Tonight was interesting. For most of it, I was in a near panic about my upcoming audition tapes; they're due in 12 days and I had yet to find a pianist. I'd written an e-mail to a prominent local pianist who does a lot of accompanying, and I had a few others in mind, but really, the piano situation in Madison is very bad this year. Admittedly, I only need a pianist for movements 2 and 4 of the elgar concerto, but still, the pre-screening requirements for at least three schools all mention "with accompaniment".
So then at around 10:30 tonight, my friend James gives me a call, inviting me to come along with him to a party downtown. He stressed I should really go to this one, since the guys hosting it have a fully stocked bar. That was no understatement. They had 3 or 4 kinds of gin, 4 scotches, half a dozen whiskeys, and quite a few bottles of various vodkas, rums, and flavored alcoholic things. I don't know how they did it; apparently one of them makes a lot of money and just buys it to stock for parties. First party I've ever been to where I had glasses of Maker's Mark. But anyways, while I was there, I bumped into someone I'd seen play piano before, and he seemed sympathetic to my plight, and moreover apparently just finished working on Elgar a few weeks ago. So it's a HUGE load off my back. Because my rep is ready, for sure. TOmorrow I hope to make it moreso.