<p>My daughter has a few auditions coming up where she will need an accompanist, specifically Juilliard and MSM. She just received her Juilliard audition date/time after a preliminary estimate, and it will be at 10 AM on a Thursday, which is great because she will have her Juilliard Pre-College lesson on Wednesday. We live 100 miles away and will stay in a hotel that night. </p>
<p>We were hoping to bring her regular accompanist, with whom she played her Pre-College auditions and juries, and with whom she has worked extensively for years, but the early audition time means we will need to put him up in a hotel in NYC over night. The alternative is that she plays with one of the Juilliard pianists. Which would be fine, although the comfort level would be higher if she plays with her regular pianist. </p>
<p>What are your thoughts regarding bringing along your regular accompanist versus auditioning with a staff pianist? Having come so far and spent so much already, is it silly to balk at another $200 for a hotel room?</p>
<p>The Juilliard accompanists are excellent. They know the violin rep as well as anyone in the world. They also know the routine of Juilliard auditions very well which is helpful and comforting. Excellent musicians like your daughter adjust very quickly to excellent accompanists (excellent musicians do not adjust as quickly to merely good accompanists). Most students are probably better off with Juilliard accompanists than their own. </p>
<p>However, your daughter’s regular accompanist is also excellent from what I have heard of his playing, and no doubt your daughter will be more comfortable with him and I suspect the overall performance will be somewhat more nuanced with him than with someone who has only rehearsed with her for 30 or 60 minutes. As well, the Juilliard accompanists tend to be very, very busy during audition week and the days leading up to it, so often there is just a minimal amount of rehearsal time. </p>
<p>Most accompanists would probably require some compensation for their travel time, in addition to their regular fees and the hotel, so the addition to your bill is likely to be somewhat more than $200, although that will depend on your accompanist.</p>
<p>I think that both of your options will result in excellent auditions and therefore you can’t really go wrong with either. For each person, it will depend on the individual child’s comfort level with a new accompanist and on one’s personal financial situation.</p>
<p>Hi, Violindad-- how do you know my daughter’s accompanist? Ah, the other thing is that he’s playing her pre-college senior recital in the same hall that the auditions will probably be in (although not sure about that) on February 6th so they will have had that time in the hall together. My daughter has played with some of the Jyard accompanists in studio classes, etc., and they are good, it’s true, and of course they know the rep., which in her case will be just the concerto and the post-1939 piece (which is apparently never asked for anyway.) Right now I’m trying to convince my husband that it’s not a good idea to drive him up from Philadelphia, i.e., leave here at 6AM, for the audition.</p>
<p>My son used a Juilliard accompanist for his master’s audition and said it was the best pianist he had ever played with. He felt like she improved his playing just because she was playing so well and beautifully. He got carried away by the music they were making and forgot he was auditioning! He was sorry when it was over. </p>
<p>My guess is that she will do fine with a Juilliard pianist. But I also understand the angst with going with an unknown.</p>
<p>Thanks, Shennie! I don’t even mind the angst of the unknown so much as wondering if we should forgo the comfort of the known-- her Juilliard audition is one of the two that she considers very high-stakes. By the way-- I found a hotel that has double rooms for $175/night at 58th and 9th, special Juilliard rate, if anyone is interested: <a href=“http://www.hudsonhotel.com%5B/url%5D”>http://www.hudsonhotel.com</a></p>
<p>Sooo, am I to understand that I should set up a rehearsal with the Juilliard accompanist prior to the audtion???OH NO! How many times do they expect us to go to NYC??</p>
<p>Marjecat, on the Juilliard website it says:
Accompanists: All works with piano accompaniment must be accompanied for the audition. We encourage you to use a Juilliard accompanist for your audition. A list of accompanists will be provided approximately two weeks before the audition. You must contact an accompanist from the list two weeks prior to your audition and provide him/her with a piano score of the repertoire for the audition. Students who wish to bring their own accompanists may do so. A rhythm section will be provided for jazz auditions. Collaborative Piano applicants please refer to the Collaborative Piano audition requirements regarding the audition partner guidelines.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s required to set up a rehearsal, but it’s probably a good idea, just for tempo and entrances, etc. But I assume most of the prospective students will be setting up rehearsals the day before their audition, not on a separate trip. By the way, I just spoke to our accompanist, and he says he has stayed in The Hudson (the hotel with the $175 Juilliard rate) in the past and that he liked it a lot. So I’ve made a reservation for him as well as for us. As we sink rapidly into debt, at least I know my daughter will have the comfort of her regular pianist…</p>
<p>My daughter used the Juilliard accompanist for her (unsuccessful) violin audition there last year. He was more than wonderful. They fly him in from Germany for these auditions every year. He put her very much at ease, told her exactly what to expect and only charged, I believe, $40. I think we emailed him a couple of weeks ahead of time to schedule a rehearsal time.</p>
<p>I forgot to say that the Juilliard rehearsal was scheduled the evening before her audition, so we didn’t need to make any extra trips to New York, although we were there for the week anyway with MSM and Mannes auditions.</p>
<p>As glassharmonica mentions, most people do not do a separate accompanist rehearsal trip to NYC, but do the rehearsal the day before (sometimes in the evening because the accompanists are so busy during auditions week). I have heard of rehearsals on the day of, but that would only be if the accompanist could fit it in and it might make for a bad sleep the night before:).</p>
<p>Bluepearl-- New York for a week-- egads, that sounds both exciting and expensive. I know that last year Juilliard was exceptionally hard for violinists because they were down one studio-- Mr. Smirnoff left for CIM and there was no new faculty in place. My daughter has a number of friends who are very fine players who we thought were Juilliard caliber but did not make it in. The year before, there were many more openings. I don’t know how many openings there are this year.</p>
<p>I would go with taking her own accompanist. Familiar is comforting and no matter how well trained Julliard’s accompanists are, they don’t know your D and her playing style. I think the expense, providing the accompanist is willing, is well worth it. Good luck to your D- I know she is doing amazingly well!</p>
<p>The Juilliard accompanyists are very high caliber for the most part (I have seen some clunkers in studio recitals and individual recitals, but I am not sure if they were regular Juilliard accompyists or not). </p>
<p>I would say the real question is your D, her comfort level with working with someone she doesn’t know? Some people have a lot of experience working with unfamiliar accompyanists and/or are otherwise comfortable with it, others are not. It is all about your D’s comfort zone, and IMO if there is any doubt, bring in the person she feels most comfortable with. However, if it is too difficult to bring in her own accompanyist or proves impossible, you can be pretty sure that if you use a Juilliard accompanyist it will be someone who knows what they are doing and is used to working with all kinds of players.</p>
<p>In the competitions and auditions I have been through with our son, there is a fee for the accompanyist (in reality it is usually for the practice time, since the auditions/performances themselves are relatively short, but it depends). Usually it is cheaper using the provided accompanyist then paying for one from outside, but that is strictly a matter of local prices and such, could be different. The could be times and places where fees are not charged, but I haven’t heard of that, other then in cases where someone has severe financial need.</p>
<p>Yes - The person auditioning needs to pay the accompanist for any rehearsal time and the audition itself. They will tell you what they charge when you contact them.</p>