Category: Digital Strategy

By Rheena Suter*

No matter the size, location, or mission of your orchestra, auditions are critical for finding the best talent available to you. Not only do you gain an understanding of each prospective performer’s musical abilities, but they also get a taste of what it’ll be like to play in your orchestra, which will help them make an informed decision about joining.

However, there are a lot of moving parts to manage before, during, and after your orchestra auditions. The more prospective musicians on your schedule, the more important it is to ensure your audition days go smoothly and nothing falls through the cracks.

If you’re looking to optimize your orchestra’s audition process, you’ve come to the right place! This guide will walk through four top tips for audition management, including how to:

1. Leverage Artist Recruitment Networks
2. Use a Virtual or Hybrid Audition Model
3. Create an Audition Day Logistics Checklist
4. Cultivate a Mission-Focused Audition Environment

As you begin implementing these strategies, make sure you’re equipped with the right tools. A digital audition solution can help you coordinate application review, scheduling, adjudication, decision-making, and more so all of your operations take place in a centralized platform. That being said, let’s get started!

1. Leverage Artist Recruitment Networks

Your audition management work begins well before actual auditions do, and the first step is to find the right musicians to audition for your orchestra. Some of the best resources you can use as you go about this process are artist recruitment networks.

An artist recruitment network is an online directory in which performing artists can create profiles detailing their personal and professional backgrounds, areas of interest, and portfolios. Once a musician has completed their profile, they can search for audition opportunities that align with their experience level, needs, and wants. Organizations can also browse these profiles and directly reach out to performers they think would be a good fit for their openings.

Here are some ways to make the most of these platforms for your orchestra:

• Advertise which recruitment networks you use so interested musicians can create profiles on them (if they don’t already have one) to streamline the process of connecting with you.

• Personalize your network communications—develop templates for outreach messages, but leave spaces to include each individual performer’s name and other details from their profile to let them know you’re reaching out to them intentionally.
• Apply filters when browsing artist profiles to identify prospective orchestra members based on their location, age, instrument(s), previous experience, and other relevant factors.

Recruitment networks can help your orchestra find strong audition candidates you might not have encountered otherwise and even strengthen your inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) commitment by ensuring you reach musicians of various backgrounds.

2. Use a Virtual or Hybrid Audition Model

In 2020, many performing arts organizations moved their auditions online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although a number of orchestras have since transitioned back to an in-person model, it’s advisable to keep a virtual option open. According to Acceptd, virtual auditions are more accessible for performing artists, both physically and financially.

As you conduct online auditions, use a virtual live (synchronous) model as much as possible. Although you might begin narrowing down your list with an asynchronous round of auditions, you should have at least one round in which you directly interact with the musician and see them perform live to make an informed decision.

To avoid confusion, provide clear instructions for accessing your online audition platform to all virtual auditionees. Additionally, consider including self-tape tips to improve performers’ video and audio quality. If your orchestra uses a hybrid audition model, ask musicians to indicate their preference for a virtual or in-person audition on their initial application and schedule their sessions accordingly.

3. Create an Audition Day Logistics Checklist

The day(s) on which you hold auditions can easily become hectic for your team. To make sure you have everything in order before auditions begin, ask yourself the following questions:

• Has the audition schedule been finalized and published?
• Are the correct jury members assigned to each audition, ensuring there is no overlap between concurrent sessions?
• Have the evaluation forms been prepared and uploaded to your audition platform for easy access?
• For virtual auditions, have you set up an online waiting room that features your orchestra’s branding and relevant information for musicians to browse while they wait?
• For in-person auditions, are all of the physical audition spaces set up properly?
• Have you decided on a decision deadline that you can communicate to performers so they know when to expect a response from your orchestra?

Use these questions to create a checklist so you can see what aspects of your audition day are ready to go and which tasks still need to be completed. Additionally, meet with your team first thing on the first day of a new audition cycle to answer any questions they might have before you invite performers into your physical or virtual audition space.

4. Cultivate a Mission-Focused Audition Environment

As mentioned previously, while the primary purpose of auditions is to find musicians whose talent will be a good fit for your openings, you should also give them a sense of what it will be like to be part of your orchestra. That way, everyone can make an informed decision—both your team in extending offers and performers in accepting them.

Throughout the entire audition process, emphasize your orchestra’s mission, vision, and values. Incorporate them into your recruitment network communications, the resources you put in your waiting rooms (both physical and digital), and your decision messages. 

After auditions end, ensure all of the evaluation forms have been properly filled out and saved to your audition platform so your team can easily review them. Once you’ve communicated your decisions by your stated deadline, take some time to evaluate your audition process. Take note of what went well and where you have room for improvement, and apply these critiques during your orchestra’s future audition cycles to help each one go more smoothly than the last.

*Rheena Suter is the Product Manager of Acceptd, a Togetherwork company that is the premier recruitment, application, and audition platform for the arts. In her free time, Rheena enjoys cooking for family & friends and listening to a variety of music – pop, smooth jazz, ‘80s classic, soul, R&B, and even alternative rock for hours!

By Jerry Tsai*

If you’re an operations director or personnel manager of an orchestra, you know that the digital age has influenced your organization in many ways. In addition to changing the way you connect with audiences and opening up different opportunities for your musicians, the shift to more digital work has also shaped the way your orchestra can conduct auditions. 

Using a virtual live audition format as part of your orchestra’s auditions has a variety of benefits. Online auditions are more accessible, affordable, and flexible for musicians. Plus, they can improve your orchestra’s recruitment process by expanding your reach, while still providing the two-way communication advantage of the traditional audition experience at a much lower cost. 

However, all of this is only possible if you leverage the right software. To help you get started, here are four tips for making the most of a digital audition platform

1. Find a Platform That Aligns With Your Needs 
2. Thoroughly Train Your Committee Members to Use the Software 
3. Create a Detailed Audition Schedule 
4. Develop a Consistent Communication Cadence 

These strategies are helpful whether you host your auditions in person, online, or as a combination of the two. Also, picking the right software is important in order to help you streamline your recruitment, scheduling, and communication processes. Let’s begin! 

1. Find a Platform That Aligns With Your Needs

To effectively leverage a digital audition platform, you first need to invest in the correct software for your orchestra. Make a list of all of the features you absolutely need, as well as the ones that aren’t essential but would be nice to have. 

Some features to consider looking for in your digital audition platform include:  

• Customizable applications that allow you to obtain all of the information you need from each musician who auditions. 
• Access for multiple reviewers so all of your committee members can input feedback at the same time. 
• A user-friendly interface, especially for creating your audition schedule. 
• Integrated rubrics which collect committee members’ feedback in real time.  
• Robust messaging tools to make both internal and external communications more efficient. 

 Additionally, make sure that the platform you choose aligns with your orchestra’s budget and has integration options with the other software solutions you use regularly to ensure a seamless workflow. 

2. Thoroughly Train Your Committee Members to Use the Software

Having the correct digital audition software for your orchestra will only be effective if your team knows how to use it. Teach each committee member how to

• Quickly log into the platform 
• Access and navigate application information and audition schedules 
• Watch pre-recorded audition video submissions 
• Fill out and save rubrics 

Make sure that the digital audition software you choose has an exceptional customer support track record in case any of your team members need help completing these activities. The digital audition platform’s customer support team should guide you through the process of launching your software and provide feedback grounded in extensive experience of working with arts organizations like yours. 

3. Create a Detailed Audition Schedule

One of the biggest challenges with hosting orchestra auditions is scheduling, especially when you’re working in a virtual or hybrid format. That’s why it’s especially important to leverage your digital audition platform’s scheduling features to their fullest potential.  

According to Acceptd, one of the most essential audition scheduler features you should look for is the ability to seamlessly use it in conjunction with other essential audition tools. Once you approve a musician’s application, you should be able to move them straight to the audition schedule. Through the schedule, committee members should have direct access to the video chat link for a virtual live audition and the corresponding rubric as well. 

On the applicant side, each musician should be able to view the audition schedule and have access to their video chat link in advance so they know when and where to join the audition. If they can’t make the audition time you set for them, make sure they can easily let you know (but not change the schedule without your knowledge) so you can reschedule them. 

4. Develop a Consistent Communication Cadence

As stated previously, regular communication is a critical part of hosting orchestra auditions. This is true both within your organization to ensure your entire team is on the same page and externally to keep auditioning musicians in the loop about where they are in the process.
 

In addition to sharing a clear schedule and video chat links with everyone involved, utilize your digital audition platform’s automated communication tools to: 

• Promote your orchestra’s audition opportunities to potential candidates. 
• Notify applicants when their submissions have been received and reviewed. 
• Let committee members know if they have outstanding musicians to review. 
• Tell musicians when to expect a decision and what that decision is when your team has come to it.
   

It’s also important for both parties to be able to send ad hoc messages through your software, whether the content of each message is related to the audition process itself or is simply about a technical question that needs to be addressed. Effective communication creates a more positive audition experience for musicians and committee members alike by promoting transparency and ensuring everyone has the latest information about your auditions. 

The performing arts world is constantly evolving, and your orchestra needs to grow and change along with it. Taking your audition management process—if not your auditions themselves as well—into the digital space will help you do just that. And by using a platform that is tailored to the needs of orchestras and similar performing arts organizations, you’ll maximize your ability to streamline your process. 

*Jerry Tsai is the President of Acceptd, a Togetherwork company that is the premier recruitment, application, and audition platform for the arts. He is passionate about serving the arts community and loves that art is a way to wind down and enjoy all that life has to offer.

By Boran Zaza, Director of Communications & Development at Orchestras Canada and content creator for classical musicians.

If you haven’t read Part I of this blog post series, I recommend you do so before proceeding! 

One of the most important lessons I learned from attending the Live Multi-Camera Directing in Classical Music workshop in Sweden last April, was that preparation is the most important part of the process. The better you know your score, orchestra, conductor, concert hall, camera setup and production team, the better you’ll be set for successful live coverage of the concert. Of course, it was impossible for us, the 16 participants from around the world, to plan all that without ever having been to Gothenburg or its famous concert hall. Thus, we took our preparation process virtual, on the world wide web!  

Preparing for Live Multi-Camera Directing  

Before landing in Gothenburg, Sweden, we attended an online workshop on how to prepare for Live Multi-Camera Directing in classical music. Each participant was assigned a piece of music to direct live in Gothenburg – either during the dress rehearsal, or during a concert of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. I was assigned “Sur le même accord” by Henri Dutilleux: A beautiful work for solo Violin and Orchestra, which I later got to direct live, with the fabulous Barbara Hannigan conducting, and John Storgårds on the violin.  

Along with the piece assignment, we were given a camera layout sketch, showing us where the 9 cameras to which we would have access would be placed on the day of the concert.  

The Magic of Presets 

So, now we knew what piece of music we’d be directing, we knew where the cameras would be placed — but an essential piece of information was yet to come: The presets for each camera. As a director, you’d normally have to plan these yourself. But since we were 16 directors with no prior access to the concert hall and the cameras, those presets were done for us in advance by the IMZ Academy team. 

So what’s a preset anyway? In modern-day multi-camera directing, a camera operator on stage is no longer needed: they can control the camera from afar. As a director, you can plan all the shots and closeups in advance so your camera operators can access them with the click of a button (rather than manually trying to move the camera to the right position and zoom in manually)! Want a close-up on the 2nd row of the 1st violins? Camera 3 Preset 6! A timpani solo is about to start? Camera 1 preset 30!  

Often cameras can have many presets. At the concert hall in Sweden, each one of the 9 cameras had anywhere between 25 and 50 presets.  

Scripting the Score  

With the score, camera angles and a description of each preset, we had all the information needed to start scripting the score that we were going to direct! Our approach differed from the conventional, where one might have a score reader calling which instrument has a solo coming up and direct in a “go with the flow” manner. Scripting the score meant that as a director, I had to listen to the work many times and then make informed (and artistic!) decisions on which camera, and which preset should be used in which measure — all while being aware of the impact my choice of shots would have on the listeners. As a beginner, It took me around 18 hours of work to script my score for a work that was 10 minutes long. A professional director would script 10-15 minutes of orchestral scores per day.  

Score Scripting Tips and Tricks 

I learned some of these tips the easy way, and some the hard way… Here they are:  

1- Make sure your marking is clear, and write a description of the shot 

Use a pencil and a ruler to mark your score, or use your iPad if you are at ease with it! Always write a description of the shot you are supposed to see, so that you know you have the right thing on the screen on the day of the concert.  

2- Pace your script to have enough time between different shots; Even switching presets takes time 

I learned this tip the hard way: I approached the score from a video editor’s point of view, and as someone who usually edits videos after the fact, I wrote a script that had too many camera angles and switched between too many presets too quickly, especially toward the end of the piece where the tension was rising (and to me, that had to translate into more camera angles). It led to us having to drop quite a few shots during the live event… we almost all had a meltdown trying to catch up with the script! Yikes! Live and learn. 

3- Don’t default to a wide shot when there’s a lot going on in the orchestra 

Oftentimes, the most interesting and intense shots come from capturing the little details in the orchestra. So even if you see in the score that everyone is playing and it’s fortissimo, don’t just go for a far shot — rather, find an interesting detail from an expressive musician in the orchestra.  

4- A “Conductor Sandwich” is always a safe bet 

This is especially true if you have a particularly charismatic conductor (and I had THE Barbara Hannigan). You can always get away with having a stable shot of the conductor, switching to something else, coming back to the conductor, switching, coming back to the conductor… you get the idea! 

5- Don’t spend too much time on a big close up 

Imagine someone standing very close to your face and talking to you, for 2 minutes! That’s a lot of time for someone to be that close to you. Same concept with multi-camera directing! Don’t stay too long on a close-up without starting to zoom out! I remember I had a close-up on the violinist for very long during a slow section of Sur le même accord, and that felt… uncomfortable to those watching!  

6- Percussion is always a good idea! 

You can never get too many shots of the percussionists, and they really liven up the video! Don’t hesitate to script more shots of them (and make sure you are getting the RIGHT percussion instrument in the shot!).  

Stay tuned for the next blog post, in which I will reflect on the experience of live multi-camera directing of an Orchestra performance, and talk about what our friends from the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra (who travelled all the way to Sweden with me) have been up to!  

I documented the whole trip on Instagram stories as well! You can check them out here. 

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. 

By Boran Zaza, Director of Communications & Development at Orchestras Canada and content creator for classical musicians.

The Setting

In April 2022, thanks to generous funding from the Canada Council for the Arts through the Supporting Artistic Practice program, I had the unique opportunity of attending a workshop that was the first of its kind in the world: Live Multi-Camera Directing in Classical Music, focused on Orchestras. The workshop was organized by the IMZ Academy and hosted by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in their beautiful Konserthuset (concert hall) in Sweden.

“I was in a convention last year with other classical music directors. I looked at my peers, and realized we all had white hair!”, reflected Peter Maniura, Director of the IMZ Academy, and an award-winning TV producer and director. “We had to do something about it, we had to train a new generation of multi-camera directors who know classical music.” This is how the idea of this workshop came to be!

The Participants

16 participants from around the globe came together in the beautiful city of Gothenburg, Sweden from April 26-28 to attend this workshop. Canada was well-represented: I was there, along with 2 colleagues from the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra! More on that later. Other participants came from the BBC Philharmonic, Latvian Television, the Lithuanian National Television, the Swedish Television as well as music learning institutions that record and/or stream their concerts such as the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague and Bruckner University among others.

Gothenburg and Digital Concerts

Why Gothenburg? The city is significant as it is home to Sweden’s national symphony orchestra, which has been creating digital concerts for over a decade and owns state-of-the-art equipment for audio and video! It all started back when the renowned Gustavo Dudamel was the GSO’s Principal Conductor: when he led his farewell concert in 2012, many of the patrons couldn’t get a ticket as the concert was sold-out. This is how the idea to digitize the orchestra’s concerts came. “Taxpayers support our orchestra. Not all of them live in Gothenburg, and many live in remote places and can’t access our concerts. We had to find a way to make our music accessible to them.” said Sten Cranner, General Manager & Artistic Director of GSO.

The Gear

To provide the best possible coverage and digital concert experience for their patrons attending from outside the concert hall, the GSO uses ten Panasonic AW-UE150 4K PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) cameras, another AK-UB300 4K box camera, two sliders and two Polecam Autopods, which give vertical and lateral movements within shots. Two camera operators control all these cameras remotely, so there are no camera operators physically on stage. This is fantastic for classical music as having a camera operator moving on stage can be disturbing for both the musicians and the audience. The director, score reader, sound engineer and camera operators all work together in the control room, from which the concert is both streamed live and recorded simultaneously, allowing for editing for the final version that lives on the website and mobile app, GSOplay. Those digital concerts are regularly followed by over 150,000 monthly listeners (and those numbers skyrocketed during the pandemic). Check this video to learn more:

Stay tuned for upcoming blog posts, where I share the process of preparing for the workshop, as well as my top learnings and tips for a successful live multi-camera broadcast of a classical concert! 

I documented the whole trip on Instagram stories as well! You can check them out here. 

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.