A dream for many musicians is to join the world renown Royal Philharmonic Orchestra(RPO).

The RPO are known across the globe for their breathtaking performances,  high standards and are known to many music lovers as one of, it not , the best orchestra in the world….So how hard is it to join them?!

The RPO website for recruitment stated this in August 2018 when seeking a Principal Double Bass player:

“Candidates will be asked to play the first movement of a Classical concerto and the first movement of a Romantic concerto plus cadenzas where appropriate, along with some prepared orchestral excerpts. Orchestral excerpts will be sent out on invitation to audition.”

You will also be asked to send in a CV and then be invited for the audition based on your previous work.

So essentially it is lots of preparation, hopefully a very full CV demonstrating lots of previous orchestral work, professional endeavours, training at an accredited establishment and a very nerve racking audition.

Sounds tough? Consider as well that people fly from all over the world for these auditions (the website notes  “We are unable to cover any expenses connected to auditions and trials.”- probably due to this very fact).

Do you think you would be able to do this? Classical and romantic concerto’s can be very long also so the audition time could be a lengthy one!

But if you love music, want to perform and to a high standard, then the RPO is definitely a place for you and their requirements and fair audition process seems to allow anyone good enough, a go.

I have seen the RPO perform movie soundtracks at the Royal Albert Hall and accompany everyone from Pavarotti to Olly Murs on stage! The variety of work you can get also is amazing: recording film soundtracks to performing in the most beautiful and biggest arenas in the world. Touring is also a joy for many- who wouldn’t love to travel the world , do what you love doing and get paid for it?!

(Source:https://www.rpo.co.uk/about/recruitment

please note the Royal philharmonic orchestra have not endorsed this article nor do they have any knowledge of its creation.)