Take the Audition?

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The May auditions according to an E-mail sent out by the Phoenix Symphony later on the 31st have been cancelled. Tentatively they will be rescheduled for September or October. END OF UPDATE

Two different sites I follow, The AFM Observer and the Horndog Blog, have posted today the full text of a letter that was sent out by officials of AFM local 586 with respect to the upcoming May auditions for positions in the Phoenix Symphony. These include in particular a second horn opening. Click on the links above for their posts, the text of the letter, and comments. My earlier post on the Phoenix situation may be found here, and there is quite a thread of discussion now posted with the New Times article that got things rolling.

As I am obviously a horn player in the Phoenix area (as is Bruce Hembd of the Horndog Blog) readers may be wondering my take on this, in particular should you take the audition?

As you read the letter one thing to be aware of is that this is just a part of the puzzle of a larger management/musician struggle. I have no desire to take sides on this; I am sure both sides have valid points.

I have not played extra with the Phoenix Symphony since 2007, and normally only play works with an expanded, 8-horn section, most recently doubling horn and Wagner tuba on The Rite of Spring. This season several of my current and former students have been regularly playing extra with the Phoenix Symphony. The orchestra is currently one short in the horn section and often has a need for more than one sub.

I am optimistic that the situation will come around eventually. This is a large metro area that can certainly support a strong professional orchestra if managed well, and in any scenario I can imagine they will need a second horn player. For my current and former students living in the area it is a pretty easy matter to apply and plan to take the audition as you are here and have no significant travel expense. For those out of the area there are things to consider carefully. If the auditions are held I am pretty confident that they will be held properly under the terms of the current master agreement of the orchestra. The thing to watch however is they could be canceled, as the letter warns. As a result you could be stuck with non-refundable tickets, you could miss out on other professional opportunities, etc.

The time spent working on the list won’t be wasted, so in that sense I would still encourage hornists to apply. But certainly the letter from local 586 is highly unusual–consider what it says carefully as it is a part of the puzzle to be sure.

UPDATE: It is worth adding that the Phoenix Symphony is reporting record ticket sales in their blog, which has a number of interesting posts to look over if you are considering the audition.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The May auditions according to an E-mail sent out by the Phoenix Symphony later on the 31st have been cancelled. Tentatively they will be rescheduled for September or October. END OF UPDATE