-UPDATE: I was invited to audition for NWS.
Whoa! This was a super last minute decision. I thought about the NWS on when I woke up on January 8, and saw that the final deadline was January 10. Oh, and I had an audition for a community orchestra on January 9!
Buuuuuut…. since I had already prepared the music for the DSO audition, all I had to do was record. Aaannnndd, I basically had a bunch of recording equipment set up at our home studio. PLUS the essay questions were all things I’ve already thought about and discussed with my husband and various other musicians.
So, basically I had no excuse to not do it.
Financial summary
Application fee: $120
Essay Question #1: Describe an instance where your involvement in music helped your community and discuss how you would continue this work if offered a position in the New World Symphony.*
At the beginning of 2021, almost a year into the pandemic, there was very little opportunity available in the realm of orchestral auditions. At this point, I was in a place where I was pretty familiar with the audition process, having taken over 20 professional auditions. I observed the abundance of virtual performance and educational opportunities popping up to fill this void, but I was dismayed by the price tag attached to these experiences.
I’m not denying the expertise or value of the individuals sharing their knowledge or experience, but from the consumer’s perspective, I hardly think that paying a few thousand dollars can replicate the value of spending those same dollars on real-life audition experience. On top of that, most graduates of music school, at the beginning of their professional careers (for which these programs would be appropriate), that price point is inaccessible.
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Alyse Hokamp 