Charlotte Symphony- Principal Tuba

[hugechunkofmetal]

Hi all,

This was posted on Musical Chairs:

CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY- PRINCIPAL TUBA
Audition dates: Sunday & Monday, April 15-16, 2012

This is a full-time, permanent position. Employment is available starting with the 2012-2013 season.

The list of required audition repertoire will be posted online shortly; please check back soon.

To be considered for invitation to audition, highly qualified candidates should send a one-page resume (including email address) postmarked no later than February 20, 2012 to:

Charlotte Symphony Orchestra
Attn: Orchestra Personnel Manager
Two Wells Fargo Center
301 South Tryon Street, Suite 1700
Charlotte, NC 28282
or via email to: auditions@charlottesymphony.org" target="_blank

No telephone calls please. The Charlotte Symphony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Minorities are encouraged to apply.

Candidates will be notified of their acceptance to participate in the audition once the resume deadline has passed.

[tntuba]

Does anybody have any idea how much this will pay? Benefits? Instrument Insurance?, etc.?

Thanks,
Brian

[tntuba]

Doesn't look great does it...

[joebob]

Here is a link to their latest settlement bulletin on the ICSOM website:

http://www.icsom.org/settlement/charlotte_rev.html" target="_blank

The minimum salary for next season is $38,868.50. Since it is a "principal" position it's possible that there is a minimum overage for principals. Orchestra contracts vary but it wouldn't be surprising if the minimum overage is somewhere between 10% - 20%.

[tntuba]

Thanks for the info. Forgot about that site when I asked the question. Seems like a reasonable salary, especially if there is teaching in the area.

[bort]

The cost of living in Charlotte is also very favorable.

[tntuba]

Good point about the Cost of Living

[Dylan King]

It looks like David Mills retired and Frederick Boyd is subbing in the the meantime.
http://www.charlottesymphony.org/Presstubist.asp

The audition panel for this one is going to be interesting, since Charlotte's newest maestro is an accomplished tubist himself. I'm sure he'll have a big say in the final decision.
http://www.charlottesymphony.org/maestr ... asp#Jacomo

The Charlotte area is a very nice place to live, and one can buy a very nice home for 200K or so. There isn't a whole lot of music here, but it's pretty.

The symphony is OK. Not great, not bad, but I have heard that it is getting better.

[joshwirt]

Any news? The posting is gone from MusicalChairs and haven't seen any changes to the orchestra website.

[Ben]

They apear to have a strict policy on screening applicants. I was informed I was not expected to win today. I expect all but one person to be capable of winning. Sheesh.

Here is the list from their site:
I. Required Concerto/Solo:
Note: concerto to be performed without piano accompaniment
Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto (1st movement with cadenza AND 2nd movement)

II. Orchestral Excerpts
Berlioz             Hungarian March from The Damnation of Faust
Berlioz             Symphonie Fantastique (4th & 5th movements)
Brahms           Symphony #2 (4th movement)
Bruckner         Symphony #7 (1st & 4th movements)
Gershwin         An American in Paris
Hindemith        Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes by Weber
Holst                The Planets (Jupiter)
Mahler             Symphony #1 (3rd movement solo)
Mahler             Symphony #2, (1st & 5th movements)
Prokofiev         Romeo & Juliet
Prokofiev         Symphony #5 (1st movement complete & 4th movement)
Respighi          Fountains of Rome (Rehearsal 11 to 14)
Revueltas        Sensemaya
Strauss           Till Eulenspiegel (complete)
Stravinsky       Petrouchka (1947)
Tchaikovsky    Symphony #6 (3rd & 4th movements)
Verdi                Overture to Nabucco (opening)
Wagner           Ride of the Valkyries
Wagner           Die Meistersinger
Wagner           Lohengrin

III. Possible Sightreading – Sightreading may be required at the discretion of the Audition Committee.

Candidates are responsible for obtaining their own parts; only excerpts not in the public domain will be sent to invited candidates.

[Tewbacca]

Yeah, I was informed of the same thing. Real ego booster! I would love to know what it takes for them to think you have a chance. Can anyone enlighten me on that?

[beforeforever12]

I received the no-go as well today.

[MackBrass]

I think its a shame that based on a piece of paper candidates are not welcome to audition. Instead of screening resumes if they do no want a cattle call, I think auditions should be screened via audio, tape, or cd first. Although I never went, if it were not for the audio screening for the first round in LA or Dallas, I would have never been invited because my resume was pretty blank. All I can say to orchestras is, there is a lot of talent out there by those who have never played in the big leagues or won a gig, give them a chance. Look at American Idol; they are out there ready to be discovered. Although I did not apply to this job, I did want to audition on a Miraclone just to show that it can be done.

Word of advice, if your a student studying with someone, be sure to accompany your resume with a letter of recommendation, it may help.

Good luck to all and keep trying,

Tom

[Dylan King]

Whoever does win -- look me up when you move here.
I'll buy you a beer.
-DK

[vlatuba]

Having been on the other side of the screen in a similar sized orchestra, I thought I'd shed a little light on why the resumes are screened. I don't know the specifics in Charlotte, that's none of my business. I do suspect it is not significantly different from what I detail below.

Neither the management nor committees want to spend days to complete this process. An orchestra like Charlotte does not have much of a budget for auditions. Costs for a national audition are extremely high (figure starting at $10000). There are the advertising costs, as well as perhaps rental of audition space, sometimes accompanists, staff, and at least some small fee for the committee. In the case of my former orchestra, that fee for the musicians was a stipend for meals - perhaps $35 for the day. Additionally, auditions need to be scheduled when the music director is in town and when there is enough time within the orchestras rehearsal and performance schedule to commit a large chunk of time to the activity. Again costly and time constricting. Cattle call auditions cost a lot of money. You are dealing with an institution that, if it is ending the season with a surplus, the surplus is not going to impress.

We would have a preliminary list of 4 or 5 excerpts, which we would let every applicant play all of. With bathroom break and voting time, that meant we could move 6 to 8 people per hour. Preliminary rounds could last 5 to 7 hours. Second and third rounds could each last well over two hours. Add a lunch and dinner break, you have been there all day - often 9am to past 10pm. For the committee it means rescheduling your life, not coming home for dinner, and hours of sitting on ones butt - for $35 a day.

All this adds up to capping the candidate number between 30 and 40. They are left with no choice but to invite those with the greatest potential.

Our screening process was different in each section. For brass we looked for orchestral experience, either as a member or a sub with an ICSOM or ROPA orchestra. We also looked for people who attended leading colleges or conservatories (I'm sorry, but the name does make a difference). When considering younger applicants, we looked at summer festival experience and things like New World Symphony and Chicago Civic Orchestra. Why? Because these are the people who are most likely to get the job - they have had successful audition experience AND they have experienced the demands of a professional (level) orchestra. My former orchestra was is a region not unlike Charlotte, that had many fine music schools nearby. We would get many, many resumes from students at these schools. While I didn't mind giving someone their first audition experience, it did not make the process as efficient as it needed to be. (I once asked if we could cut players off after 2 or 3 excerpts, thereby allowing us to invite more candidates. This was shot down for the reason "this is how we do it," (not an answer I liked). A committee does not want to waste its time, and boy did I find sitting through 5 destroyed excerpts torture.)

Are there flaws in screening resumes? You bet! My former orchestra often screened out good resumes. I can think of two cases that this happened to people we eventually hired. It is unknown how many great players we asked not to come... It is a unfortunate compromise, not unlike the audition process itself.

If you've gotten the letter you don't want to see, you need to ask yourself some tough questions: Are you really ready to win an audition against some potentially very stiff competition? I mean that you must be able to beat the competition on your worst day - because it most likely will be your worst day. If you are hoping that something won't get called up because you can't play it well you might as well stay home. Which is better - being told ahead of time, "we don't think your chances are as strong as some of our other candidates," or, "thank you" after spending $xxx or $xxxx and playing for (hopefully) seven minutes.

If you feel that you should be at this audition then:
1. Ask the personnel manager if they would reconsider your resume.
2. Have your teacher (or former teacher, or reputable conductor) contact the orchestra on your behalf. A strong recommendation from a leading industry professional will go far. (Are you sure your teacher will give you a strong recommendation? - its not always the case.)
3. If all else fails, show up on the day. If it is a union orchestra and you are a union member, I don't think you can be denied an audition.

I didn't post this to be mean to anyone, so I hope I did not offend. These are some of the hard truths that I have seen from both sides of the screen.

Cheers, Ed

[Roger Lewis]

Great post. Nailed it!

Roger

[Tom]

I'm not unable to resist the temptation to reply to this thread. I am an orchestra administrator for a "big" orchestra whose job includes working in personnel and auditions.

To piggy back a bit on Ed's post, here's what happens in "big" or "major" orchestras when there is a vacancy:

Just as Ed said, neither the management nor committees want to spend days to complete this process. Even with big orchestras, time and money are issues. Costs for a national audition are extremely high because of the costs of advertising (the International Musician isn't cheap!), paying the audition committee, paying staff people to help facilitate the audition, paying a per diem or providing meals for commitee, and paying for the music director's presence. In later rounds, sometimes there are accompanists, and even other musicians involved (section playing, etc.). Nobody works for free which makes mouting even a single day of auditions cost thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. And no, your audition deposit doesn't pay for that. The audition deposit is a tiny bit of insurance that we have that you'll show up if invited. If you don't we keep your deposit, but at only $100/player, we're not talking a lot of money here. If you show, you get your money back, so you're not paying for the audition at all. Plus, all of this has to happen when there is a hole in the rehearsal and performance schedule. In major orchestras that is rare...we might have only 3-4 periods per year when we can devote a two or three day block of time to prelims, semi, and final audition rounds for any given vacancy, so we need to make that time count by hearing those people that appear to be the most qualified for the job and the most likely to succeed if offered the job.

Big orchestras just don't have the time for cattle call auditions and are effectively forced to rely upon screening resumes and/or asking for tapes. It is absolutely true that hundreds of resumes are received when their are significant openings in major orchestras. The time and the money is simply not there to have everyone of those people appear in person to play an audition. Like Ed said, at a live audition you're doing well to listen to 6-8 people per hour.

At the "major" orchestra level, our job is not to "discover" you...a lot of young players forget that and get upset or offended that they are not invited to a big orchestral audition because, by God they can play the excerpts, which means they must be qualified! The only way around that is to start small and work your way up...summer festivals, small orchestras, concerto competitions, etc., etc. Build up experience a little bit at a time. The symphony business is a small world so fluffing up a resume or including things that are flat out lies won't get you anywhere...it is VERY easy to hop online or make a phone call or two to check up on outrageous claims. Resist the temptation and also remember that telling lies is never going to get you out of having to play a live audition.

And, if we ask you to send a tape, make a good, honest tape and remember that it takes a long time and costs even more money for the orchestra to have the committee sit around and listen to them. But let me assure everyone of this: in my orchestra (which will remain unnamed), we DO listen to the tapes and we are not requesting them as another way to simply inconvenience candidates. Remember, you're cheating yourself and waiting the orchestra's time and money if you send us a CD that you've spent more time editing than you did recording in the first place. At some point, successful tape round candidates will be heard live and the tape will have either understated or overstated their abilities...it doesn't take long to find out.

I do disagree with Ed a little bit when it comes to what to do if you're rejected. Please do NOT pester the personnel manager about reconsidering your resume. It was not the personnel manager's decision to cut you in the first place! In my orchestra, that won't get you anywhere, as the personnel manager can't override the committee and the comittee doesn't usually appreciate being second guessed. Likewise, recommendation calls and letters for rejected candidates simply do not get given a lot of consideration after the fact. It is better for a young, inexperienced player to include one really strong recommendation letter with their resume than it is to have those things sent in to the personnel manager after a rejection.

The number one thing to NOT do is just show up when you've been rejected. The only people we have to listen to when there is a vacancy are members of the AFM local that serves our area. Typically auditions for the benefit of the local are held on a seperate date. This is true for most of the big orchestras. The audition committee can reject any candidate at those auditions and can also send any candidate directly into the final round of auditions. If we had to listen to every single union member that's interested, it would take weeks to hold auditions. At least in my orchestra, if you're rejected and you just show up unannounced, you'll be asked to leave and we have zero obligation to listen to you. Plus, pulling stunts like that isn't soon forgotten and it is entirely possible that you'd find yourself uninvited to the next audition at that orchestra.

Remember, the audition process is like a job interview and should be treated as such. Resumes are screened, the top candidates are interviewed, one person gets the job and the rest go home. In the non-orchestra world, one would not call the company receptionist demanding an interview or show up unannounced expecting to receive one if he or she was not amongst that final pool of candidates. Please have some respect for the orchestra, the work of the personnel manager, and the audition committee and stick to the prescribed procedures

My $.02, anyway.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Thanks to all who work "on the other side" of auditions for your explanations of the process and taking the time to write them. It's much appreciated.

The only comment I would have is that many players get frustrated by the fact that "summer festivals, small orchestras, concerto competitions, etc., etc." don't seem to make any difference to even the smallest orchestras.

Tom, I would imagine a certain young lady in Philly would disagree with your suggestion of what not to do after getting a rejection letter from an audition committee. Just sayin'.

[Tewbacca]

Tom and Ed, I think we all appreciate your thoughts and illuminating details about sitting behind the screen and going through stacks of resumes. As tuba players, we definitely think its all about us a lot, I know I do (been hanging around too many trumpet players), and we lose sight of the bigger picture.

I didn't realize at all that it costs that much to run an audition and those are some pretty staggering and scary figures. That being said, I think that money is being wasted if you choose not to invite people because their resumes are lacking a little. Doesn't that fact that you're investing so much make doing a completely thorough search even more justified?

Anyway, again, thanks for shedding some light on this situation!

Happy practicing all.

[Weaponofchoice]

Tom, I would imagine a certain young lady in Philly would disagree with your suggestion of what not to do after getting a rejection letter from an audition committee. Just sayin'.

One extraordinary exception to the rule is not good reason to engage in behavior that will only annoy the management. If you're the next Carol Jantsch that's one thing, but lets be honest with ourselves.