Auditions

Auditions for our 2023–24 season have passed. However, we sometimes have mid-year vacancies. If you are interested in joining the orchestra, please reach out to us at auditions@gvo.org.

About the Orchestra

You can read about the orchestra here, and you may also want to learn more about our Music Director, Barbara Yahr, hear the orchestra, read reviews of some past concerts, and see what we performed in past seasons.

The orchestra typically puts on five or six concerts during a season that runs from early autumn through May. Concerts usually take place on Sunday afternoons in Manhattan and are preceded by five to seven rehearsals on Tuesday evenings (usually 6:30 to 9:15pm), plus a dress rehearsal the Saturday morning before the concert. The planned schedule and venues for the year will be posted in advance to this site.

Members are not asked to pay dues to play with the orchestra, however regular attendance at rehearsals is expected.

Requirements

Please note that you should bring the music for your solo work(s) and/or excerpts with you to your audition. The excerpts can usually be found in orchestral excerpt books, or downloaded from IMSLP.

Strings

Section Strings

Please prepare two movements from the standard solo concerto or sonata repertoire demonstrating contrasting musical styles and technical work. A movement from a Bach solo work is recommended.

Please note that in most cases we will only review a total of five minutes of playing.

Woodwinds

We will not be hearing any flutes or clarinets at this year‘s audition.

Please present five minutes of a movement from a standard solo work of your choice, and be prepared to play any excerpt from your instrument’s list.

Principal Oboe

• Brahms, Violin Concerto, Second movement — bars 3 to 32
• Brahms, Symphony No. 1, First movement — bars 29 to 33
• Brahms, Symphony No. 1, Second movement — bars 17 to 43
• Debussy, La Mer, No. 2 Jeux de vagues — figure 17 to figure 18; and figure 25 to figure 26
• Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 3, Second movement — bars 48 to 67; and bars 190 to 213
• Rossini, La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder) Overture — beginning up to figure 3
• Strauss, Don Juan — 4th bar of letter L to 2nd bar of letter N

Second Oboe & English horn

Oboe 2

• Brahms, Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Theme — bars 1 to 29
• Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 3, First movement — bars 1 to 16
• Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 3, Second movement — pickup to letter A to bar 48; and letter C to bar 100

English Horn

• Dvořák, Symphony No. 9, Second movement — bars 7 to 19
• Berlioz, Roman Carnival Overture — 14 bars before figure 1 to 2 bars before figure 3

Principal Bassoon

• Beethoven, Leonore Overture — beginning to bar 14; and bars 330 to 340
• Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 3, Second movement — bars 48 to 67
• Mozart, Marriage of Figaro Overture — beginning to letter A
• Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade, Second movement — bar 4 to letter A
• Stravinsky, Firebird Suite, Berceuse — figure 1 to figure 3; and figure 6 to figure 8
• Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4, First movement — letter E to 11 bars after E; and 13 bars before R to 8 bars before R (i.e., bars 294 to 299)
• Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4, Second movement — last 31 bars

Brass

French horn

Please present the first movement exposition from a Mozart Horn Concerto or Strauss Horn Concerto No. 1, and be prepared to play any excerpt from the following list:

• Brahms, Symphony No. 3, Third movement — letter F to 12 bars after F (i.e., bars 98 to 110)
• Mahler, Symphony No. 1, Third movement — Horn 2/4: figure 13 to figure 15 (i.e., bars 113 to 132)
• Mendelssohn, Symphony no. 3, Third movement — Horn 3: 5 bars after letter D to 4 bars before letter E (i.e., bars 73 to 95)
• Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5, First movement — figure 17 to figure 21
• Strauss, Till Eulenspiegel — beginning to figure 1