Audition Repertoire

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

What used to be the standard audition repertoire for orchestras has expanded over the years, and with opera or ballet orchestras it is a whole other set of pieces sometimes. Here are the ones I recall.

Berlioz: Symphony Fantastique

Weber/Berlioz: Invitation to the Dance

Tchaikovsky: cadenzas

Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnole, Scheherazade

Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra, sometimes the Violin Concerto and Miraculous Mandarin

Wagner: Magic Fire Music, Tannhauser, Overture to the Flying Dutchman

Strauss: Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, sometime Ein Heldenleben

Prokofiev: Violin Concerto

Sibelius: First Symphony

Debussy: Iberia, Afternoon of a Faun, Danses Sacree et Profane

Ravel: Piano Concerto in G, Introduction et Allegro

Mozart: Flute and Harp Concerto

Schubert: Die Zauberharfe (never, but it should be)

Britten: Young Person’s Guide

Berg: Lulu, Wozzeck (for the Met)

Verdi: Overture to La Forza del Destino and Pace, Pace

Franck: Symphony in D Minor

Liszt: Orpheus

Bruckner: 8th Symphony

Stravinsky: Symphony in Three Movements, Petrouchka, Firebird, Le Rossignol, etc.

And you need to know the second harp parts as well.

Add yours.

[Fearghal McCartan]

Bartok – Music for String Instruments , Percussion and Celeste

Smetana – Vysehrad (opening cadenza)

Ravel – Tzigane

Mascagni – Cavalleria Rusticana

Massenet – Le Cid (excerpts)

[Fearghal McCartan]

Also forgot:

Ravel – Ma Mere l’Oye

Donizetti – Lucia di Lammermoor (solo)

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

That reminds me that there may be significant differences between American and European orchestras. I think American orchestras tend to ask for a lot more.

[Fearghal McCartan]

We do get the Berlioz Symph Fantastic, Tchaikovsky Cadenzas, Britten’s YPGTTO and some of the others as well.

In what way ask for more – the playing standard or the broadness of the repertoire?

[Fearghal McCartan]

Sorry, with original post I meant those pieces in addition to the ones you had listed.

Fearghal

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I mean most of the auditions here since the early 1990s have had enormous repertoire lists plus concerti and solos. Orchestras seem to use audition lists to pump their institutional egos and show how important they are no matter where they may be located. San Diego, for example, had a quite hefty list.

[Elizabeth Volpé Bligh]

This is the European excerpt list from Lieve Robbroeckx’s panel discussion at the World Harp Congress in Amsterdam. As you can see, there is some overlap with the North American list.

Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra, Violin Concerto no 2
Berlioz: Symphony Fantastique, L’Enfance du Christ, Harold in Italy
Britten: Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
Bruch: Scottish Fantasy
Bruckner: Symphony 8
Debussy: La Mer
Debussy: Prelude à l’ Après Midi d’un Faune
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor cadenza
Dvorak: Scherzo Capriccioso
Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius
Franck: Symphony in d
Mahler: Adagietto
Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana
Prokofiev: Violin Concerto no 1
Ravel: Piano concerto in G cadenza,
Ravel: Alborada del Gracioso
Ravel: Ma Mère l’Oye
Ravel: Tzigane cadenza
Smetana: Vysehrad cadenza
Strauss: Don Juan
Strauss: Heldenleben
Strauss: Salomes Tanz
Stravinsky: Symphony
Stravinsky: Petruschka
Tchaikovsky: Waltz of the flowers cadenza
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake cadenza
Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty cadenza
Verdi: La Forza del Destino Overture
Von Weber: Aufforderung zum Tanz
Wagner: Tannhäuser
Wagner: Götterdämmerung
Wagner: Isoldes Liebestod
Wagner: Die Walküre

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I have compiled some data from the auditions I have participated in or monitored, all in the U.S., including at least one for a foreign orchestra, and this is the most frequently called-for repertoire in order of appearance:

12 times: Berlioz Symphony Fantastique THE CHAMPION!!!

9 times:

Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnole

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

Ah, yes, I forgot about Salome!

Several of the parts you mention, Clint, are available for purchase from Lyra, or were when I needed them. We would have been in real trouble without them!

Opera parts can be particularly demanding.

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