This is where we started this whole thing; searching for a way to embrace the uncertain and ephemeral nature of life and of art. Many of you who follow this blog are navigating transitions in your lives and your careers. We feel your pain, and we know (even if you don’t) that it will all be fine.
I thank you for going along on this unconventional audition season journey. It was a bit indulgent for me, but I hope that it had some resonance for you. Much of my professional life is clinical, linear, responsible, and frugal; that’s the essence of my striving to be a grown-up. (Yeah, good luck with that…) But we should all give our workaday lives some texture and integrity, especially during times like audition season, when so many things threaten to undermine our best efforts.
I’ll leave you with one final borrowing, by the 14th-century Sufi poet Hafiz. It contains words that we strive to live by on the other side of the audition table and on the other side of the door in the opera company offices.
The small man
Builds cages for everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.
I will never be a sage, but I will continue to do my level best to drop keys for the beautiful rowdy prisoners who bring music into my life.
I’m going underground (actually under an intimidating pile of applications) for 2 weeks. I’ll be back when we start our travels. The audition tour blog installments will run October 24 – November 22. See you then!
I love this! I’m an opera singer, but have a “band” of sorts that does folk music, called “The beautiful rowdy prisoners”. Great to know there are other Hafiz-loving artists out there.