You’ve spent years perfecting your Mozart, nailing your Don Juan, and building your orchestral chops. But here’s something most players don’t realize until it’s too late: before you ever play a note behind the screen, your resume has already spoken for you. And if it didn’t say the right things in the right way, you might not get the chance to play at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Orchestra audition committees receive hundreds of resumes for a single opening. I’ve talked with personnel managers at regional and major orchestras, and the screening process is brutally fast. Some committees spend less than 30 seconds per resume. That means yours needs to communicate credibility, experience, and professionalism at a glance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The biggest mistake I see on audition resumes is burying the lead. Your education section shouldn’t come first unless you just graduated from a top conservatory. If you’ve held a section position in any professional orchestra, even a small regional one, that goes at the top. Committees want to see that someone has already trusted you to sit in a section and do the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Structure your experience section chronologically (most recent first) and include your exact title. “Second Violin, Springfield Symphony Orchestra (2024\u2013present)” tells a committee far more than “Orchestral Musician.” If you’ve subbed with larger ensembles, list those separately under a “Substitute\/Extra Experience” heading. Playing as an extra with the Chicago Symphony or sitting in with the St. Louis Symphony, even for one service, signals that you can hang at a high level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your resume is not a concert program. It shouldn’t have decorative fonts, colored text, or creative layouts. Use a clean, single-column format with clear section headings: Experience, Education, Festival\/Workshop Experience, Awards & Competitions, and Teachers. Stick to a standard font like Times New Roman or Garamond at 11 or 12 point. Keep it to one page, maximum two if you have 10+ years of professional experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One formatting trick that personnel managers appreciate: bold your position titles and italicize ensemble names. This creates a visual hierarchy that lets a reader scan down the left margin and immediately see what chairs you’ve held and where. That scanability is everything when someone is flipping through a stack of 200 resumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the orchestral world, your lineage matters. Listing your primary teachers tells a committee about your training pedigree. If you studied with a member of a major orchestra or a well-known pedagogue, that’s a credibility signal. Format it simply: “Principal teachers: Jane Smith (Cleveland Orchestra), Robert Chen (Chicago Symphony).”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Festival experience is especially important for younger players. Programs like Tanglewood, Aspen, National Repertory Orchestra, and the Pacific Music Festival carry real weight. They tell a committee that competitive programs have already vetted you. List them with dates and any notable roles (e.g., “Principal Second Violin, Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra, 2024”).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is just as important as what you include. Leave off non-musical jobs, hobbies, and personal interests. Don’t include your headshot. Don’t list every single community orchestra you played in during college unless you held a leadership position. And here’s a controversial one: leave off competitions you didn’t place in. Listing “Participant, Stulberg International Competition” without a prize doesn’t help your case and can actually hurt it by suggesting you didn’t advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also avoid listing generic skills like “proficient in Microsoft Office” or “team player.” A personnel manager reading your resume already assumes you can work in a team. You’re applying to sit in an orchestra. Instead, use that precious space to mention specific repertoire premieres, recording credits, or chamber music collaborations that distinguish you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the step most players skip, and it makes a real difference. If you’re auditioning for a principal position, emphasize solo and concerto experience, leadership roles, and any concertmaster or principal experience you have. If it’s a section violin audition, highlight your section playing experience, major orchestra sub work, and ensemble skills. If the orchestra has a strong education or outreach component, briefly mention any teaching or community engagement work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keep a master resume with everything, then create tailored versions for each audition. It takes an extra 15 minutes and can be the difference between getting an invitation and getting a rejection letter. Your resume is your first audition. Make it count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Join 31,000+ string players leveling up their orchestral career.<\/p>\nGet the Free Guide<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Ethan Kim is the founder of Orchestra Kingdom<\/a>, helping string players win auditions and move up in their sections. Follow him on Instagram<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, and YouTube<\/a> for daily tips.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Learn exactly what orchestra audition committees look for in a resume and how to format yours to land behind the screen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audition-prep"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":240,"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions\/240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.orchestrakingdom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}