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!