Another Audition!

Since I am a senior undergraduate, the question of my plans after graduation looms large. I started thinking about these plans quite early, meeting professors from appealing graduate programs during junior year. Now, in late February of my senior year, I am nearing the end of this long but imperative process. This is a very unique audition season; some schools eliminated the pre-screen round entirely, some simply advanced our videos to a second viewing, and a few required live virtual auditions over Zoom! In January, I had such an audition for Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and this helped me get comfortable with this unique audition format.   Earlier today, February 20th, I had another virtual live audition, this time for the Voice and Opera Program at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music in Evanston, IL. ​

Northwestern is one of my top choices for grad school, so I have been anticipating this audition for some time, and I am very happy with how it went. I scheduled the audition for 1 pm, grabbing a time slot that felt like a happy medium for optimal vocal performance and energy. I performed the audition at the house of a pianist who has helped me tremendously in the past few months both with recordings and live auditions. I use a Blue Yeti microphone on a stand, and I place my laptop on a music stand. When I arrive at an audition, I do a practice zoom meeting and record, checking my audio settings. Once I am happy after listening back to the recording, I am ready to go! When I joined the zoom meeting, I waited about five minutes before the voice faculty came onto the screen. The panel, which included a voice teacher I have worked with, W. Stephen Smith, selected my contemporary aria after I started with my Mozart selection. I felt that I performed with optimal singing and exciting interpretation, and was happy to see a familiar teacher in the zoom meeting. The panel was very grateful to my live pianist, who I am so thankful to be able to work with during this time. I only have two auditions left, and one of them is in a sample lesson/interview format. I am so grateful for the musicians and faculty members who strive to make this unique audition season as smooth as possible, and I cannot wait to finish up the process! 

Geoffrey Schmelzer