The summer of 1987 was spent as an apprentice accompanist/répétiteur at the Merola Program of the San Francisco Opera. I was offered a job immediately following, in the autumn and winter, touring with a small opera ensemble out of the Merola Program across the country, playing the orchestral parts on the piano while the singers sang the entire opera with minimal props and costuming. I had seen a tour performance in New Mexico where I lived, so I knew what was being offered.

I turned it down, saying that the summer had worn me out, and that, exhausted as I was, I did not belong on the road grinding out tour performances. The company was unhappy as they had liked my work as a rehearsal pianist very much. But it takes more than a summer working in one spot, as I did, to prepare for life on tour.

So the tour went on without me and I never worked in opera again.