Hawaii Symphony Orchestra

[russiantuba]

https://www.myhso.org/auditions

No excerpts posted yet, and all applicants must audition live in Hawaii. This will likely be an expensive audition to take assuming the excerpts suggest use of a bass tuba and contrabass

21 weeks of guaranteed pay with all over scale at $1433 a week, so roughly $30,000 a year.

[the elephant]

Did TJ quit?

[russiantuba]

Did TJ quit?

I asked him and have not received a response. However, his website states he is the “acting principal tubist”, and the website description of the orchestra says they have 60 core musicians and 20 per service. T. J. is fulltime with the Royal Hawaiian Band, which pays quite a bit more. I suspect this position is an official posting for a core position, but I could totally be wrong.

[UncleBeer]

Wonder if it's one o' those gigs where they make you audition...for your own job.

[Mark]

21 weeks of guaranteed pay with all over scale at $1433 a week, so roughly $30,000 a year.

So, not quite enough to cover 21 weeks of rent in Hawaii?

[MiBrassFS]

I would imagine that the orchestra legally has to post core positions to officially and permanently fill them.

[russiantuba]

I would imagine that the orchestra legally has to post core positions to officially and permanently fill them.

Not always. Depends on the CBA. Sarasota didn’t audition after Jay Hunsberger left but was part of their CBA at the time.

[MiBrassFS]

I would imagine that the orchestra legally has to post core positions to officially and permanently fill them.

Not always. Depends on the CBA. Sarasota didn’t audition after Jay Hunsberger left but was part of their CBA at the time.

Nothing ever is 100% everything. They are an AFM orchestra, so chances are pretty good.

https://members.afm.org/locals/info/number/677

https://musicianshawaii.com/

If it was part of the CBA in Sarasota and the orchestra did not hold an audition, grievances could have been filed and the AFM can be involved in the enforcement of the CBA. There may just not have been any interested parties that wanted to stir that pot.

[russiantuba]

Nothing ever is 100% everything. They are an AFM orchestra, so chances are pretty good.

https://members.afm.org/locals/info/number/677

https://musicianshawaii.com/

If it was part of the CBA in Sarasota and the orchestra did not hold an audition, grievances could have been filed and the AFM can be involved in the enforcement of the CBA. There may just not have been any interested parties that wanted to stir that pot.

They did hold an audition in 2023—I took it. Before that, Aaron Tindall held the position, but there was never an audition. He was there for a year or two before that.

Sidenote—there could have been a local audition announced that was never publicized. Fort Wayne did such this last year before the national audition, but decided to have applicants and a date for the national audition before the local audition took place (guessing they didn’t expect to have a winner at it, though the two people at the local audition have been filling in the past several years).

[tindalltuba]

Just to clear the air here:
I was playing in Italy at La Scala for many months in the spring/summer of 2017. My phone rang and it was management of the Sarasota Orchestra. They were calling out of the blue to offer me a one year position as Jay Hunsberger had just retired. I accepted, and we moved from Miami to Sarasota.

Within their CBA the SO could vote to move a one year principal position holder over to tenure track at the end of that first season with a % of the core members voting to do so. That vote was held at the end of that first season with the MD, and I was converted to tenure track. I held that position for 6 years until I won my present position (via 4 rounds of a blind national audition) with the Naples Philharmonic in 2022. We now live in Naples where I play the 40 week season there, as well as teach my wonderful students in Miami and LA.

Never forget that these entities are a business, and will do what they wish - how they wish to sometimes. Being ready at a moments notice, and doing a good job goes a long ways in today’s musical society.

Best of luck to all auditioning for this position in Hawaii!