Comments on: No one picked at Seattle Symphony audition

By: Elsa Vorhees

Elsa Vorhees — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:59:22 +0000

Thank you very much, Jason, for the honnesty and candor of your article. I very much agree — and have seen this happen lately more times than I can mention. The sad truth is that orchestras have an embarassment of riches in today’s economy. If they don’t hear the equivalent of “Natalia Gutman,” or the like, at an audition, they will simply wait for it. It is very sad for so many of us highly trained and experienced professionals, and, in the long run, quite damaging to the panels for the hubris it connotes. As is often said, ‘karma’s a bitch.’ I might even suggest that, if things were to truly be “fair” (haha), tenure should be erradicated, and present orchestra members should be held to the same standards as the auditionees (I daresay that this would be an eye-opener!), and, as is the case in many European Ballet companies, should have to re-audition for their jobs annually. Now that would be democratic — and, no doubt, the standards of orchestral playing would rise accordingly.

By: Klaus

Klaus — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:29:49 +0000

As Guy Tuneh said to Jason:
a bit more respect and honesty, after all every one (even the orchestra players) have bin in that situation!

Great post and much more, whan a player like guy tuneh say that
i can sleep good at night.

By: Jason Heath

Jason Heath — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 21:38:00 +0000

Jonathon,

Thank you for the comment and clarification. My comments were intended to echo the frustration that audition candidates feel when participating in an audition for which no one is picked. I do understand how an orchestra committee decision can result in no clear cut winner for an audition, however, and I was trying to portray both points of view in this post.

I am sure the audition committee for the Seattle Symphony was hoping to find a qualified candidate for the assistant principal position, and that no one was hoping to finish the process without a clear winner. An orchestra's CBA (as you obviously know--this comment is just for the benefit of readers) dictates certain specific terms (number of votes, etc.) which must be met for a candidate to be selected, and that this process did not produce a candidate who met those terms.

From the perspective of an audition candidate, it can seem crazy and, yes, arrogant on the part of the organization, that so many players would travel to Seattle for an audition in which no one was selected. Musicians are often demoralized and extremely frustrated by this result. Again, I know that this is just the way things play out sometimes on the other side of the screen, but it is an insanely frustrating thing for an auditioning musician to deal with.

I auditioned for the Seattle nearly a decade ago, and I remember it being an extremely well-run audition, with a great deal of consideration and hospitality given to the candidates. I recall having a generous amount of time in a warm-up room, having the audition list and procedure clearly spelled out to me, and having the advancement (or non-advancement in my case) of candidates handled in a civil and compassionate manner.

My post was intended to highlight the frustration and discouragement that audition candidates feel when an audition does not produce a winner, not to rip on the Seattle Symphony or their process in any way. My apologies if that is how the comment was taken by readers, but I do feel that this situation is one of the most frustrating and disheartening things that auditioning musicians must deal with.

By: Jonathan Burnstein

Jonathan Burnstein — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:08:00 +0000

Dear Jason,

A small point of clarification: the recent Seattle Symphony bass audition was for assistant principal bass and not for a section position as noted in your post.

As far as your comment about the SSO's "arrogance, disregard, and disrespect toward one's fellow musicians" I surely hope you are not serious. While I do not wish to comment on a specific audition, I can tell you that I've participated in several auditions in different orchestras where no one was hired. After being a candidate, committee member, or proctor in these situations, it has been my experience that decisions on hiring are never determined frivolously. Often (and not just in auditions) there is no clear-cut decision, and we are forced individually and collectively to choose between several different difficult scenarios.

Also, nearly every orchestra has specific contractual guidelines for auditioning which must be followed to the 't'. Please understand that while this or that particular orchestra may have a certain hiring process that is 'not working' according to some, it would be a profoundly complicated if not impossible thing to alter in their CBA.

Kudos to you on your "Road Warrior" series which I have enjoyed very much. In my opinion it takes real intellectual courage to come to such a well articulated and independent assessment of one's situation.

Best wishes to you and your readers!

Jonathan Burnstein, Seattle WA

By: Brian Roessler

Brian Roessler — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 04:03:00 +0000

Thanks so much for putting this point of view out there, Jason. I agree wholeheartedly with your statement. The level of disrespect manifested at this type of audition is simply startling. If the type of player the committee is looking for is of such a specific type that none of the best and brightest players from across the nation fit the bill, why in the world wasn’t the audition run differently? They could have invited only a select number of players who they knew in advance had the potential to meet their criteria. In fact, Seattle did have a tape round, which makes their failure to hire anyone even more mysterious. If an organization’s search process is so flawed that even out of dozens of highly qualified candidates they cannot succeed in identifying a suitable player, I would think they would retool it from the ground up. Of course, they won’t. Detroit seems inexplicably tied to the same process by which they have failed to hire a principal for years now. Of course, I would love have a job in one of these orchestras. Increasingly, though, I am deeply skeptical of bothering to prepare and put out my hard earned cash. Like you said, there is no other field in the world that would view this situation as tolerable.