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Principal Auditions
Auditions are open to people new to the festival who are interested in a principal position, and to prior participants who have never been principal before who are interested in a principal position.
Previous seasons’ principals need not audition unless they wish to, but must indicate their interest in being principal to be considered.
Auditions are not required for general section seating in the concert.
Please see more information in the Concert Part Assignments section.
Auditions are submitted via recording. They are to be recorded on cell phones and sent via YouTube (private or public link), Dropbox or Google Drive.
Due to the necessary nature of the additional work needed to fulfill these roles, the Concertmaster and Percussion/Timpani principal are appointed by the board earlier in the year.
Audition repertoire this year consists of:
- Your choice of 3 or more contrasting (fast/slow) Mahler symphony excerpts to show versatility, musicianship and technical ability: 7-10 minutes
- An excerpt from a standard sonata or concerto for your instrument: 5 minutes
For any questions, please contact us at auditions@nwmahlerfestival.org
Principals
The principals will play first chair in the major work at the July concert, but will not play first chair in the other work(s) unless there is no one else qualified.
Section members should communicate with principals and the orchestra personnel manager over scheduling issues.
Principal appointments are for one season only. Other equally qualified players can be invited to be principals in subsequent seasons. It may be that one person repeats as principal of a section for one or more years if, in the judgment of the Festival, that person is best qualified.
The appointment of principals is by audition and by invitation of past principals. In the rare circumstance when no applicants are deemed qualified, a musician who has not auditioned or previously participated in the Festival but who is known to be well-qualified by the Music Director and/or the board may be recruited to be principal.
Concert Part Assignments
We try our best to match concert parts to the abilities of each player. If we are unfamiliar with a registrant’s playing ability, they might not get a concert part. Prior Festival participation and/or participating in this year’s reading sessions assists the Festival in that process.
Unfortunately, we sometimes get more people wanting parts than we can accommodate in the concert orchestra. Please understand that we are doing our best to fit a large pool of players into the best concert orchestra possible, and please accept our sincerest apologies if we cannot accommodate you.