Has anyone else noticed that certain jobs remain vacant for a very long time, or have a long cycle of subs/one-years who are just appointed with no advertised audition? I track retirements/vacancies for my instrument pretty closely and have noticed that with some groups there have been vacancies as long as 8 years. When I go to their roster there are one-year or substitute musicians added when no public one-year audition was posted.
If it was happening with all jobs in the group I would understand, but some of them, especially auxiliary, utility, or 2nd jobs, seem to be on the eternal back burner while other jobs in the same org are vacated, auditioned-for and filled. Some groups are diligent about one-year auditions and I see them posted here often. But others, sometimes very big orchestras/companies, will have secret one-year auditions or someone just seems to get appointed.
I understand that there are priorities for principal positions and that holding auditions is logistically complicated. But has anyone else noticed this? Not trying to get too cynical, I just want a fair shot.
It would be impossible to pinpoint a universal cause of this issue, given the wide variety of audition protocols in CBAs around the country. The pandemic certainly had a backlog effect, and even 4-5 years on, some groups are still trying to fill those vacancies.
You’d have to really understand what’s going on behind the scenes for a job that has not been filled for 8 seasons, as you say. I would venture to suggest that the vast majority of the reasons for this will be purely coincidental and logistical (like a retirement, followed by an unsuccessful audition, followed by a period with no music director, etc etc). This situation can be seen as least favorable to the person playing the one-year(s), as they go season to season without any guarantee they will continue to have a job, and have none of the tenure protections (or probationary processes) that their colleagues enjoy.
If the orchestra is violating its CBA by not auditioning for the permanent position, it’s up to the musicians in that orchestra and their union reps to ensure the contract is followed.