To test this feature, visit your live site.

Montreal viola openings--why so many?

there are 5 openings in the OSM viola section. Does anyone know how this came to be? Seems like an awful lot.

On a related note...anyone know anything about how OSM regards hiring non-Canadians? Is it even worth auditioning if you aren't a citizen or permanent resident?

5 answers0 replies

5 Comments

tdm10c

Mar 02, 2023

•

Many people in the violin section all won their jobs at the same time years ago and are now retiring. Maybe it's the same kind of reason in the viola section. I have auditioned for OSM as a US citizen and now as a permanent resident. Canadian orchestras are required to hold a national audition first before holding intl. Sometimes it results in no hire and they go to intl but last year there was one hire with five spots. This year at intl round there were three hires with 5 spots. From my y knowledge.

Odetojoyful

Mar 02, 2023

•

For sure, they do hire non-Canandians. It may seem like they mostly hire Canadians because there are much smaller number of non-Canandians that come to audition in the first place. Same situation for the violin as well. There were 5 openings since 2021, hired 1 in 2021 and still had 5 positions available in 2022. Latest audition they filled 3/5. So many positions available in the orchestra but such a few candidates being hired 🥲

2224

Mar 02, 2023

•

Replying to

Yes, I took an OSM audition once (international round) and was surprised by how few people were at the audition compared to a typical US audition, but the fact is most Americans don't want to deal with immigration. It can especially be a problem for people who are married or in a long-term relationship, as it can be hard for their partner to get work in Canada.

There is some legit "discrimination" though: OSM's CBA says that as a tie-breaker, they'll favor the candidate who resides in or studied in Quebec, or if no candidate did, the candidate who resides in/studied in Canada.

So if you think of all the auditions you've ever taken that come down to an hour+ of deliberation... just know that in the case of OSM, you basically automatically lose in that situation as an international candidate.

Anybody know if other Canadian orchestras have similar clauses? I kind of assumed it might just be a Quebec thing.

piano

Mar 02, 2023

•

From what I know, they started off with a national audition and very few people even applied to the position, resulting in a no hire. I did hear that orchestras like Toronto Symphony are not doing National auditions anymore and starting from International Auditions since the level of playing is usually higher.

cunegonde

Mar 02, 2023

•

Replying to

huh, interesting. It's funny--for so long, most of what I've heard on this side of the border is that it's not worth it to even try to get into a Canadian orchestra unless you're a citizen. BUT, it seems many Canadians also feel the system isn't working because national auditions so often result in no-hires, resulting in a feeling that the international audition is the "real" audition. At least, this is what I've been able to gather.

I'm curious about how they even ended up with 5 openings to begin with. Has a years-long string of no-hires brought us to this? Did a bunch of people decide to retire or change jobs all of a sudden?