Auditions: The Music

For many musicians playing in orchestra is a way of life and a pay check. Getting into an orchestra that pays anything is no easy matter however. There's a lot of preparation and practice that must be done with utmost diligence before one actually sits in the section during concerts and plays. What goes into an audition? What must one prepare, and how?

The first part of auditions begins months before the day of reckoning. You have sent your resume and the personnel manager from the orchestra has given you the repertoire list. It is time to look it over and make sure all the excerpts on the list are in your possession. The list may look something like this:

1. Solo of your choice from any standard concerto. Or.... Either the first movement of Haydn concerto in D major or Dvorak concerto in B minor.
2. Orchestral excerpts
1. (List of 8 to 10 symphonies and the excerpts)
3. Possible sight reading

Which concerto to choose? Romantic, Classic, Modern? Excerpts are funny. They are pulled way out of context and yet they are used to determine one's ability to play the music in an informed and sensitive manner.  

Actually, I think I'm done with this post already. Auditions kinda annoy me so I'll have to get back to this a later time when I have a more level headed take on them.