Yakima Symphony Music Director Audition Trip - Day 3

Sorry for the really late post, but the past day and a half have been nuts! Lauren got to Yakima on Sunday at 2:00PM, and then that night, I had my first official event of the audition - the search committee dinner. I have to say that I really enjoyed the dinner and the discussion. I must have - I didn't even remember that Duke was playing, and I didn't check the score until I got back to the hotel. Sunday morning, I took advantage of the rental car and drove out to Naches. (Evidently pronounced /Nacheez/ - I had been mispronouncing it Texas-style and called it Natchez).

This was a truly beautiful drive, and while my video posting of the day isn't necessarily conducting related, it's some truly beautiful scenery!

Video 8 - Old Naches Highway Scenery

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bbcvxlvTi4]

Video 9 - More Old Naches Highway Scenery

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGPKZx8TgYw]

On the drive out there, I saw two people riding bikes up and down the mountains - WOW! I'm impressed. I thought people reserved that kind of workout for the Tour de France.

A bit more about the search committee dinner:

I was truly impressed by the quality of the questions I was asked by the search committee. I have heard every manner of question from search committees in the past. (Some were borderline illegal!) It was evident from the passion with which they pursued the answers and the thought they had put behind the questions that there is a true desire to see this orchestra continue to move forward and build. That left me excited about the job. Lauren was surprised at the intensity of it and felt that it was a pretty exhausting endeavor - and it was exhausting because you never know what the next question was going to be. But in the grand scheme of interviews, it wasn't as if I was being interrogated under the lights!