There are some clever people in this world. Do you remember the “Yo-Yo Shreds at the Inauguration” vid that popped up on YouTube?
Then there was the “Perlman Shreds Winter”:
Now, there is the “Berliner Philharmoniker Masterclass”:
I was in tears for the last one – it’s a great job of dubbing over what the violist does, here’s the original, before this nefarious violist “ms200shred” got his golden fingers all over it:
David Lau - Photo: Facebook profile
David Lau, who was a member of the Portland Youth Philharmonic and a winner of the Young Artists Concert competition, has won an audition to the august ensemble, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. You may have heard of one of their earlier music directors: Felix Mendelssohn. David studied at the Interlochen Arts Academy, the Juilliard School, and the Musikhochschule Lubeck, Germany.
After a series of auditions held this past Fall, the Oregon Symphony will welcome four new musicians to its ranks after the winter break concludes Friday. With violist Silu Fei, timpanist Jonathan Greeney and English hornist Kyle Mustain already here (and sounding fantastic), this brings our number of new musicians this season to six seven. Can’t wait to meet the new victims, er members! Let the hazing rituals begin (most likely drinks and an interrogation by the The Classical Beaver)!
Edward 'Ted' Botsford, double bass
Edward Botsford, double bass – Botsford, who earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at Rice University, comes to us from the Austin Symphony in Texas. A native of Washington, DC, Botsford has also performed with the Houston Grand Opera orchestra and the National Symphony.
Emily Cole, violin
Emily Cole, violin – A Seattle native, Cole recently earned a master’s degree at the University of North Texas, following undergraduate study at the University of Texas. While in Texas, she performed with the Dallas Symphony, the Abilene Philharmonic and other orchestras.
Ryan Lee, violin
Ryan Lee, violin – Lee, who hails from Vacaville in Northern California, holds a bachelor’s degree and artist diploma from the Colburn School Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, where he was concertmaster for the Colburn Conservatory Orchestra. He’s also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the New World Symphony.
Matthew McKay, percussion
Matthew McKay, percussion – McKay was born in Ypsilanti, MI, raised in Fairfax, VA, and comes to Portland from Boston, where he studied at the New England Conservatory of Music and Boston University. He has performed with the Boston Pops, the Boston Philharmonic and the San Diego, Jacksonville and New World symphonies.
We had a spate of auditions at the end of last season, and the results netted us three new musicians who are all now settled in Portland and playing with the orchestra. They are Principal timpanist Jonathan Greeney, oboist and English hornist Kyle Mustain, and violist Silu Fei. Here’s a little info about each:
Jonathan Greeney
Jonathan Greeney, principal timpani – Greeney earned a graduate degree in percussion performance at Cleveland State University following undergraduate study at Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute in Baltimore. From 2006 to 2008, he was assistant principal timpanist for the Orquestra Sinfonica de Xalapa in Veracruz, Mexico. Greeney also has performed with the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra and the Youngstown and Toledo symphonies in Ohio.
Kyle Mustain
Kyle Mustain, oboe and English horn – Mustain, a Virginia native, earned his master’s degree in music at Yale University and bachelor’s at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music. Before winning the Oregon Symphony’s audition in spring 2010, he played English horn for two seasons with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Minas Gerais in Brazil and had been a member of the Indianapolis, Richmond and Houston symphonies. Since 2004, Mustain also has performed each summer with the Santa Fe Opera orchestra.
Silu Fei
Silu Fei, viola – Fei holds an artist diploma from Colburn School Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles and an undergraduate degree in viola performance from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China. He joins the Oregon Symphony following a decade of experience with both symphony and youth orchestras in Asia and the United States, including the San Francisco Symphony.
Typical screen from a US orchestral audition site.
I just stumbled on to an online virtual panel discussion at Polyphonic.org from several years ago centered on the subject of orchestral auditions. One of the panelists, Fergus McWilliam is a member of the horn section of the Berlin Philharmonic – I thought his thoughts on the nature of how auditions are conducted in the BPO were quite interesting, especially the first three points that he presents on the philosophy of the audition itself.
Since its founding in 1882 the Berlin Philharmonic has enjoyed three critical and inextricably related advantages, when it comes to auditioning new musicians. None of these is, or should be, unique in the orchestral world, however the combination is uniquely powerful and effective for us.
1. The vacancy belongs to the orchestra. In no way is it the property of the public domain. The orchestra is not obligated to fill a position once it has been advertised and we reserve the right not to select anyone at an audition. In my time we have more than once taken over eight years to find the right person.
2. We, the members, know pretty well what we are looking/listening for: we know our collective sound, our musical language, our collective artistic personality. The audition is not therefore primarily a contest between competitors for a gold medal. Much more importantly, we search for the “right” musician, not necessarily only the “best” player.3. The orchestra decides who is chosen – all musician-members vote on the basis of one musician – one vote. Neither a select audition committee, nor principal players, nor the concerned section and certainly not the conductor controls the audition decision. Tenure is also granted by the orchestra membership alone, based on a secret vote.
Audition Repertoire:
We emphasise solo repertoire, not orchestral excerpts at the audition. If a Mozart concerto exists for the instrument being auditioned then that is mandatory. Otherwise another classical period concerto is expected. Invariably we ask at least for the 1st movement with a cadenza; in a second round a contrasting work of the candidate’s choosing. Orchestra excerpts are never requested at violin, viola and cello auditions. For double bass, the winds and brass yes.
We look for strong personalities, powerful musical statements, individual interpretations, in addition to beauty of tone, stylistic knowledge, technical skill, etc. The concerto is the centre of the audition, not just a warm-up piece.
Audition procedure:
The section with the vacancy reviews all applications and democratically selects between 10 and 16 candidates who will be invited to an audition in front of the orchestra. If a high number of qualified candidates makes it necessary, a pre-audition may be held the day before. This is open to the whole orchestra but is not mandatory; usually only the concerned section is out in force.
No screens are used. We want to learn as much as we possibly can about the candidate in the short time they are on stage. One can “see” a lot by observing body language and stage presence.
We have frequently used a kind of “shoot-out” procedure at winds and brass auditions. Typically two to four “finalists” are on stage together and we have them perform excerpts in each other’s presence. Although this is a brutally effective way of testing the candidates’ nerves, more importantly it is also an extremely effective way for us to compare and contrast, with profound immediacy, the sounds and approaches of similarly qualified candidates.
The music director is free to attend if he wishes, and is granted a single vote like every one else.
Probation:Can last one to two years, after which the concerned section makes a recommendation to the whole orchestra. The final decision is however made in a secret ballot of the orchestra membership. This is the most testing time for a new player and in the recent past fully one third of the probationary musicians were not accepted into the orchestra. This the time when, if necessary, we must fix any hiring mistakes WE may have made!