Posted by Brian Frederiksen on May 13, 2003 at 16:01:43:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: teens auditioning in pro orchestras posted by good reason? on May 13, 2003 at 15:28:43:
This was in a totally different era. Once upon a time a player would audition for only the conductor, no audition committees. Mr Herseth auditioned for Rodzinsky at his hotel, no resumes, no cattle calls. Many members of the Chicago Symphony, such as Frank Crisafulli and Ed Kleinhammer, came up from the Civic Orchestra, again no audition, no cattle calls. Arnold Jacobs did not go through an audition process to get into the CSO. By the time Ron Bishop came along in Cleveland, there was an audition with four applicants.
Today there are hundreds of applicants, prescreening, audition fees, taped preliminaries, general cattle calls behind curtains, semis then finals. Mr Jacobs always said that the emphasis is how to eliminate a person and get the numbers down. This means that the best player probably does not get the job. The audition process has changed from a decision by the conductor to committes and the conductor hearing only the finals. Add union regulations and some political crap, it is a totally different era today.