In the first week of January, I did 3 auditions: Dallas Symphony, New World Symphony, and Flower Mound Community Orchestra.
This was a lot, but there was no new rep to prepare, so I wasn’t too concerned. The Dallas audition had over 30 excerpts. I prepared the same four excerpts for NWS and FMCO (all from the DSO list).
I was mostly relieved when the DSO audition was over. It was a lot of music to maintain, plus there was picc and alto. I spent the whole Winter break focused on practicing (and napping), then went back to work the day after the audition.
The preliminary list for Dallas was the following:
- Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto (II)
- Leonore Overture No. 3, opening and solo
- Brahms 4
- Mendelssohn Scherzo
- Debussy Faun, opening and 2-3
- Strauss, Tod und Verklarung
It was pretty nice that they let us play the whole list, and as far as I know, didn’t cut any of us off. We had the whole 10 minutes, which is twice as long as most auditions I’ve done.
I realized as I was playing that I was half expecting them to cut me off after each excerpt, though! It was a pleasant surprise that I played without interruption.
I was also able to appreciate in the moment (even though it looks very different with the big screen on stage) that I was having the opportunity to perform in such a large and beautiful hall.
Here’s the recording of my audition:
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Alyse Hokamp 