2019 Western States Honor Orchestra Festival
November 7-9, 2019
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. New this, the Western States Honor Orchestra will be at the all new Campus Commons.
We will form a conductorless 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, lectures, and masterclasses by UNC string faculty.
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.
Contact Us
Jennifer Beck
UNC Bands & Orchestras Program Coordinator
Jennifer.Beck@unco.edu
(970) 351-2794
AUDITION INFORMATION
Recording Submission Info
- Complete and submit the online AUDITION APPLICATION prior to 5:00 pm on Friday, September 20, 2019. 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 Deadlines and Address
- The recorded audition, completed application form and audition fee must be RECEIVED by 5:00 PM ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2019. 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, October 4th.
- 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.
RESOURCES
Audition Materials
Violin
- D major scale, C melodic minor scale, Chromatic Scale, tempo as marked.
- Orchestral Excerpts from Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 (Mvmt III), quarter note = 52-58 AND Mendelssohn, Scherzo from Midsummer Night’s Dream, dotted quarter note = 80-88.
- Piece of your choice that is most indicative of your musical and technical abilities, 2 ½ minute time limit
Viola
- G major scale, D melodic minor scale, and Chromatic Scale, tempo as marked
- Orchestral Excerpts from Berlioz, Roman Carnival Overture, Op. 9, quarter note = 52 AND Mozart, Symphony No. 35, Mvmt I, quarter note = 156.
- Piece of your choice that is most indicative of your musical and technical abilities, 2 ½ minute time limit
Cello
- F# major scale, C melodic minor scale, and Chromatic Scale, tempo as marked
- Orchestral Excerpts from Beethoven, Symphony No. 5, Mvmt. III, dotted half-note = ~72-82 AND Debussy, La Mer, quarter note = 80.
- Piece of your choice that is most indicative of your musical and technical abilities, 2 ½ minute time limit
Double Bass
- A major scale, F# melodic minor scale, tempo as marked
- Orchestral excerpt from Haydn, Symphony No. 88, quarter note = 80-130 AND Prokofiev, Lt. Kije, quarter note = 60-80.
- Solo piece of your choice, please no orchestral or ensemble bass excerpts, 2 ½ minute time limit
Harp
- Orchestral excerpts from Mahler, Symphony No. 1, Mvmts. I and III
- Nutcracker, Cadenza from Waltz of the Flowers
- Korsakov, Capriccio Espagnol, Mvmt. 5
