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Prelims should be well and done by now, so it is probably be fine to check in with how it went for everyone and what everyone thought. I played in the 3pm block on Monday. No one from my block advanced past prelims. I thought the audition was well organized, but poorly communicated at times. The personnel manager clearly put a lot of time into getting it right and put a lot of practical Covid protocols in place to keep everyone safe. Nothing required of us seemed ridiculous or abnormal, and the environment felt safe. I know it may be a bit much to ask, and maybe it's my military background bleeding through, but I like to have my hand held as much as possible throughout. Tell me exactly what, where, when, how, who, and drag me through the mud so I don't have to think about it. I was put in a warmup room almost immediately upon arrival and had plenty of time to myself, but it wasn't abundantly clear that we needed to hand carry all of our belongings from the warmup room to the stage. Not a horrible ordeal...but unexpected work minutes before you play.

What did everyone else think? Any word on who will be in semi/finals?


For posterity, here is the full list:

Bach Suite No.5, Sarabande
A solo of candidate’s choice

Orchestral Excerpts

- Berlioz Hungarian March (rehearsal 20 to three measures after rehearsal 21)
- Berlioz Romeo and Juliet (13 mm. before rehearsal 4-8 mm. after rehearsal 6)
- Brahms Symphony No. 2 (Reh O – End)
- Bruckner Symphony No. 7 (after F – G; Mvt. IV P – S)
- Gershwin American in Paris (Reh 67 – Reh 68)
- Holst Jupiter (Reh 11 – End)
- Mahler Symphony No. 1 (4 mm. before reh 3 – reh 4)
- Mahler Symphony No. 5 (Mvt III: 13 mm. before reh 16- reh 17; Pickup to reh 25 – reh 26)
- Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (Mvt IX: reh 92 – reh 94; Mvt X reh 108- reh 109)
- Prokofiev Symphony No. 5 (Mvt I: reh 3 – 7mm. bars after reh 5)
- Respighi Fountains of Rome (Pickup to reh 11 – 9 after reh 15)
- Rossini La Gazza Ladra (F – G )
- Strauss Ein Heldenleben (reh 62 to reh 66***no mute please***)
- Wagner Die Meistersinger (m. 158 – m. 188)
- Wagner Die Valkure (8 mm. before reh 11 – downbeat of 12)

Two from my 11:00 group Monday advanced, I didn't get names. There's another guy I know who's subbed a bit since Rich left already in semis tomorrow too.

From what I've seen on social media, it looks like congratulations are in order for Mason Soria, 2nd year MM student of Aaron Tindall's at the Frost School of Music.

Now that everything is said and done, here are the details on the preliminary round excerpts:

Prelims

- Wagner Die Meistersinger (m. 158 – m. 188)
- Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (Mvt IX: reh 92 – reh 94)
- Prokofiev Symphony No. 5 (Mvt I: reh 3 – 7mm. bars after reh 5)
- Holst Jupiter (Reh 11 – End)

I thought it was an interesting and somewhat unexpected first round list. Unless you played Meistersinger on F, this was likely a CC tuba only first round. The four excerpts cover a really wide range of playing and do a good job of informing the panel pretty broadly about the candidates capabilities. I found inclusion of the Holst excerpt (which was the ENTIRE last page of Jupiter) to be particularly interesting. While it includes the two standard excerpts that we would expect to see from Jupiter, it also includes two "background/accompaniment" passages that you would not expect to show up in audition. My best guess was that it was a way to see if you put as much time into the detail of those two passages as you did everything else.

Anybody have any information on what the semis and finals looked like? Any other thoughts on how everything went?

For those who are interested, here is what was asked for the semis and finals in Richmond.

Semi-Finals

- Wagner Die Valkure (8 mm. before reh 11 – downbeat of 12)
- Mahler Symphony No. 1 (4 mm. before reh 3 – reh 4)
- Respighi Fountains of Rome (Pickup to reh 11 – downbeat of 14)
- Gershwin American in Paris (Reh 67 – Reh 68)
- Bruckner Symphony No. 7 (after F – G; Mvt. IV P – S)
- Berlioz Hungarian March (rehearsal 20 to three measures after rehearsal 21)

Finals: Solo Round

- Bach Suite No.5, Sarabande (no repeats, in written cello octave)
- A solo of candidate’s choice

Finals: Excerpt Round

- Wagner Die Meistersinger (m. 158 – m. 188)
- Wagner Die Valkure (8 mm. before reh 11 – downbeat of 12)
- Berlioz Romeo and Juliet (13 mm. before rehearsal 4-8 mm. after rehearsal 6)
- Brahms Symphony No. 2 (Reh O – End)
- Mahler Symphony No. 5 (Mvt III: 13 mm. before reh 16- reh 17; Pickup to reh 25 – reh 26)
- Strauss Ein Heldenleben (reh 62 to reh 66***no mute please***)
- Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (Mvt X reh 108- reh 109)