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!