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.
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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.