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At one time I was very active in taking orchestral auditions, and when I heard about a younger colleague’s recent adventures it brought back many memories.
The story amounts to a guy on a national audition tour where he twice was the final candidate at an audition where no winner was ultimately chosen. The great news to add to this particular story is that later on in the same circuit of auditions, he scored a one-year job that may actually end up being a permanent position.
When faced with failure, don’t give up.
No one was good enough?
This happy ending aside, let’s backtrack to the scenario where a widely-attended orchestral audition ends without a winner.
I no longer go to national auditions but for a 15-year period I would have to guess that the number added up to somewhere between 30 and 40. This would not include summer festivals and the many hours spent making audition tapes, which was a very hot trend when I was an active audition candidate.
In the meantime I have served on a number of audition committees and have seen the other side. That perspective has been very eye-opening and enlightening.
Dazed and confused
For people of a certain mindset the world is corrupt, rife with conspiracies and hidden agendas.
A common thread that comes up now and then among auditioning musicians is that “auditions are rigged.” The notion behind this theory is that the outcome of the audition was somehow predetermined.
It can be a tempting piece of gossip to buy into, especially in circumstances where a local musician or regular substitute wins the job, or when no candidate is chosen as a winner.
At Polyphonic.org, Yvonne Caruthers wonders aloud:
I’ve heard the usual excuses. Someone on the committee will say, “No one played with enough accuracy to impress me.” Really? When was the last time anyone played a flawless concert? Or someone will say, “None of the finalists had a good sense of style.” How do we know that based on a few short excerpts?
With no disrespect to either conductor, I can tell you from personal experience that playing a Beethoven symphony under Leonard Slatkin’s baton is very different than playing the same one under Kurt Masur’s: the conductor dictates the style in an orchestra concert.
So why are candidates rejected by the boat-load for their “lack of style”?
I imagine that there are occasional times where at face value, a public statement like this from an audition committee member might have a kernel of truth in it.
More likely, I would attribute this phenomena to something else, something that lies much deeper.
History reflected in the audition’s mirror
In most orchestras there is a long history of deep interpersonal relationships which trickle down and ultimately have an impact at their auditions.
This history can be one filled with congeniality and respect, or it may be entirely dysfunctional, filled with disdain and conflict. Or more likely it is something in-between, a picture painted with multiple shades of gray.
While there might be any number of factors at play within an orchestra’s history that can affect the outcome of an audition, chief among them I would argue are:
- the current and past history of labor relations between the organization, its musicians and the local union
- the interpersonal relationships between the players who are serving on the audition committee
- the relationship between the players and the conductor, both as individuals and as a whole
- the power of the conductor and the weight of their vote in the audition process
When considering all of these four points in tandem, the outcome could be anything; from a marriage made in heaven to a bitter family feud at the annual Christmas dinner. In situations where the working conditions have broken down, it is not too difficult to imagine why an audition might end up without a winner.
The big picture on audition results
The main point to make here on this topic is that reality is usually far more complicated than a simple conspiracy theory or a dismissive statement claiming a “lack of style.”
The reality may have multiple layers, more than any one person alone playing an instrument on an empty stage can fully comprehend.
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