Chapter 9.6 - Act 9: Whimsically 6 (1/2)
Act 9: Whimsically 6
New York Metropolitan Opera House.
This opera company, often shortened as Met, had never lost the title of the best, top opera company both in the present and the future 20 years later.
It was literally the place which gathered the world’s greatest artists and any musician who was interested in opera would be longing to enter it.
The reason for Met’s great, honourable fame was simple.
Great talents.
Highly skilled actors and members of the opera with unconditional support from the wealthy American families had resulted in the title of the world’s greatest opera company.
Timothy Dickson was known to have been the music director of that group for over 10 years. Although he appeared like an amiable old man, he was in fact a person that moved world famous opera actors around as he pleased.
And yet he was going to have a look at our performances…?
Even the principal widened his eyes in shock and ran up to Sir Dickson.
[You will be having a look at their performances?]
[Ah, perhaps it’s a bit weird to say that. This old man is just going to see if he can give a little advice or two.]
The students nodded their heads away and said little advice was more than enough as another round of master class was held again.
Soon, it was my turn to sing.
[Freshman Opera Department, Jo Yunjae!]
[Ohh, good pronunciation. Shall we have a listen then?]
I greeted rigidly to which Sir Dickson replied with a laughter.
It was super nerve-racking – perhaps more so than I was during the prac test. While letting out drops of sweat, I pondered on the song to sing before deciding to reuse my prac song.
[I’ll sing Tristesse by Chopin.]
[Chopin huh… an interesting choice.]
After making an awkward smile, I straightened myself up.
Tristesse.
Because I had practised it a lot for the prac test, it was perhaps the most polished one so far. Besides, it was one of my favourite songs in my previous life as well.
Of course, I did think about Elf King as well.
The first prac song – Elf King. Although I did practise it a lot… in the end, I was a lot more familiar with Tristesse. The strange experience I had during the prac test was another factor that made me choose it.
And after deciding on the song, I sang as best I could.
“Triste senz’amor…!”
After the last line, I closed my mouth as a short round of applause flashed past the venue.
“…”
With his hand on his chin, Sir Dickson pointed his gaze at me. Those eyes seemed to be searching for a clue as they observed me and sparkled.
…I was getting nervous.
What kind of evaluations would a bigshot at his level give to my song?
I stared at Sir Dickson with a restless heart and soon, he gave a smile and opened his mouth.
[A good song.]
“…!”
In that instant, I could feel my face brightening up.
Did he just give me a compliment? With that thought, I made a bright smile as his evaluation continued.
[The basics are solid while the expression is unique and full of colour. Especially, your ability to touch on others’ emotions is excellent. It was a good song.]
[Thank you!]
Then, he assumed a thinking posture before suddenly raising his head up in a flash and looking into my eyes.
[First off, the timbre is very clean and balanced. Right now, it gives off more of a lighter feeling but… there seems to be another habit mixed within – a habit required for singing heavily.]
Seeing the flinch in my expression, he smiled and opened his mouth.
[Did you perhaps change your vocalisation method recently?]
For a while, I blankly stared at Sir Dickson.
Like… how does he even find out after listening to only 1 minute of the song? Besides, wasn’t this his first time seeing me?
When he saw my flustered appearance, Sir Dickson nodded and added more words.
[I could tell after listening to your song. Unconsciously, there’s a habit of trying to make a loud sound, like an opera actor…]
He then threw a glance at my face before opening his mouth again.
[Does our young friend know the difference between opera actors and other vocalists?]
[Umm… the opera actors should be louder?]
Hearing the response I gave blankly, he smiled.
[You’re correct. A great, grand voice that could break through the sound made by the orchestra – that’s the prerequisite for standing on the opera stage. Just like what you did before. Judging from how you already have the habit of doing so, you must be dreaming of becoming an opera actor right?]
I met my eyes with Sir Dickson who had his gaze pointing at me. Reflected on those blue shining eyes, I could see an image; an image of a slender boy.
Seeing myself still in the middle of a growth period, I slowly thought.
‘Dream.’
When I tried wording it out, the word sounded awkward and foreign.
Thus, I just repeated his words in a daze.
[Opera actor…]
[Yes. You were singing like an opera actor. Or maybe that wasn’t your dream?]
Seeing his tilted head, my head turned blank.
‘Dream…’
I went through my past one by one.
My dream in my previous life was to sing a perfect song even once. The ensemble was just to support my living funds and since it provided me with a regular payment, it was more of a normal workplace than a dream job.
And I left because it felt like my song was gradually being killed and thinking that I might be able to sing my own song at Met, I had applied for it.
But after failing the interview, I understood.
‘In the end, I was no-one important whose songs couldn’t go beyond the borders of Korea.’
How could such a person ever sing a perfect song?
Thus, my dream had been cast away, until that Christmas arrived.
“…”
And here I was, back in time to the admission day of Future Performing Arts High School which marked the first wrong step in my life.
At the start, I had no time to think about anything else. The process of returning to the past was way too sudden and I wasn’t given any opportunity to even organise anything inside my head.