Auditions Coming Up Very Soon for Area Orchestras

The five orchestras around here are advertising openings in their ranks.


Maestro Goldstein Wants You

The Auburn University/Community Orchestra (ACO) will hold auditions on all orchestral instruments on August 15 and 16, 2011, from 3-6 PM both days. You can also arrange another time to audition by contacting Dr. Howard Goldstein directly. Find audition details here.

The orchestra is an Auburn University and City of Auburn joint, so chairs are open to anyone, not just AU students. It's a volunteer orchestra, except for the students, I guess, who have to pay tuition to be in it.

In kind of a symphonic baptism by fire for me, I played principal flute during most of its spring 2010 season. We did Dvorak's Eighth Symphony of all things, which is heavy on flute solos. I played tolerably well, and am indebted to Maestro for putting up with me.

Though AU's string program is small but growing (I hear there's a new cello teacher), and most of the community players are amateurs, Goldstein does not pull any punches, either when choosing music or when leading auditions. And he knows the music, speaking about it with ease as if it were a constant companion.

There are good players in the community who are not in the orchestra. If you're one of them, audition. The group holds rehearsals weekly, and then there are usually a couple of dress rehearsals before each of the 2 or 3 performances per season (fall and spring). If you're wondering whether you have time, you don't. Audition anyway.

Here is the group's page on the city's site, and here is more about Maestro. You can support it by donating to the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center. The embedded video above is of the ACO performing the final movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 2. Thanks to YouTube's Grundgestalt for uploading it.


String, Horn, Bassoon Openings with LaGrange

On September 15, 2011, The LaGrange Symphony Orchestra will audition for all strings plus third and fourth horns, and second bassoon. For more, here is the audition page on the orchestra's website. The Georgia group invites other instrumentalists to audition for possible subbing, but they don't hear saxophonists. Rehearsals are concentrated on the Saturday to Tuesday periods before the Tuesday night performances.

LaGrange will do five subscription concerts between October and April, two pops concerts in February as well as two children's concerts in February, one being in Langdale, Alabama. This is not a volunteer group. The community there funds it well, so it pays its performers.


Columbus Needs Principal Cello, Second Horn

Another professional orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (Georgia, not Ohio) is holding auditions for principal cello (8/26) and second horn (8/27). It's people need to know you're interested by August 19, 2011. Like LaGrange, it also auditions its subs, including saxophonists, and will do so on those same days. It works similar to LaGrange, with four rehearsals and a performance in a three-day period. There are eight subscription concerts plus some chamber-group work in the schools through its Orchestra Up Close program. Learn more by visiting the orchestra's audition page.


Montgomery

The Montgomery Symphony Orchestra does not publish information about its audition process. To know more, you should contact the front office directly. Here's its contact page. This is a volunteer orchestra with some great outreach including an internationally acclaimed concerto competition for young people and a robust fellowship program. As a member, you would have opportunities to play with some incredible musicians.


The Big Guys Need Seconds

Anyone who would want to pursue the empty chairs in these two programs likely already knows about the openings. But for the sake of completeness, I'll write about it.

The Alabama Symphony Orchestra (website) needs a second flutist. The $40K+ salary for the flute position requires, among other things, that you know some music from Dvorak's aforementioned Eighth Symphony. Here's the link. Auditions are September 6-7, 2011. Incidentally, the group also needs a librarian.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (website) is looking for a second/utility trombonist and a second oboist. Unfortunately, the dates for sending résumés are just past, though according to the website, the auditions are yet to come. Its librarian, or one of them, needs an assistant. Other jobs posted are Telemarketing Associate, Professional Learning Music Teaching Artist, Marketing Manager, Assistant Principal Librarian and Development Coordinator. I have not contacted anyone to see if any of these administrative positions listed have been filled. Here's the Jobs and Auditions page from the orchestra's site.