It was recently announced that Lorna McGhee is now principal flute for Pittsburgh. There hasn't been a public audition for this in a couple of years, so I was wondering what the specifics are. Was there a private audition or something?

I'm also wondering about a couple of other new jobs/postings. It was announced that Vancouver hired Nadia Kyne for the Vancouver Symphony Assistant Principal/Piccolo position, but I never saw a 2nd posting for that audition. Was it just for Canadians? I recall hearing at some point that some Canadian orchestras will have either a national or international audition, or both. I'm just wondering how that works.

Also, someone mentioned here that the Columbus flute audition was a year appointment, but now the position held before by that winner in the Alabama Symphony is open. But it's not announced as a 1-year position. Can anyone clarify what's going on?

To answer the Alabama question, I was not offered a leave of absence from Alabama and I decided to resign from my position there for personal reasons. I am looking forward to spending a season with the musicians in the Columbus Symphony. :-)

Genevieve

Canadian orchestras are required to conduct a national audition, which is open only to Canadian citizens and landed immigrants. As I understand it, they may only open the position to applicants from other countries if the national audition fails to attract a suitable person for the job.

Thanks for clarifying Genevieve - I was definitely a little confused. Best of luck in Columbus and congratulations!!

In response to the initial question, my understanding is that several candidates were specially invited to audition, and were given trial weeks with the orchestra.

Genevieve - also thanks for clarifying. I wanted to make sure there wasn't a discrepancy in the AFM because there have been some mistakes in the past (ie, 2 years ago i believe a principal position was mistakenly listed as a flute audition when it was really for bassoon).

stringtheory - also thanks for answering, since there was never anything brought up about any trials going on.