Summer Festival Rejections

Summer festivals specifically are a crapshoot for admissions. Everyone records on a completely different playing field of equipment, rooms, accompanists etc. Then add that teachers often have ideas of who they want to get in as well.

I had summers of zero success as a student. Then I found success in real-world blind orchestra auditions soon afterwards. The two are unrelated. Sometimes a summer off could actually be beneficial, since you can practice what you want, or even live life outside of music a little. Try not to get down on yourself, summer festival admissions are not a measure of your progress.

Summer is often the offseason for musicians. People at salaried festivals and fellowships are playing a lot and usually not practicing very much. Because few people can get better through playing volume alone, and because burnout is a real issue after festivals, some of the people who beat you out for those festival spots will inevitably lose shape over the summer. If you can carve out time to practice and build up a good technical base over the summer, you're going to have a huge head start in preparation at the beginning of the fall.

Orchestra auditions in late May- June, and early and mid September, can be a really good time to get breakthrough results if you can manage to get in great shape and play close to your best when many people are otherwise occupied with performing, or relatively burned out after a long school/orchestra season.

Welcome to the roller coaster of being an auditioning musician! You will still have disappointments and fall short of your goals, even as you get older and become a better player. Sometimes these experiences are a good jolt to our system to keep working and pushing ourselves to an even higher standard.

Almost every professional musician you talk to will have at least one story of a festival or a job they continually applied to and never got accepted. It’s just part of the game. Take the opportunity this summer to have a break, do something different, visit friends or family, or challenge yourself to accomplish a personal goal (musical or not). If you commit to having a productive summer in some of these ways, you might find that in the fall, you have developed in new ways that you could not have done if you had been at a festival. And if getting accepted to more festivals next summer is a priority for you, you will attack that goal even hungrier than before. Good luck and hang in there.

I FEEL you!!! I put in for 3 festivals this yr, 2 rejected me, one waitlisted me (which is actually an accomplishment but still oof) so I was so hurting and doubting my recordings I sent in and everything (news flash, they were still great recordings)! Don't lose hope about it, there's still a few places accepting, the Monteux festival was recommended to me on here actually and I just got accepted as they needed violins! I'm not sure if they need basses, couldn't hurt to ask, but there's for sure places still doing rolling deadlines. Plus, if not, there's certainly orchestra subbing, teaching students, helping with a kids music camp, gigs, all sorts! Summer festivals are being weird this year, so take heart I think its just a weird year! 🫶

As someone who has been in this situation, I can relate to the disappointment. If you sub in any orchestras, or are interested in doing so, I have found that summer is a great time to work! There is often demand for subs (in my experience) and the summer concerts can be quite fun. This would be the time to start contacting people and spreading the word that you are available this summer. This is also a great time to take lessons with various orchestral musicians and really focus on preparing for the upcoming season. In a way, you can create your own festival by booking jobs, taking lessons, and building your skills (like teaching). I second looking into workshops. Additionally, you could meet up with other musicians to play chamber music or put on a recital. Just some ideas!

https://www.robknopper.com/blog/2015/4/12/what-to-do-if-you-get-rejected-from-every-summer-festival

This article from Rob Knopper of the MET Orchestra is a good reminder that festival rejections aren't a sign of how "on track" to an orchestra job you are, and that there's always a way to hone in on improving specific aspects of your playing.

As someone who's also been rejected from everything so far this year, it's definitely a deflating experience. I've heard from so many friends that it's just been exceptionally more competitive across all instruments this year as well. But I suppose that is the nature of our profession. I'd recommend looking into instrument-specific workshops, which usually only run for one or two weeks. They're not as prestigious but can be immensely helpful in the long run.