The audition committee was not screwing around. They clearly wanted nothing less than a world-class performer. Clearly, then, one was not to be found in the first audition for the principal horn, held on October fourth through sixth of this year. There was no winner.
I do not know how many individuals applied for the audition, but I do know that only thirty actually took the audition. Apparently, almost every resume was rejected. Of the thirty that played a first-round, two (I have been told) were invited to play a second-round audition. Neither of these candidates was advanced to the final round, therefore, only the acting-principal (I cannot at the moment discover his name) played a final-round audition. He was offered a (second consecutive) one-year contract, instead of the winner’s open-ended contract.
This may be a recurring West Coast theme: grandfathering-in players to high-profile positions, instead of leaving the job open to the chances of auditions. On the other hand, things may have been far less scripted. The candidates may have simply under whelmed the audition committee; as far as I know there weren’t any superstars of the horn world in the running. Either way, that means that there will, in all likelihood, be LA Philharmonic Principal Horn Audition, Round II in one year’s time. I plan to be even more ready for this one than I was the first time around, and it will be fun getting there
**Edit**
Just for the record, the orchestra did hold a second audition which was invite-only. The winner was Erik Ralske, of the New York Philharmoinc. It was clear he would win from the first round of this audition, when an audition committee person remarked that he "sounded really great" (coming from this person, this was a great compliment). In a twist of fate befitting the professional orchestral musician world, the LA Phil made their chosen player wait so long before offering a final contract that he was able to take another audition and win it too. This latest orchestra position happens to be the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the highest paid orchestra in the country. It's also in New York, of course. Ralske accepted his contract with the Met, and LA Phil is once again holding a pricipal horn audition.
Looking back on it, I really think the suggestions I heard that folks were being grandfathered in are way overblown. This might be happening in smaller / regional orchestras, but in light of the cost of holding an audition, major organizations are simply being very careful about their selections.
