Singing it up in the Big Apple!

In November and December Gabe travelled to NYC twice. The first time he was there for less that 24 hours, the second trip he was there just over a week. He sang like singing is his job. Oh wait...

So, one of the auditions that he set up was with Utah Festival Opera. It's a summer festival that takes place in Logan, Utah and it was founded by this guy...

via

Do you recognize him yet?

His name is Michael Ballam, pretty widely known within the LDS church. He is an opera singer, professor, and founder of UFO.



See, this whole thing was very interesting. Do you ever have moments or things that happen when you know God had a direct hand in them? I mean I believe He really does have His hand in everything, but sometimes we don't realize it right away. 

Mr. Ballam, while in NYC, stayed with Gabe's sister-in-law, Alex's Uncle.

(Breakdown: Gabe's brother Garrett married Alex. Her Parent's are Joel and Genean. Joel's Brother lives in NYC and kindly hosted Mr. Ballam)

This worked in Gabe's favor, because there had been talk that Gabe would be singing for him.

When Gabe showed up at the audition he found out after the fact that he was an ENTIRE DAY LATE.

Someone needs to keep a more organized calendar. It's really quite shocking because he is so careful about these things. So, everyone thought that Gabe had changed his mind about coming for the audition and they were surprised to see him, but graciously heard him anyway. He sang in the building where the Manhattan Temple is located. Wanna know what else...he loved his voice. He was soooo complementary to Gabe and offered him a position this summer at UFO (You can see more details about dates and roles if you click on upcoming performances on the sidebar).

The next day, Gabe went to Sacrament Meeting with him and sat beside him at church. Then Gabe left, as he had other plans. Mr. Ballam stayed for an additional sacrament meeting to see friends and ended up singing a special musical number with Donny and Marie Osmond. Gabe missed it. Such is life. That's okay. They had brunch later and he told him all about it.

Let's hope this is the beginning of something great!

Moral of the story:

-We'll be in Logan, Utah this summer (anyone close?)

-Never show up to an audition late, but it helps if they are forgiving.

-Sacrament Meetings in NYC are exciting.