Innocents Abroad

I graduated from Rice in the spring of ’01 and started taking auditions, moving along from semis to finals as spring turned to summer. I made a tape for the Sydney Symphony while I was at a music festival in Colorado over that summer, trying to keep the audition chops up until fall. They accepted the tape and flew me out there in Sept of ’01 for a live audition (which was delayed by a few weeks after international travel was heavily disrupted following 9/11. Traveling internationally with a bass 9 days after that is another story….)

It was the only audition I ever took where the orchestra paid for the flight, accommodations, even airport taxis. Once I got the job, my wife and I received plane tickets, moving expenses, and visa sponsorship – it was an offer too good to turn down. So, knowing I preferred to begin working off some school debt instead of staying on the audition circuit, we moved to the wonderful city of Sydney in March of 2002. It all happened so fast that we never stopped to consider the magnitude of the move we were making.

We lived there for 4 1/2 years, and in many ways Sydney is heaven on earth. The orchestra was very friendly and very good, the city is gorgeous, and the weather is always warm. We even had our child there (who has dual citizenship). We left in August of 2006 to move to Milwaukee for the MSO, where I am assistant principal bass.