“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?

They didn’t hire anyone, but what I heard is that 2 candidates who advanced to the second round today are going to be offered trials

Brendan Fitzgerald from what I heard

Nice of them to join us all in the 21st century!

Nick Matthiesen won this position

Charlie Rosmarin won, and Joe Desotelle was the other super-finalist

I've seen social media comments from an actual member of the ISO saying none of this is true...... maybe wait for more context before bashing the musicians and making accusations

wow this is super helpful!

A "super-duper" final? What's that? SO exciting! 🤡

Percussion specific issues: 1. Orchestra does not provide adequate information on the instruments that will be provided for the audition (both on stage and in warmup areas). Exact make/model descriptions should be given, and for mallet instruments the heights from top of bars to the floor should always be listed. 2. Committee members sit too close to candidates. If you sit on stage and then complain that everyone plays too loud, maybe you should've sat out in the hall where you could've heard the sound as the audience hears it. I've even played a timpani audition for a regional orchestra that was held in a small rehearsal room, and every candidate was told they were too loud. 3. Committee creates an absurdly long and obscure repertoire list and then only uses 50-60% of that list during the audition rounds. Classic example: listing 6-7 excerpts deep on bass drum and triangle, listing a difficult contemporary mallet and snare drum solo, and then calling Scheherazade, Porgy, and Sorcerer's Apprentice (all super standard) in the prelims. Not a good way to find the best candidate. If you're gonna put weird stuff on your list, people are gonna prepare it, so ask for it. This will tell you more about your pool of applicants than who can play Porgy the best. 4. Top orchestras should be making all their candidates play the orchestra's cymbals. If the ensemble owns good instruments that the committee members know and like, then tell candidates exactly which cymbals to play for which excerpts. It's so much easier for non-percussionists to judge between two candidates when they play the same equipment. If every single candidate comes in with a different pair of plates, the committee will be constantly adjusting to the sound of each instrument instead of assessing the players' abilities. General issue: 1. Not interacting enough with the candidate. If you felt something was not the right dynamic, or if the rhythm was unclear, etc, why not ask the candidate to make an adjustment? This only adds another 30-60 seconds to the audition, so it could be worth doing even in prelims, and the committee stands to learn a LOT from this interaction. If the player nails the adjustment, that's a huge point in their favor because this will happen ALL THE TIME on the job. If they fail to adjust, they should be cut because making immediate adjustments is an essential skill for the job. Instead, the norm is that the committee just allows the candidate to play down the list with zero response and then critiques things the candidate could've easily fixed on the spot.

I heard Parker Olson won principal percussion and Sam Metzger was the runner-up

I’ve heard conflicting reports about whether the second round at this audition was called a “semi” or a “final.” The distinction is kinda meaningless, since it was an unscreened round with only 4 candidates, and the Music Director was present for it. Cleveland seems to have some unique audition procedures, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that most other orchestras would call that a “final“ round.

Sorry, 2 from CIM and 2 from CSU

Heard that he passed his trial and has officially been appointed to this position

yea I think playing chamber music with other instrument groups (while the committee remains screened) would be the only way to do this. But then that defeats the purpose of a low brass section playing with the candidate, for example - the trombonists would definitely want to sit next to the tuba candidates and play naturally to determine the best fit for their sound. maybe in this case, these instruments should just always have trials or orchestra rounds or something

hasn't he had this position for almost ten years?

Yes this is my understanding as well. But when the Canadian citizens don't bother with the national rounds anymore, the purpose seems defeated. In fact I recently heard the Toronto Symphony has decided not to hold national rounds anymore. A brief scroll of their audition postings shows all their advertisements are for international rounds. Interesting, I wonder if the other larger orchestras will follow suit