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So one of the best jobs around has come up! Who's gonna have a pop at this?

http://www.roh.org.uk/workhere/vacancyd ... x?id=14312" target="_blank

Really? Sitting in the dark, and not on stage; one of "the best jobs"?

Opera's fun sometimes, but all the time?

UncleBeer wrote:Really? Sitting in the dark, and not on stage; one of "the best jobs"?

Opera's fun sometimes, but all the time?

I agree. Some opera is OK, but playing and listening to it all the time would make me go crazy!!
I think playing in a ballet orchestra is about one of the most perfect tuba jobs there is. Great music and sexy scenery onstage Toby Hanks had some of the best tuba jobs back in the day, IMO.

That might be true IF you get a good view of the stage. The reality can be very different, playing under a low ceiling, sometimes with the brass section in a virtual perspex box to lower the sound levels for other players.

It's a conundrum that some of the greatest music ever written was written for ballet, while for many people actually playing it is often a musically frustrating experience. There can be a number of reasons that MAY apply for this - poor acoustics, sometimes choreograhy doesn't relate to the music and is done to a count, not many ballet companies want to spend proper money on a good conductor etc.

I don't mean to be too negative, some pits are good to play in, some are not

The Orchestra are also the ensemble in residence for the Royal Ballet...so there's variation! For me I love pit work, and most the boys in the brass section at ROH do a hell of a lot of session work in addition so it would be a good job to have., if you're not scared of the dark!

I must agree with Cam that with poor pit conditions opera/ballet can be a less than enjoyable gig, but having had quite a few years experience in both opera and ballet pits, I can also say that if the pit is at least decent, the great music of both genres makes for wonderful playing opportunities. For example, listening to and accompanying the great Boris Christoff singing the death scene in "Boris Gudunov" every night, not 10 feet from where I sat in the pit, still stands out in my mind as a treasured musical memory. Such experiences made, for me at least, the endless counting of measures all worthwhile!

I'm late to this one, but I was talking to one of the auditionees(?) yesterday, and having a pop on the Cimbasso he's using for the audition (glad I don't have to!), and there are some big names in the hat. Surprising names, maybe. It's a highly paid job, apparently the highest paid Tuba job in the UK, so it IS a big job.

Anyway, good luck to all who audition, and all that will be called to trial.

Triallists informed I think.