Auditions: Which Orchestra Should I Audition For?
MYS has three full orchestras (strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion) and one string orchestra (strings only). Check the audition requirements on your instrument for each orchestra and to determine your playing level. Please note: Regardless of which orchestra you are attempting to enter, the conductor who hears your audition, will place you in the orchestra best suited to your abilities. Please also remember that auditions are a competitive process!
Following are general descriptions of each orchestra and MP3 samples (you may need a free download of RealPlayer, Windows Media Player or QuickTime to listen):
Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Manny Laureano (collegiate level)
Literature includes works with artistic challenges for the collegiate-level player. Sectionals explore, in-depth, the interpretive and more complex aspects of orchestral music. Students in this orchestra also spend time sight-reading orchestral literature at each rehearsal. Compositions are commissioned and premiered. The annual Symphony Solo Competition, open only to students in this orchestra, features the winning soloist in concert with the Symphony Orchestra. String seating is rotated each trimester. Brass, woodwind and percussion usually rotate from piece to piece.
Symphony Orchestra repertoire:
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique; Bernstein: Overture to West Side Story; Copland: Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes; Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue, Cuban Overture; Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphosis; Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 & 3; Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Prokofiev: Suite No. 1 from Romeo and Juliet; Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2; Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe, La Valse, poém chorégraphique; Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade; Strauss, J.: “Overture” from Die Fledermaus; Strauss, R.: Don Juan, Der Rosenkavalier; Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9; Stravinsky: Rite of Spring, Pines of Rome; Tchaikovsky: Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture
Repertory Orchestra, conducted by Claudette Laureano (advanced level)
This full orchestra is for the advanced player. A broad mix of unedited literature challenges students as they refine advanced playing techniques in sectionals and full rehearsal. Sight-reading sessions are also included in this orchestra. String seating is rotated each trimester. Brass, woodwind and percussion seating usually rotate from piece to piece.
Repertory Orchestra repertoire:
Bernstein: Overture to Candide; Bizet: selections from Carmen Suites Nos. 1 & 2; Brahms: Academic Festival Overture; Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain; Copland: Outdoor Overture & Rodeo; Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 (From the New World), Slavonic Dance Opus 46; Rossini: Overture to William Tell, Overture to Il barbiere di Siviglia; Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 (Organ Symphony), Samson et Dalila; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 & 5, Swan Lake, Marche Slave; Wagner: Prelude to Die Meistersinger, Rienzi Overture; Williams: “Hymn to the Fallen” from Saving Private Ryan and “Duel of the Fates” from The Phantom Menace
Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jim Bartsch (advanced intermediate level)
This full orchestra includes all instruments. Literature is a combination of arranged and unedited works designed to expose students to a diverse selection of orchestral music. Rehearsal includes sectionals that break out the strings from the brass, woodwinds and percussion, enabling students to work out problems specific to their instrument and explore the musical nuances that enhance the overall orchestration. String seating is rotated each trimester; brass, woodwind and percussion rotate from piece to piece.
Philharmonic Orchestra repertoire:
Badelt/Rickett: Pirates of the Caribbean; Bizet: Carmen Suite No. 1 & No. 2, L’Arlésienne Suite No. 1 & 2; Brahms: Hungarian Dance; Dvorák/Leidig: Symphony No. 8; Elgar: Pomp & Circumstance No. 1; Gershwin/Sayre: Selections from Porgy & Bess; Gliere: Russian Sailor’s Dance; Offenbach: Orpheus in the Underworld; Rimsky-Korsakov: Dance of the Tumblers from “The Snow Maiden”,“Procession of the Nobles: from Mlada; Sibelius: Finlandia; Stravinsky/Isaac: Dance Infernale and Berceuse & Finale; Strauss, J.: Radetzky March; Verdi: “Anvil Chorus” from Il Travatore; Webber: Selections from “The Phantom of the Opera”; Williams: Dry Your Tears, Afrika from “Amistad”
String Orchestra, conducted by Pat Kelly (intermediate level)
Provides intermediate string players with a comprehensive ensemble experience. All String Orchestra students receive weekly theory and ear-training lessons. Literature is selected to broaden repertoire and learn more advanced techniques of following a conductor. Specific bowing techniques, such as spiccato, martelé, hooked bowings and legato, are included. Orchestral intonation is also covered. Students learn to work through difficult passages and deal with problems specific to their instrument.
String Orchestra repertoire:
Bach: Cantana: “Wachet auf”, Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, Fugue in G minor; Bartok: Rumanian Folk Dances; Biber: Battalia; Brahms/Isaac: Hungarian Dance No. 5; Del Borgo: Russian Folk Dance; Gliere: Russian Sailor’s Dance; Grieg: Holberg Suite, Two Elegiac Melodies, “Ase’s Death” from Peer Bynt Suite; Handel: Allegro from Concerto Grosso, Little Twelve Sinfonias; Mozart: Serenade No. 9; Tchaikovsky/Turner: The Nutcracker Suite; Vivaldi: Gloria in D Major; Vaughan Williams/Foster: Rhosymedre
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