 20s and fresh out of conservatory. Why would I want to put myself through this, you ask? Good question!

I've been playing the violin since I was 9 years old. Given that most professional violinists started at the age of 4, I have been at a disadvantage for some time. However, I have been a musician for my entire life, and playing in a professional orchestra has been a dream of mine for decades. And I haven't given myself the chance to fulfill this dream, until now. I did take a couple of auditions a few years ago, but quickly got discouraged and stopped trying. My dear violin teacher, Sascha, told me not to give up until I had taken "at least 40 auditions!!" At the time, I thought he was crazy - but now I have come full circle and am ready for the challenge!

I have a few obstacles to overcome whilst preparing, and one of them is the fact that I have a 23-month-old beautiful daughter named Skye who requires my undivided attention for about 10 hours of the day. So, my practicing is taking place mostly when she is asleep. I also have a problem with cubital tunnel syndrome, which presents in my left elbow and radiates down to my wrist and to my ring and pinky fingers. My current "gig" with the Melbourne Opera Company is about to start up again with the performance of BARBER OF SEVILLE fast approaching. This will definitely infringe on my practice time. Finally, taking auditions can get expensive. You need to buy plane tickets for wherever the audition is, and sometimes find hotel accommodation. Not to mention taking some lessons beforehand and/or rehearsing with the accompanist. It all adds up!!

My goal is set: to get a job as a violinist in a professional symphony orchestra. And here begins my journey - I am prepared to take up to 40 auditions to reach my goal! I do hope I won't have to take that many!! My next couple blogs will describe my first 2 auditions that I took back in 2005. One was for Opera Australia and the other was for Orchestra Victoria. Audition #3 will be in Sydney again for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra! Stay tuned for updates on my 40 auditions...