God's Song Volume 4 Chapter 3.3

God’s Song
Volume 4 Chapter 3 Part 3

“Jun, you need to go out for this audition.”

Amelia and Danny printed the notice for the Salzburg Summer Festival and chatted while hanging it in his face.

“Why? It’s during the break. I need to practice all break.”

Jun Hyuk had become more free from last year and had been thinking of traveling during the summer break. Amelia would need to go on tour again and he could not just follow her around. He was thinking of going to Canada, Danny’s hometown, by himself.

“The Chaikovsky Competition is in June. When that’s over, the runner-ups tour Europe. Russia in June, July and August in Europe. But there’s a performance at the Salzburg Summer Festival.”

“Amelia, are you really going out for the competition? I’m pretty sure you don’t need to go out for it with your talent.”

“Well… There’s nothing I can do about it. I receive financial support from the government, but an Argentinian enterprise gives major support too. They’re asking me to pay more attention to the competition this year. I can’t ignore that request.”

In supporting a young artists, there is nothing better than having a runner-up or winner in a competition. It is the same as when a company that is backing a golfer hopes he will win in a major competition.

“So you’re saying we should meet in Salzburg?”

“Yeah. Let’s spend even a few days together in Europe.”

“Hang on. Didn’t you just say runner-ups? Only the runner-ups go on tour?”

“Of course. You don’t think I can be a runner-up? My goal is to win.”

Jun Hyuk pretended not to see Amelia get worked up and spoke to Danny,

“Danny, you too?”

“Jun, you said it yourself. If I can play the violin song you wrote, there’s no problem for me to become a runner-up in a competition. No?”

Danny was full of confidence that becoming a runner-up would not be an issue. He had seen the Long-Thibaud last year. He knew the skills of violinists who were currently frequenting competitions.

Jun Hyuk wavered at Amelia’s last words,

“Jun, there are a lot of Mozart’s handwritten scores at the Salzburg Mozart Museum. Don’t you want to see them for yourself? Mozart’s scores?”

Salzburg. Mozart’s hometown. Jun Hyuk wanted to see Mozart’s handwritten scores. He even had the thought that he might be able to discover a hidden intent in the scores.

“Okay, let’s go to Salzburg. Even if I don’t get picked during the audition, I can just go for a vacation.”

Danny snorted at Jun Hyuk’s doubt,

“Are you joking? Is there a reason you won’t get chosen when you’re the future conductor of the New York Philharmonic?”

Because the repertoire is Mozart’s opera, there were only four people trying out to be conductor. Only Jun Hyuk participated from CH, two were from Juilliard and one from Eastman. The students in Clayton’s conducting major dropped out early on when they heard that Jun Hyuk would be auditioning.

Professor Hirani sighed in relief as soon as he saw Jun Hyuk’s name on the list of candidates.

‘Amelia did well.’

“Jun, what’s up? You’re showing interest in an event like this?”

“Because it’s Mozart’s hometown. I would like to go there.”

“I see. It’s basically a holy land for musicians.”

Professor Hirani was more thankful to Amelia who did him a favor than he was to Mozart.

“Yes. And I heard that there are handwritten scores at the Mozart Museum. I would like to see those.”

“What? Mozart’s handwritten scores?”

“Yes, professor. Why are you surprised… Could it be that they just store them and don’t reveal them to the public?”

“Hm… They’ll probably reveal them. Even if they don’t show them to the public, it should be possible if we ask the officials there.”

“Right?”

Professor Hirani realized that Amelia had seduced Jun Hyuk with Mozart’s handwritten scores.

‘Whew – Well… Since it’s true that the handwritten scores are there.”

Most of Mozart’s scores are stored in world famous museums. Of those, the majority are at the New York Metropolitan Museum near the school. Of course they are not on display to the public, but they would be able to see it if the school made the request.

Salzburg, Mozart’s birthplace, only has a few scores that he wrote when he was 5 years old.

Professor Hirani felt like he would start laughing when he thought of how Jun Hyuk might react upon seeing Mozart’s handwritten scores.

“Alright. Anyway, do well with the audition and I hope you become the conductor. An opera isn’t a common opportunity because it’s expensive.”

Fortunately, the Salzburg Summer Festival committee agreed to cover a lot of the costs. They would lend them the set necessary for an opera and Mozarteum University promised their students for the extras.  Mozarteum University was founded in 1841 and has 400 prestigious professors. It is also the alma mater of Berlin Philharmonic great, Herbert von Karajan.

The audition song to select the conductor was Mozart’s Symphony No. 4 in G Minor, the 1st part of K550.

After the four candidates rehearsed for one day, they would audition the next. During the 8 days of the audition, the person who would take the baton became the subject of interest of all students in the three schools.

The 1st part is just 7 minutes, but there is an advantage to taking a later turn in the audition. As the conductor changes, the orchestra members get more practice and become used to the song.

Jun Hyuk was 2nd to audition and he met eyes with the members, exchanged formalities with the concertmaster, and stood on the podium.

Without saying anything, he picked up the baton to indicate that he would start the performance instead.

When there was not a conductor introduction or words regarding the song, the concertmaster stood up and approached Jun Hyuk.

“Look here. Don’t you need to tell us how you’ll be performing? We’d like to hear your interpretation of this song.”

“First, let’s hear it. Aren’t we just practicing today anyway? And since this song is so famous and the members practiced this so much, I thought they’d be able to perform this even without a score. I can start right away, right?”

This symphony does not have the trumpet or timpani. Jun Hyuk started conducting with an orchestra of 57 people.

Conducting that is neither explosive nor grand. Jun Hyuk kept conducting calmly like a metronome at a 4/4 beat. When the boring 7 minute performance ended, all of the members looked at Jun Hyuk.

Jun Hyuk put the baton down, scratched his head a few times, and said something so outrageous it was a wonder that the members did not throw their instruments at him.

“First, let’s reduce the number. There’s no reason to have so many people. Violin. You, you, 2 people. You on the viola…..”

As Jun Hyuk called each performer one by one, his face looked full of queries.

“Except for the 19 people I called, everyone else please leave.”

As soon as Jun Hyuk finished speaking, Clayton students took their instruments and left without a word. The rest could not do that. The concertmaster on the 1st violin bolted up and yelled,

“Look here. What are you doing?”

Chapter end