Twenty years ago this month I graduated from Juilliard and won a position in the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. This weekend I played two final shows with my orchestra. Never would I have imagined that leading a deconstructed Barber of Seville from a tent, performing for a car audience could feel so meaningful. We were 19 musicians who bonded over the chilly evening temperatures, the discomfort of playing for 100 minutes straight wearing masks, and the general absurdity of our situation, while fully appreciating what this return to opera meant to us, personally, and our art form, as a whole.
With the support of my friends in the orchestra, and two packs of Kleenex supplied by my violin section, I coasted through my final performance. The finale of Barber of Seville is uplifting and felt like such an appropriate way to conclude my tenure with the San Francisco Opera. Luckily I’ve also got it memorized, because by the end the tears were streaming down my face and I couldn’t see my music.
Typically our orchestra celebrations take place in the Opera House lounge or after-hours at a Hayes Valley bar, but since neither was convenient last night, we drank in the gravel parking lot under the Marin stars.
My crew presented me with a scrumptious chocolate cake inscribed with “Arrivederci Cara Laura” in blue (which, coincidentally, matched my nail color perfectly). I was told the word “arrivederci” was chosen so as to imply it’s not a final goodbye but just a “see you later”. I received hugs from everyone (how amazing was that after so many months???) and couldn’t have imagined a more perfect evening.
I am leaving the Opera to embark on a new career path. On September 1st I’ll begin school at NYU, working toward an MA in Music Therapy. My interest in Music Therapy began 26 years ago during my undergraduate studies in Cleveland. As my work study, I assisted in the music therapy department at the Cleveland University Hospitals. I am finally coming back to it. This past year gave my family a chance to reevaluate our lives and me the space to prepare college application essays and auditions. I taught myself to play guitar, and though I’m still too shy to sing in front of others, I can accompany myself on guitar and piano. For my auditions, I produced a 30 minute video speaking about my background and aspirations as a music therapist, and surviving several strenuous recording attempts on violin, my “primary instrument”. I chose to perform the Danse Rustique movement of a difficult Ysaye solo sonata in front of the wood fire (which I stoked every few minutes so my background would be appropriately rustic). That was the easy part. I also arranged and taught myself to play the guitar parts of Halo and Happy Together (singing while accompanying myself was my biggest challenge), recorded an improvisation based on a short fiddle tune, and got my piano hands working steadily enough together to accompany myself singing You Are My Sunshine. My audition video was an enormous undertaking and I’m immensely proud of the final product.
The past several weeks have been full of emotional moments, as we pack up our home, visit with friends and make the most of our remaining time in San Francisco. We feel we’ve lived the best lives we can here and are excited for the next chapter. To my San Francisco friends, I love you dearly and will miss you all … arrivederci!
Laura's Training On the GO 