Tuesday, September 06, 2016

San Francisco Symphony Personnel Changes for 2016-17

Received today:

2nd Violin:    Helen Kim will begin her Audition Year as Associate Principal Second Violin.

Bass:              Lee Philip will fill the position of Acting Associate Principal Bass as a one-year sub.

Oboe:              Chris Gaudi will continue as Acting Associate Principal Oboe as a one-year sub.

Horn:               Jeff Garza will fill the position of Acting Utility Horn as a one-year sub.

Trumpet:          Doug Carlsen will fill the position of Acting Associate Principal Trumpet as a one-year sub.

Trombone:       Nick Platoff will begin his Audition Year as Associate Principal Trombone.

Timpani:          Ed Stephan will begin his Audition Year as Principal Timpani.

Library:            Dan Ferreira will begin his Probationary Year as Assistant Librarian.

"Audition year" means that you have passed the audition phase and are in what has mostly been called a "probationary year:" The orchestra and player are trying each other out, and the orchestra can let the player go at the end of the year. The player can also decide the orchestra is a poor fit and, if he or she is on leave from another orchestra, return to that orchestra.

You can expect to see another round of auditions coming up for those positions that currently have one-year substitutes.

2 comments:

CK Dexter Haven said...

Very interesting the SFS distinction between "Audition Year" as opposed to "Probationary Year" despite the fact that the intent seems to be the same

Audition Year has much more uncertainty to it, kind of a "We're still not sure about you and we're gonna take this year to decide, and we know you're not sure about it either so you get a year to decide. No one's sure, but let's keep going in the meantime.

Probationary Year seems very different, more of a "just in case" situation. You know, like "OK, you've got the job and we think you're the right person. Just don't screw up. Likewise, you think this is it for you, but we know you've got an escape clause just in case."

A subtle but important distinction I think. That said, given MTT's history with these things, it is perhaps a more accurate description of the current realities in the SFS.

Lisa Hirsch said...

Yeah, it's an interesting terminology choice, and I've no idea why SFS is using "audition year" rather than "probationary year." And I can't recall what they have done in the past, either.