Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Principal Percussion?
This audition happened December 15, 2025.

This audition happened December 15, 2025.
Any updates?
Justin Gingrich was offered the position. Keith Hammer and Eli Reisz were finalists. Big congrats to Justin!
The audition was today. Did anybody win the job?
Auditions took place 11/17-19.
According to a recent social media post, Peyton Esraelian won this position.
Matthew West won this audition. Congratulations to him!
Bryce Burton was named the runner up.
Finals are 11/10
Hamza Able was offered the position 🥶
Runner up is Miles Salerni, and Hwanee Pak was the other super-finalist. Yaaay Hamza, 4 auditions in 2 years, the run continues!!!!!
Audition was today, October 30, 2025.
Audition happened 10/24/25.
Audition is today, October 26, 2025.
Any news? Finals were today, I believe.
Luca Esposito won, congrats to him!
Elijah Nice and Robert Lenau were named runner ups
Jake Darnell was the winner of this audition (also offered a trial week with the orchestra).
Brad Davis was named the runner up. Congratulations to all!
I thought that maybe Michael Stubbart would move up. Stubbart seems good enough to move up.
Assistant Principal: Wesley Sumpter
Section Percussion: Andres Pichardo Rosenthal
Other super finalists were David Yoon and Matthew West. Congratulations to all!
Audition is today I believe
Adriana Harrison won. Congrats to her!
The other finalists were Ruben Shonik and Matthew Larson.
Any news? Should be finishing up today.
According to the Indiana University Percussion Studio’s Instagram account, William Kim won the Principal Timpani audition.
The Baton Rouge Symphony's website lists Jordan Fajardo-Bird as the winner of the 2nd Percussion audition.
This was last week, there were 2 finalists and Connor Stevens won the position.
Connor Ainsworth and Seth Bagwell were offered positions. Audition was September 7.
Congratulations to Tyler Stell!
Auditions were today September 3rd
I heard that Daniel Raney and Patrick Sorah got offer trials. Congrats to both of them!
Audition was on August 26. Who won the position?
Any news?
Principal and Section percussion, audition was July 24th
I’m told section player Collin Boltz won the principal job, while Tae McLoughlin and Fabian Correa were offered section positions
Any updates?
Any news on who the finalists are?
Jake Darnell (NWS) is the winner, pending a trial. Brad Davis (Hawai’i) was runner up. The other finalists were Meagan Gillis, Matt Kibort, Alex Artale, Andrew Lauler, and Ian Kerr.
Horn audition was yesterday, percussion is today.
I’m told Shona Ortiz-Leopold won 4th horn, and no one was hired as 3rd horn.
Who won this audition?
Should have finished up May 28th. Anyone know the results?
Dominic Grande won. Congrats to him!
Audition was today, May 25, 2025.
UPDATE - it appears that there has been another audition scheduled for this position (National Audition), with a recorded first round on September 5 and a deadline to apply on September 3. Those who are invited to the in-person final audition round will take their auditions on October 26 in Saskatoon.
It’s safe to assume that the past audition most likely resulted in a no-hire.
Finals were supposed to be 5/20. Any updates?
Caleb Breidenbaugh won!
Audition was today, May 19, 2025.
I was told the audition, with just 2 invited candidates, was to take place this week. Any news?
Zubin Hathi has won this position. The other invited candidate was Charles Renneker
Jonas Koh won this audition.
Auditions took place May 12 and 13.
Audition is 5/5/2025
According to the Indiana University Percussion studio social media, Kaleb Hascall has been appointed Principal Timpani. I believe Hamza won the same position in the Florida Orchestra recently.
I think the auditions were this past weekend.
Matthew West, Jack Rutledge, and Griffin Harrison were awarded fellowships. Congrats to them!
Audition was yesterday
Sean Van Winkle was hired as Principal and John Patton was hired as Assistant Principal. Congratulations to both! Hearing a total of 4 were in finals.
Anyone happen to know the result of this ?
Anyone know what the result of the recent national round was?
I just heard that Andrew Johnson has been appointed Principal Percussion. The section vacancy was not filled.
Congratulations to Will Howald on winning the audition! Jonas Koh and William Kim were the other finalists.
I’m sorry my accusations seem unfair and that the specifics I guessed about as an outsider were incorrect. I won’t apologize for bringing up the issue of resume screening equity, and all I’ll say is that anyone who was qualified to take this audition and wasn’t allowed to should contact a ROPA representative to look into it if they feel so inclined. This is my intent in bringing it up, and I’m really not that interested in how they decided who could and couldn’t take the audition, just that they didn’t allow a lot of people to.
Joe Desotelle, Michael Rogers, and Austin Cantrell won this audition. Congratulations to all!
Finals are today for both positions.
Tarun Bellur won principal. Ben Cornavaca won associate principal. Congrats to both!
Heard this was a no hire
This audition took place on December 6, 2024.
Audition was yesterday.
The Israel Philharmonic had a couple of percussion auditions recently, anyone know of the results?
Audition was today.
Matt Prendergast won. Congrats to him!
The runner-up was Mingyu Son.
Greg LaRosa was offered this position. Nice one bruv.
AJ Hudson won. Congrats to him!
The runner-up was Alex Artale.
Looks like they are inviting ALL semi-finalists back to redo the audition in May. The union conducted an investigation with statements from involved candidates, and expert advice from professional timpanists, and they’re saying “there was no found wrong doing any candidates” which is disappointing, not sure if they’re just avoiding liability at this point, as the person responsible can just get a free pass to retake the audition after admitting to the act, at the cost of all other candidates now having to dish out more money to retake this audition. Unlucky I guess
The audition was on the 29th of October. Anyone know the results?
Irene Kang won this audition. Congrats to her! Other finalists were Yibing Wang and Gustavo Barreda.
Caleb Breidenbaugh won the Albany Principal Percussion audition on October 8th, 2024.
2 candidates advanced to a final round to be held at a later date.
Audition was yesterday I believe
They're so low paid because a lot of orchestras simply don't have the donor base (either because of the population of the city in question, or because of an incompetent development team). Whether or not the wage is "livable," if enough musicians continue auditioning for and accepting the positions, the orchestra will continue to be able to operate, and somehow those musicians go on living, whether it's from inheritance, spousal income, other gigs on the side, or simple frugal living.
I'm not making any moral judgment here, it just is what it is.
Instead of complaining that certain jobs are underpaid just... don't apply for those jobs? If others decide that the Victoria Symphony pays enough, good for them. If you prefer to make more money, you can feel free to go do so, either as a musician or by going into another field. The people who choose to audition for and accept positions with Victoria Symphony are adults who can be trusted to be responsible for their own life choices.
Audition was June 25th, 2 positions
Finals for both positions are today.
Likely won’t be decided until MSO begins their regular season (probably October or November) unless one of the trialists voluntarily withdraws, which is unlikely to say the least.
Position filled by local audition. Only local union members and frequent subs were invited. National audition cancelled.
Congratulations Andrew Nowak.
This was a no-hire. The finalists were Jeremy Sreejayan and Soojin Kang.
No hire.
Finalists were Patrick Bain, Gustavo Barreda, Jake Darnell, and Justin Doute.
No hire
All premiere military bands have need of high level drumset and concert playing. In the Field Bands case, whoever they hire will be in the concert band but also expected to sub into the jazz ambassadors as needed. Needs much more than a basic level on drum set in addition to a high level of concert playing. It’s tough to find that person, but they do exist.
Eric Stoss won, congrats to him!
It should be finished today.
Matthew West was named the runner up, and Leo Taylor was the other finalist. Congrats to all!
No hire, finalists were Lucas Esposito and Jeff Saugerton
Dana Dominguez won this audition. Congrats to her! Other finalists were Zach Harris and Michael Rogers.
Who won this? There were 2 or 3 spots
I have heard that Marcelina is on a one year leave, Madison is acting principle and Joseph Desotelle has been awarded a 1 year section spot
Leo Simon won this audition. Congrats to him! Other finalists included Matthew West, Jack Rutledge, James Nickel, and Austin Cantrell.
“Toxic” seems like a good word for this comment tbh
I think the words you were looking for were “congrats to these great players for their successes” maybe try that next time? Or say nothing?
Anybody know who won? I believe the finals were supposed to be today.
Congratulations to Caleb Breidenbaugh on winning this position!
Toby Grace won this audition today. Other finalists were George Nickson, Alex Garde, and Marcelina Suchocka.
Any updates for this? Auditions were to be held on Jan 8
Eric Schweikert won this audition today. Heard that the other finalists were Jake Darnell (Huntsville Sym) and Brad Davis (Hawaii Sym). Eric has been acting in the role this season, and was runner up at the audition Jim Benoit won a few years ago.
I think the national round happened earlier this week. Anyone have news?
Andy Emerich and Evan Saddler won. Congrats to them! Austin Cantrell and Jeff Sagurton were also in super finals, with Austin being runner up.
Mary LaBlanc won the audition today! Matthew West was named runner up and Micheal Rogers was finalist. Congrats!!
Alex Orfaly won this audition today. Congrats to him!
The other finalists were Kumiko Ito and Artie Storch.
Eric He won this audition. Congrats to him!
Congrats to Andrew Nowak on winning this position!
Justin Doute won a trial for this position. He studied at UNF Rice and U Denver Lamont, and has a section position with Boise Phil. Congrats!
Eric Schweikert won this audition. Congrats to him!
I heard that Matt Thomas (Malaysian Philharmonic) has recently been appointed timpanist of the Melbourne Symphony in Australia
International audition held yesterday. Congrats to Justin Gingrich on winning the position
Hanna Kim won this audition. Congrats to her!
The other finalists were Leo Simon, Matt West, and Charlie Rosmarin.
Congrats to Meagan Gillis!
Runner up: Justin Gingrich
Besides Meagan and Justin, Jacob Hord was the other finalist.
Semis included Kaleb Hascall, Eric Stoss, Charles Lampert, and Mark Stein.
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Andrew Busch won this position