Opportunity Will Knock, But Your Bags Must Be Packed.

by Drew Holmes

I saw the email and my heart sank. One of our string instrument suppliers was giving a heads up that they anticipated running out of student level instruments, specifically violins, within the next week or so, and the next anticipated availability would likely be sometime in October. These specific instruments are the lifeblood of our string rental pool and the first instruments students will use on their journey to learn to love making music.

Normally, this would not be a problem, as we would be nearing the end of the back-to-school rental rush. But as I looked around in my warehouse at emptying shelves and a growing waiting list of rental customers, I knew I had a choice to make. I could restock heavy now, at the end of the season, and risk having money tied up in extra inventory for the next year or do nothing and risk falling short of meeting my customers’ needs.

I could recognize the opportunity, but was I ready to seize it?

When I was Principal Librarian for the Naples Philharmonic in Naples, FL, we would collaborate with the Miami City Ballet for their performances in our area. Historically the Ballet would use a local ensemble to accompany them at venues throughout Florida, but recent seasons had seen a decline in live music and a wider adoption of recorded music. We were the last orchestra still engaged to perform with them.

Their Music Director backed out of conducting our performances at the last minute due to the widening gap in artistic vision with the Ballet’s administration, so that left us to find someone to conduct the orchestra for our scheduled performances. At the last minute, that job ended up falling to our Resident Conductor, Clotilde Otranto.

Fortunately, Clo was up to the task. She had been a ballet dancer in her native São Paulo, Brazil, retiring early from dancing due to injury. She then reinvented herself as a concert pianist, but unfortunately had to abandon that pursuit due to problems with her hands. Finally, she embarked on a career as a conductor, earning a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting and working under legends of the podium like Seiji Osawa, Leonard Slatkin, and Leonard Bernstein.

In other words, she was uniquely qualified for the unexpected opportunity presented to her.

Her performances of that show were met with rave reviews from both the ensemble and the audience. After that, Clo was named the Principal Conductor of the Miami City Ballet. I lost track of her after I left Naples, but when I looked her up I discovered she was a full-time conductor for the New York City Ballet Orchestra, a post she has held since 2008.

What lesson can we learn from this? Someday, opportunity will knock at your door. You cannot know when it will be or what it will look like. When it does, recognizing it is not enough. You must have your bags already packed and ready to go along with it, wherever it will take you.

As I reread the email the correct decision became clear: to meet our customers’ needs we must stock up heavier than usual so we can have instruments on hand. We have the storage space (since our shelves have been emptying) and we currently have the necessary financial resources in place to make this kind of purchase. It is a risk to do this, but the greater risk is in disappointing the parents and teachers that rely on us to supply instruments to their students.

Today opportunity came knocking at my door. I’m glad I had the foresight to have my bags already packed when I answered.