Met Motivation

A couple of weekends ago, I finally had the opportunity to watch The Audition, a documentary providing a behind-the-scenes look at the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions.  I must admit I was a bit skeptical at first, thinking it would be more of a vanity video for the Met and the competition it supports á la Prince’s Purple Rain.  However, I was surprised to find that Susan Frömke’s work attempts to provide an objective vision of what the National Council Auditions are to the competitors and the sponsors.  Some of the interviews are hilarious and some are quite illustrative of personalities and politics.  What made me hopeful was the care, encouragement and compassion the coaches and administrators seemed to show towards the various participants in the lessons and coachings that come as part of competition at the national level.  It may really be like that in the upper echelons, but I admit I haven’t been public witness to such showers of praise.  Maybe it’s because the Met has the money and time to care, or because the smaller and often-underfunded companies and ensembles are too overworked to realize they may be lacking in the encouragement department.  Watching these singers during their coachings really made me desire an opportunity to work with people like that.  Perhaps my next goal should be to find people in the music world who are truthfully empathetic, legitimately kind, and with whom I would enjoy working.