Bayreuth chorus: The official line
OperaI cannot remember an instance when a major festival ordered its entire chorus to reaudition. The Bayreuth press office, however, insists it is entirely routine.
Anyone who would like to continue singing in the choir can reapply and audition, but the choir will not be disbanded. The new choirmaster would like to gain an overview of the existing choir members in this way, but also look for new talent, as is customary every year, even if not to this extent. We stated that this is quite common and point out that all existing choir members are invited to audition so that the new choirmaster can get to know his staff. This approach is also intended to ensure the continued high quality of the Festival Choir.
The job advertisement for the festival choir can already be found on the Internet.
Richard Wagner himself was never this brutal.
I believe the entire Tanglewood Festival Chorus was asked to re-audition a few years back upon the appointment of a new conductor. Details fuzzy in my memory, but it was a nasty occasion, nonetheless the institution seems to have survived, how seriously improved or not unclear.
As a regular BSO attendee, let me assure you the Tanglewood Festival Chorus was in *deplorable* condition at the end of John Oliver’s long and highly distinguished tenure prior to his death. They had fallen so far and it didn’t happen overnight.
The BSO’s decision to re-audition everyone was the right move musically. I have no idea what the “right” way is to handle something disruptive like this when so many in the chorus served with such distinction for so long. But the chorus was untenable in its current state, and difficult decisions were required and quickly. Tinkering at the margins was not an option.
James (“Jamie”) Burton has done a superb job with the “new” chorus, and they are vastly improved if not back to their previous lofty standards. And I have no doubt they are going to get even better with time.
Former TFC’er: it was nasty all right. Symphony management let the founding conductor stay on too long before retirement and the results of his desultory preparation of the chorus in his last years showed. Rather than confront that problem, they ignored it until bringing in the new guy to blow it up.
At Lyon opera we had to audition for each production we were offered.
That’s not entirely true. In Lyon auditions are held whenever a new chorus master takes over.
“This approach is also intended to ensure the continued high quality of the Festival Choir.”
In order to ensure the high level of quality of the Bayreuth Festival, its management should be open to public competition. Katharina Wagner has repeatedly demonstrated her ineptitude as a director, a position she took up by her surname (like all her predecessors) without having, or having so far demonstrated, any merit.
For what it’s worth, TFC is not a paid ensemble and many (most?) members are not full time musicians. Not that that really matters.
But Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society, a fabulous professional ensemble, periodically reauditions everyone. Voice ca change and deteriorate more quickly than other musicians skills might.
Neither group is unionized, so there is no formal for removal of a singer.
As it happens, the Bayreuth choristers have always re-auditioned the whole summer long as the chorus masters to date have retained the right not to re-invite those they felt were not up to scratch. This has happened to more than a few of my acquaintance.
An acquaintance who sang in the Chicago Symphony Chorus for many years told me recently that every member must re-audition every two years. Members know this so it doesn’t came as a surprise as it appears to be the case in Bayreuth.
Yes, after 20 years, voices age and the ‘new man’ is only being practical in asking for the ‘entire chorus’ to reaudition. Some might need to ‘brush up’ on their scales
Scottish Opera has operated this way for years. For example, some choristers who have been singing there for years, even decades, have only one minor contract in the 24-25 season.
With a change of director, it is not uncommon to have every chorus member reaudition. From November 3, 2014:
Houston Symphony Magazine: As you began your tenure with the Symphony, you re-auditioned the entire Chorus. What was that process like?
Betsy Cook Weber: The process was both grueling and gratifying. We had an astounding response to the audition announcement and heard 249 singers, including both existing and prospective Chorus members. At twelve minutes per singer, the auditions took fifty long hours. A panel of distinguished choral directors from the area helped listen to and score each audition, which consisted of three parts: vocalizing, performing prepared musical excerpts, and sight singing. These were blind auditions, meaning that the singers sang from behind a sheet so that the panel did not know who they were, just as for orchestra auditions.
The auditions were important to make absolutely certain, as any new director would, that the Chorus consists of only the very best singers. We will use only 120 of those 249 singers for the first concert, so the selection process was quite rigorous, particularly when one realizes that those who auditioned didn’t just walk in off the street—everyone who auditioned brought experience, training, skill and talent.
It’s not ‘choirmaster’ but ‘chorus master’. Choirs are in churches, choruses in theatres.
Only the English language makes this important distinction.
Is this “idea” the consequence or the cause of the sudden departure of the previous chorus master?
Or is just an ego trip of the new direction?
bullshit
Choirs can become cosy little social clubs to the detriment of the music. Good to put a rocket under them every so often and dump the passengers.
When I was in Scottish Opera Chorus full-time, and not for that long, we all had to audition every two years. That wasn’t a seasonal company.
Nothing to see here – move along.
San Francisco Symphony Chorus (which has a core of part-time, paid AGMA singers + many excellent volunteers) & Tanglewood Festival Chorus (which is fully volunteer) have both regularly re-auditioned members. As someone who has sung in both for over 25 years, I consider this a normal way to maintain my membership.
The difference here is the whole chorus being told in August that they will re-audition all at the same time, in the same year. The very new NYPhil chorus has a roster of pre-auditioned singers that each program is drawn from (no concert group is the same…).
Usually, opera seasons are planned further in advance than a few months, as singers need to plan their gigs, local arrangements, and travel far in advance to save money (esp. for summer festivals).
I’m sure the Bayreuth staff and soloists have contracts issued much further in advance, and so have a much greater feeling of security.
For those who don’t read German: underneath the sign pointing the visitor to the Bayreuth Festival Hall are signs for the “Nervenkrankenhaus” (Mental Health Hospital) and “Arbeitsamt” (Employment Agency). Both seem somehow appropriate, given the content of this post…
The superb major London Orchestra Choruses, made up entirely of volunteers, reaudition regularly – if you don’t, vocal quality and professionalism soon suffer.
Astonishing that this has caused such a fuss at Bayreuth where the Chorus is being paid.
Find it hard to see what the problem of this is in principle. I don’t believe that a single successful audition entitles you to a place in the Bayreuth chorus for life: every year a number of people won’t be invited back because they are judged not to sing well enough or because they’ve upset someone and I’d be surprised if this was done transparently. These aren’t permanent jobs and, if the Festival decides that it’s time to take stock and spend the time and energy doing a full re-audition, I don’t see why it shouldn’t.
It may not be the greatest way of keeping your regulars who may feel a sense of entitlement to be there and you may lose some good people who are offended – there’ll be other ones around who will feel that singing in Bayreuth is unlikely to be a black mark on their CV. I imagine that the atmosphere in the last week of the Festival was pretty sour. It’ll be forgotten next year.