Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: which year?


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Posted by Jay Bertolet on July 04, 1999 at 12:01:38:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: which year? posted by Creedman on July 04, 1999 at 10:23:52:

Yeah, we definitely disagree on this issue. First off, let me state for the record that all of these guys are great players and I am in no way trying to disparage any of their accomplishments. As I said in my first post, I believe all of the guys that were at those later auditions would have done a great job in the chair given the chance. Secondly, I wasn't at the final two auditions so all I know about what went on is what others have told me (I missed the finals cut by 1 excerpt, Bruckner 7, 2nd mvt.). So any conclusions I have drawn about how things went are only as good, and as accurate, as the information I currently have.

That said, I still think the audition process wasn't allowed to follow its natural course. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that the rumors I've heard are true and that after everybody played the first audition Tony Kniffen was the winner. You are absolutely correct in your assertions about being careful in selecting who to offer a job to for the next 20 or so years. And it is definitely standard practice to want to hear an unknown quantity play with the ensemble rather than rely solely on the audition performance. But your statement about probation works both ways. To my knowledge, Tony didn't play with the ensemble after "winning" the audition. Nor was he offered a probationary contract so the orchestra could assess his skills "under fire". I know that the CSO does invite players to play with the orchestra to test them out, the 4th hornist from our orchestra was one of 2 finalists in the recent 4th horn audition for CSO and he was asked to perform a week with the orchestra for just such reasons. So if Tony won, and didn't get to show what he could do with the orchestra or even the section, why was he not offered the job?

I don't think anyone will dispute the fact that the audition process yielded a highly qualified player (Gene) who has been a big success with the orchestra. But in all honesty, there were so many good players to choose from at those auditions that it is hard for me to imagine the process failing since there were so many good choices. My fear of such practices is that some really great player who is unknown will get shut out of a job and the competitive nature of auditions which force us as players to continually advance and become more accomplished will be thwarted. I think that would be a tragic mistake.


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