General Discussions

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Audition Crashing- how to??

There is an audition opening for a local orchestra, and they limited it to 'local only' as in a 2 hour driving distance. I am about 6 hours driving away, but am still willing to do that, as I have friends that would let me stay at their place rather than having to be in a hotel. I'm assuming the purpose of them listing it as local is because they don't want to reimburse for travel.

I am wondering if I should still email in my resume to secure a spot or if I should just go for it and show up? Im not sure how it would work. I am a part of the union where I am currently living, but this orchestra is not in the AFM.

3 Views

16 days ago

Semi finals and finals with a big gap

I would like to know other people opinion on orchestras that hold semi finals and finals with like, 2 or 3 weeks in between both dates. I know it might be due to staff schedule or etc. But something tells me that it is not a coincidence the fact that those top orchestras that have many international members always hold auditions in the same week, like 2, 3 or 3 even 4 days in a roll, and orchestras with mostly US citizen musician usually hold auditions with a big gap between semifinals and finals. (I know there are exceptions, no need to mention those, please. Exceptions are not rules)

It makes almost impossible for musicians with a regular salary to afford travelling to another country twice in a month to take an audition or even get a whole month license from their jobs. I am not saying that they do…

393 Views

Kreisler

5 days ago

No orchestra that pays less than mid six figures should be doing this. Separate rounds generally work better for people with jobs, but if you mostly hire students/freelancers, it's incredibly expensive and often financially prohibitive.

July 2, 2026

Length of auditions

I was reading the union paper and the SF ballet principal clarinet is listed for Oct 19-23. Do groups list a date range like this to have the flexibility to shorten it in the future? Have any of us experienced an audition for one spot that in fact took 5 full days? It seems quite unreasonable, especially for those traveling from far away.

1142 Views

FirstPositionWoes

Jul 02

An orchestra audition taking place over several days is not uncommon, and is usually due to any number of behind-the-scenes factors that are not always obvious. For example, the music director may only be available on Friday; the hall may only be open on Thursday for a handful of hours; there may already be 2 or more services booked on Wednesday and Tuesday, etc. Any combination of things can add up to an audition taking many days, even if there aren’t many candidates, and even if in theory it could’ve been a 2-3 day audition during a free week.

That said, if you’re traveling from far away or have other scheduling restrictions, it may serve you well to contact the orchestra and ask if they’re able to accommodate specific audition times. For example, if prelims are Mon-Wed, you can ask to be scheduled for a Wednesday time so that you’re not paying for a hotel to do nothing for several days in between rounds. With enough notice, most orchestras are happy to accommodate, but of course could also refuse.

Something else I’ve seen work for a colleague was: for a particular audition, they were unable to attend any of the prelims days, but already held a comparable ICSOM position, and so asked to be auto-advanced to semis. They were approved, but this may only work with orchestras whose CBAs allow for this kind of audition advancement.

A string

April 17, 2026

Music Business/Arts Mgmt certificates

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to get a certificate in the world of Music Business / Arts Management, but it seems so many schools only offer degrees in the field. I'm just finishing my Masters right now so I'm not looking to start another degree, but a certificate I can do. Does anyone have an recommendations on where to get this, or have any experience/advice in this field they can offer?

2313 Views

Horn_the_third

May 05

I took classes through the UMass Amherst extension program. You can take the classes for credit, or participate for a certificate. I never even got the certificate but I did find the classes to be extremely helpful!

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