Perhaps orchestra's should consider adopting this type of platform for their auditions. Seems logical.

Southbank Sinfonia, a UK-based orchestra for music graduates, wanted a more efficient way of holding global auditions. Advanced telepresence technology enabled the London-based panel of judges to conduct regional and international auditions without a single airline flight. With candidates in New Zealand, the USA and Europe, the technology not only reduced the orchestras carbon footprint, but also eliminated travel time and costs.

Online Auditions

They may need this during the flu outbreak

A very good friend of mine works for BT Conferencing and she said this application costs $500K to purchase, implement and manage.

With the relatively small size of the Southbank Sinfonia, how could they possibly afford it unless BT donated it for good PR.

Maybe MTT will jump on this like he did with the YouTube Orchestra.

Seriously, what orchestra really would shell out that amount of money when they can simply pass on the costs of holding auditions to musicians who personally attend? Would love to hear pros and cons for something like this.

New World Symphony and a number of other music institutions have Internet2 which enables similar live interactions for master classes etc. If the local conservatory has this set up, it could be used by other groups such as an orchestra for auditions. I think its a good idea and a lot better than making "tapes". It is very expensive to go to auditions. The musicians are the least able to pay. I had no idea about the expense to set this kind of thing up.

Having participated in Internet2, I know first hand that it will NOT work for auditions. It's great, and fun to play with and receive coachings, occaionally, or play for other people, but it often cuts out, and is slower than necessary. It's kinda like a big skype. Musical nuances are so special and they completely get lost and sometimes cut out completely over the internet (live, that is).

I was thinking the same thing when I saw that video as well. However, it's interesting to hear the real life experience of the NWS Internet 2 situation. As upset as some get over their time being wasted in a "no winner" audition, will we have auditions being wasted by tech SNAFUs?

Maybe the "tape" first round should be re-visited? Most people now either own or have access to a Zoom or similar digital recorder and could burn a CD on their computer. The recording/playback quality would be better and less venue/equipment dependent than the cassettes that were the norm when orchestras tried this 20 years ago.

One issue that could be problematic with this process is "unrealistic expectations". Back in the cassette era, orchestras would get 200+ tapes and sometimes only accept only 2. Several orchestras used the reasoning of "you have unlimited takes to get it right therefore any flaw is grounds for elimination".

The NY Phil seems to have found a reasonable balance with their "live or tape" first round. I've heard they will often get 100 "tapes" and advance 10-15 of those. (a similar proportion of live as well) The end result is often a semi with 15-25 candidates from live and "tape" first rounds. That seems a reasonable number that can allow the committee to hear a fairly good amount of playing from each in the semi with out "listener fatigue".