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There were 17 guys on Thursday. And then, depsite information told to me by the personnel manager, they listened to MANY more than the originally intended 12 people on Saturday. I gathered from someone there that they ended up listening to 51 people total for both days. Apparently this also made for some crammed listening due to over expected numbers. On Thursday they definitely advanced Randy Montgomery, Craig Sutherland, and Kyle Turner. Also, gathered from people who were there on Saturday, some of the names who advanced were Dan Peck, Dave Satlzman, Craig Knox, and Dennis Nulty. I can't remember the rest(anyone care to fill in the blanks?). Exerpts asked in the prelims were Meistersinger opening and solo, Hungarian March, Prokofiev 5, Mahler 1, Benvenutto Cellini, Petrouchka, Ride and Symphonic Metamorphosis. Names advanced straight to semis are Steve Campbell, Chris Hall, Ed Diefes, and Dave Kirk. This is NOT conspiracy theory. This was either viewed first hand or told by someone who was there on Saturday.

anyone else wondering why Chris Hall would be in the mix? Thought the Met was a mountain top type gig....maybe he just wants some different rep.....

Andy Miller of the Alabama Symphony also advanced on Saturday.

Semis are Tomorrow....Finals are Friday the 18th.

Semis are Tomorrow....Finals are Friday the 18th.

I heard there were/are four finalists and that Craig Sutherland and Dave Kirk are two of them. Anyone have any further info about today's final round?

There were four finalist: Alessandro Fossi, David Kirk, Craig Sutherland and Kyle Turner. All four played behind a screen and the field was narrowed down to two: Mr. Fossi and Mr. Sutherland. Both played a final round with the trombone section. Nobody was hired.

Gator wrote: Nobody was hired.

Someone restrain bloke

Is anyone really surprised?



No, not really. The Philadelphia Orchestra got what they deserved today. This is what happens when you ask for too much music at an audition; a situation that makes it impossible for applicants to sound their best. Sadly, this was a loose-loose situation for everyone involved.

What will the next step be? Will they have another audition?

TubaAS wrote:I just don't understand why orchestras feel that they have to have different hiring practices for a job than companies do?

Once a musician is hired and gets "tenure" it is next to impossible to get rid of them. At a "normal" company, if an employee is not doing his or her job up to the company's expectations, they can be fired. Not so in orchestras. So, orchestras decide auditons with the thought that the person selected will probably be there for 20, 30 or more years.

james wrote:There were 17 guys on Thursday. And then, depsite information told to me by the personnel manager, they listened to MANY more than the originally intended 12 people on Saturday. I gathered from someone there that they ended up listening to 51 people total for both days. Apparently this also made for some crammed listening due to over expected numbers. On Thursday they definitely advanced Randy Montgomery, Craig Sutherland, and Kyle Turner. Also, gathered from people who were there on Saturday, some of the names who advanced were Dan Peck, Dave Satlzman, Craig Knox, and Dennis Nulty. I can't remember the rest(anyone care to fill in the blanks?). Exerpts asked in the prelims were Meistersinger opening and solo, Hungarian March, Prokofiev 5, Mahler 1, Benvenutto Cellini, Petrouchka, Ride and Symphonic Metamorphosis. Names advanced straight to semis are Steve Campbell, Chris Hall, Ed Diefes, and Dave Kirk. This is NOT conspiracy theory. This was either viewed first hand or told by someone who was there on Saturday.

James,
I'm Dan Peck, I did not advance.

Dan Peck

Ahhh yesss, I was in Philadelphia once, but it was closed.

Attributed to W.C. Fields, who was born in Philadelphia.

I know that a lot of people are very upset about no winner being chosen for this audition and it may feel good to vent about it here on the TubeNet, but I caution the people with extremely negative emotions toward this issue.

One should realize that the audition committee for the Philadelphia Orchestra and every other audition committee would like nothing more than to hire a player in their first audition for a position, but sometimes they don't like what they hear right away. Having an audition is a time and money consuming event for an orchestra as well as the participants. The orchestra knows they must hire someone, but they want to be excited and blown away by a player before they offer the potentially 30+ year job to someone. One can't blame them for being picky and holding high standards. Those of us who have dedicated years/lives to perfection on our instruments would want nothing less in a teamate and musician.

If one were wise, one would use this opportunity to their advantage. There will be another chance to audition for this fine ensemble that once filled may not come around for 20-30 years. So practice, keep your eyes on the prize, and do what it takes to win.

Tony Halloin wrote: but they want to be excited and blown away by a player before they offer the potentially 30+ year job to someone.

Try a 100+....Philly's the real deal....

So it's understandable they didn't get their man this go 'round...

Doesn't make the candidates any weaker. Just didn't find what they were looking for THIS time.

Practice up, boys.

I laughed out loud when I read the posts that said, in a nutshell, "the list was too hard and too long."

C'mon folks, this is the PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA! Any serious candidate for this job will know every one of the pieces they asked for, and has probably played all of them multiple times. When these candidates get on the stage to audition, they don't hear a tuba excerpt in their heads. They hear a whole orchestra playing the piece, and they have a seasoned, mature approach to the piece. These guys aren't running out to Tower Records to buy a recording of Short Ride in a Fast Machine!

In fact, how many of you own the Torchinsky books? Mr. T spent a long time in the Philadelphia orchestra, and his collective experiences led to those books. That's a pretty high standard.

Also don't forget that whoever wins this job will most likely be invited to join the faculty of the Curtis Institute. That's certianly not a job for an inexperienced tubist. I don't mean to imply that the audition committee is thinking about Curtis for one second during the process, but it is an important consideration for those of us who are watching from the sidelines.

It's unfortunate that Phillie didn't hire anyone this time around, but I'm very certain that they wanted to. It's really not a lot of fun sitting through auditions, and the last thing you want to do as a committee member is have to 1) do it all over again; and 2) subject yourself to the speculating that invariably will result. The folks in the orchestra just want the right person for the job, and it's their right to hold high standards and be picky until that person comes along. This isn't about showing up and playing a note perfect audition.

Okay, I'm done ranting.

Rod Mathews

My question is this: does this process ever become like football teams trying to hire a coach? What happens if at the next audition they like the players that come to tryout #2 even less than they like the ones that came to tryout #1? What if the finallist fron tryout #1 are hired for other jobs they like better? Then what? Do they settle for the 3rd placed player or do they use temps until they get "the right person"?

Hey,
I recently stumbled upon an article about an old audition for a trombone audition for the Navy Band (DC) in which they chose noone for the job and why. I think it helps shed a little more light unto the subject in addition to the great (and helpful) post of Mr. Bollinger
http://www.trombonelessons.com/Audition ... tions.html
and BTW the rest of this guys website is chock-full-o- good stuff and he is a hell of a guy:
http://www.trombonelessons.com/
check out his daily routine, I really dig it (the free online version of course) and the general area with tons more stuff.
Bill Pritchard