Posted by Dan Bradley on April 05, 2002 at 14:53:00:
In Reply to: Boston Symphony questions... posted by Todd Morgan on April 04, 2002 at 09:50:42:
I've always thought that it's a little strange that an orchestra can't pick someone at an audition like this when so many qualified players show up. No orchestra is too good for the players that made the finals in Boston; I don't know why they're being so picky. The Cleveland Orchestra's audition process is slightly different: there are no screens in any round. The panel gets to see every person that auditions. This process has never proven to be problematic or biased against any race, age, or sex. In fact, in the past few years the majority of the string openings have been filled by women. But the most noteworthy thing about Cleveland's auditions is that they always pick a winner. I have never heard of any audition in Cleveland where no one was chosen. When Ron Bishop retires, there will be big shoes to fill, but the orchestra won't have audition after audition until they find someone just like him. There will be one audition, and there will be one winner, and that will be it. I don't think it needs to be quite so complicated.