With a lot of no hires happening, it got me wondering how much an orchestra needs to budget for/spend to host an audition. It’s obviously very expensive and time consuming for the candidates, but what’s the damage on the other side?
I know it will probably vary by organization to organization, so would love to hear insights from insiders of orchestras of all sizes
I work for a small regional per service orchestra, and at its very cheapest version, a one-day audition costs about $4,500. That's actually if we're NOT in our hall - if we want to be on stage (always the preference but not always possible), that goes up to $7k. For an expensive audition where you have to rent instruments like percussion or timpani or harp, that could be anywhere from an additional $1k-3.5k on top of that. And this is just for a single day audition, with all rounds taking place in one day.
Costs include the hall and warm-up room rental, committee members payment, food for the committee, any instrument rental - and advertising the position, which no one has mentioned. Might sound kind of silly, but it's not cheap to buy an ad in the IM for multiple months, and then there are other places like Musical Chairs etc where ads need to be purchased.
No one likes a no hire, the orchestra managers who are running the auditions least of all. Auditions are a significant administrative and financial lift.
Not all orchestras own the hall they play in - many, in fact. Depending upon the days of an audition, it can cost up to $30000 to reserve and book the hall more than six weeks out, and this is why some orchestras regularly hold auditions in other venues. An orchestra has to pay a crew for the entire run of the audition, as well as (in the case of our hall) an usher to let committee members in through the front entrance (rather than the stage door). It is never cheap for an orchestra to hold an audition, and no orchestra is happy with a no hire situation.
The numbers I’ve heard are anywhere between $5,000-10,000 per audition, depending on the situation. It’s very common for the committee members to be paid something for their service and get per-diem for meals. For mid and lower tier orchestras that don’t own their hall, the cost of renting the hall or another venue for 3-4 entire days can be very expensive. For auditions like timpani, piano, and harp where several instruments might need to be rented for the warm-up rooms and performance space, costs will be significantly higher than for a string or wind audition. The price tag can be hefty, especially if a group needs to fill 5 or more positions in a single season.
Trial weeks are an additional cost, involving not just payment for the week but also travel and accommodation costs for each candidate. Ultimately, all of this is negligible when compared to the length of time the orchestra might expect the winner to do the job - a few years, an entire career, or anything in between.
But even more than the expense I find that the logistical and organizational costs are worth mentioning - the amount of time and energy it takes to plan an audition, screen resumes, organize a committee, block time in a busy calendar, have the library create repertoire books, etc etc etc - all this takes resources away from everyone involved devoting time to their normal duties. I know there is a perspective out there among candidates that some orchestras “would rather keep having no hires because it’s less expensive to pay subs” but I have absolutely never heard of an orchestral player or personnel manager espouse this mentality. People’s priorities and preferences may vary wildly, but I don’t know anyone who goes into an audition and thinks “I really don’t want to hire someone today.”
im guessing it won't be as much as you think. as far as my orchestra's CBA states, committee members will get extra compensation depending on how many hours the audition goes for on top of their regular salary. assuming that the orchestra uses their own hall, that won't cost any extra for using the space. then, most of the members actually running the audition behind the scenes(personnel manager(s), etc) likely just get whatever their regular salary is, because running auditions are most likely outlined in their employment. My best guess for an audition that would run for lets say 3 days, maybe the upwards of $5000. I'm not someone that works behind the scenes, so I don't know!