Abramovitz is a gifted Canadian clarinetist, who received national attention when he was still in his teens. As a student at McGill University, he applied for a spot — and a scholarship — at the prestigious Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles, where he would study under the famed clarinet teacher Yehuda Gilad.

    Only two spots open up per year, and they're seen as launching pads for elite careers: competition is fierce. Abramovitz made it to the audition phase.

    But in March 2014, he saw an email in his inbox telling him he'd been rejected.

    It was heartbreaking. He went through "some really dark, sad, angry days," he told BuzzFeed. His girlfriend at the time, Jennifer Lee, another musician at McGill, consoled him.

    But Abramovitz's despair was born out of a lie — and Lee's comforting words were, in retrospect, "really sick," he told the site.

    He'd actually made it into the Colburn Conservatory.




posted 2135 days ago