I noticed that some of the auxiliary winds have tenured musicians in those chairs. But their bass clarinetist retired in May of 2019 and they never had an audition to replace him. many other positions have vacated and been filled in the 7 years since then so does that mean it's not a tenured position anymore? It seems like a really long time to have a vacancy.
I recently took an audition for a UK orchestra, and am unsure how to translate the experience to US audition format for a resume form. Would appreciate any advice from those familiar with the process!
The audition comprised two rounds, with the expectation they would offer whatever number of trials after the second round. And those trials could go on for months or years.
I submitted my resume, and I was shortlisted. Yay! I was invited to the first round, where there were ~35 candidates. However, I did not advance to the second round.
Translating this to a US form-- Should this functionally be viewed as not making it out of prelims? Or is it somewhere between prelims and semis? Or semis? I understand it was a relatively small invite list, so I was happy to make that cut at least.
You are correct, functionally it should be viewed as not having made it out of prelims.
Typical US auditions will follow this format:
1) Resume/Application submission
1.5) Prescreening Recording submission
2) Preliminary Round
3) Semifinal Round
4) Final Round
5) Superfinal Round
At the conclusion of the audition there are several possible results: one or more candidates will be offered a position in the orchestra outright; they may be offered a trial, which means they’ll come play with the orchestra for one or more weeks before a hiring decision is made; or nobody will be offered a position nor a trial, resulting in a “no hire”, after which the orchestra will hold the audition again in the future.
That said, there are a few small differences in some procedures, usually based on orchestras’ schedules or specific needs for a particular audition.
For example, most orchestras will not require a prescreening submission, and will invite most (if not all) candidates who submitted an application. Some orchestras, due to having a massive pool of candidates, opt to make their prelims a recorded round, after which they invite candidates to a live semifinal round. Other orchestras will skip the semifinal round altogether, and candidates who advance from prelims go straight to finals. Having a superfinal round used to be rarer, but seems to be a more common practice nowadays.
I will also add, for most orchestral resumes, the committee is looking for a very general “Does this person have experience with a professional ensemble: Yes/No”. With more and more auditions being fully screened, your education, who you’ve played for, competition results, etc. don’t matter nearly as much as how you sound in the audition and subsequently how well you work with and get along with your colleagues.
A flute player asked a similar question but I’m a cellist so it’s a little different
When provided music for excerpts, there is often bowings and fingerings. But the audition is behind a screen for most of these places… anyone have experience changing these things and just making sure you achieve the goal of the fingerings and bowings or should I follow them precisely?
There are exceptions, but for the most part, you don’t need to follow their bowings or fingerings unless it specifies that you must (and I’ve only seen that demanded upfront with a few very regional orchestras or schools). Much more common is something along the lines of “you may use your own music, but be prepared to use our parts,” so you should always practice their bowings just in case, though I’ve never seen that applied to fingerings. General rule of thumb is to play how you sound your best and be ready to adapt if they ask you to do something different. If they like your playing but want to hear it a certain way, they’ll ask.
Almost every packet I’ve ever received has either been totally clean or just a photocopy from the part they have in the library. Those markings are generally how the orchestra played the piece last, which might be how they still play it. Or it could have been from 20 years ago with a different conductor/principal/concertmaster. 🤷
...or I'm having a senior moment with technology.
Their website has a link to the application portal, but I cannot find the repertoire list. Audition day is ~5 weeks out, application closes in two weeks.
Anyone know what the rep is? I'm getting antsy.
Probably the list is still being talked about by the committee or something...have you reached out to their personnel manager? Or is it possible that info on list release date was communicated in a followup email after application? I'd be antsy too lol.
Find your people:
it's easy to list with us online and on our Instagram page!
One of the concessions the orchestra musicians made in their collective bargaining agreement that ran from 2021 to July 31, 2025 was "During the term of this agreement the minimum number of musicians required is reduced from 90 to 83, increasing to 85 at the end of the agreement as of July 31, 2025." They are still playing on this expired contract, so I'm guessing bass clarinet is one of the 5 spots management has opted to keep open. Will be interesting to see what happens to the current vacancies once they reach a new agreement.