2018 Western States Honor Orchestra Festival
35th Annual Weekend for Strings
November 1-3, 2018
Union Colony Civic Center
Greeley, Colorado
Featuring violinist
Jennifer Koh
Each year, the University of Northern Colorado hosts the Western States Honor Orchestra Festival here in Greeley, Colorado—a celebration of orchestral and solo string playing for advanced high school musicians.
We form a chamber orchestra and symphony orchestra from the invited string players; wind and percussion musicians from the award-winning UNC Symphony Orchestra join these ensembles. Two days of intense rehearsal follow, interspersed with workshops, coachings, and masterclasses by UNC string faculty, as well as a master class by a celebrated guest artist, who also performs on the opening concert Thursday evening and the final concert on Saturday.
We invite advanced high school string players to send audition audio files for this festival. We hope that you will consider joining this wonderful music event that is sure to give inspiration to you for the entire year.
We ask that each director nominate his/her high school string players that he/she feels would most benefit from participation in the festival. Students that are homeschooled are also welcome to audition.
Audition results will be available on September 28 at 5:00 pm.
Contact Us
Jennifer Beck
UNC Bands & Orchestras Program Coordinator
Jennifer.Beck@unco.edu
(970) 351-2794
AUDITION INFORMATION
Audition Recordings and Submissions
- Complete and submit the online AUDITION APPLICATION prior to 4:00 pm on Friday, September 14, 2018. You will be required to pay a $30 application fee when you submit the form. Credit card and e-check payments will be accepted.
- Your high school orchestra director must request a Dropbox folder to submit your audition recording by emailing WSHOF@unco.edu. If you are a homeschooled student, your parent/guardian may request a folder. Students, please do not request a folder directly.
- Audition recordings (mp3 files only) must be submitted to your school’s Dropbox folder
in the following format.
- The audition document (mp3 file) must be labeled: LastName_FirstName_School_Instrument.mp3
- All required audition material must be included in one file in the following order: Scales, Orchestral Excerpts, Solo Selection. Only one file including all audition requirements should be submitted per applicant. An announcement of the student name and instrument is NOT required at the beginning of the recording.
- Audition recordings must be recorded without accompaniment. Recordings must also be unedited with no added “overdubs” or reverb.
- Mp3 files must be compressed at a bitrate of no more than 256 kbps. Files larger than 20MB will not be accepted. Consider that the quality of the audition recording may reasonably affect the perception of the adjudicators.
- Links to the required audition materials are listed in the Resources Section.
Application Deadline - Friday, September 14
The recorded audition, completed application form and audition fee must be RECEIVED by 4:00 PM ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2018. Any recordings or applications received after this date will not be eligible!
Results
- Audition results will be posted to the WSHOF website by 5:00 pm on Friday, September 28th.
- We regret that we are unable to provide evaluations of each student, nor are we willing to repeat the process in order to possibly reconsider a student's audition. All judges’ decisions are final.
REQUIRED RECORDED AUIDITION MATERIALS
VIOLIN
- E-flat major scale, A melodic minor scale, Chromatic Scale, tempo as marked
- Orchestral Excerpts from Schubert, Symphony No. 2 in B-flat Major, half note = 116-126 AND Prokofiev, Symphony No. 1, quarter note = 54.
- Piece of your choice that is most indicative of your musical and technical abilities, 2 ½ minute time limit
VIOLA
- E major scale, C melodic minor scale, and Chromatic Scale, tempo as marked
- Orchestral Excerpts from Beethoven, Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67, eighth note = 92 AND Mozart, Symphony No. 35, half note = 132.
- Piece of your choice that is most indicative of your musical and technical abilities, 2 ½ minute time limit
CELLO
- D-flat major scale, F# melodic minor scale, and Chromatic Scale, tempo as marked
- Orchestral Excerpts from Mozart, Symphony No. 35, movement IV, half note = 126 - 132 AND Brahms, Symphony No. 2, quarter note = 50-56.
- Piece of your choice that is most indicative of your musical and technical abilities, 2 ½ minute time limit
DOUBLE BASS
- A major scale, E melodic minor scale, tempo as marked
- Orchestral excerpt from Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 55, dotted half note = 60 AND Haydn, Symphony No. 31, Movement IV: Variation 7, quarter note = 70-110.
- Solo piece of your choice, please no orchestral or ensemble bass excerpts, 2 ½ minute time limit
HARP
- Orchestral excerpt from Berlioz, Symphony Fantastique
- Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake Cadenza
