Hi--
Would love to hear your opinions on this--
I took an audition for a regional orchestra and didn't advance. A couple of days later, on an online forum for our instrument, the principal player from that orchestra went online and complained about the general level of the playing at the audition and went into detail about what they would have liked to hear and what they didn't hear from the auditionees. Some negative opinions were expressed about the state of musical education and the musicianship of young players. This person put their name on their post, and it can be easily ascertained which orchestra and audition was being referred to. I was a bit embarassed, as there were people who knew I had taken the audition. Am I overreacting, or was this kind of public disparagement a bit out of line?
Also, as a secondary question, I know with screened auditions the performer is anonymous, but do panels find out after the fact who was who?
thanks--

About your second question...At the end of our auditions, when everything is finished and the winner is announced, we can ask the personnel manager to look up a particular number (later on..when people are leaving). We don't automatically get a list of who was who...we only find out if we ask specifically.

Sounds like a rant from someone frustrated with his/her job, or with his/her orchestra's inability to attract top candidates. There's clearly no shortage of talented young musicians emerging from conservatories today. It can be frustrating on an audition committee to hear a majority of candidates come in and play at a level far below what is required, but that's the nature of the business, and the reality is, you only need as many qualified candidates as you have positions available.

Regarding your question about contestant anonymity: all candidates at our auditions have their identities strictly protected before, during, and after the audition. The only exceptions are those candidates who reach an unscreened final round - at that point, resumes are distributed to the audition committee, and if asked, the personnel manager will give a numerical "trackback" to the earlier rounds for those candidates only. No request for the personnel manager to reveal the name and number of someone who didn't reach an unscreened round would ever be granted, and in fact, our personnel staff usually refuses even to tell us whether a given individual attended the audition at all.

I second Sam's description of the procedural. It's true - we only find out who is who when they come out from behind the screen. If I have a friend who comes to audition, they'll call me afterwards (maybe) and admit that they were there, and that's the only way I'd know (unless they were staying with me).

I'd be interested to know the orchestra you're talking about, and the instrument. You can private message me if you'd like.

Personnaly, I would contact the orchestra's management staff about this issue. I would ask if they had noticed the comment(s) made by one of their members concerning auditions. If nothing else they migth be able to provide some background on the confidentiality of ones audition information.

I have to say I agree with moochie's point about contacting the management. I think it is bad form to publicly comment about an audition for which one was on the committee, especially to say disparaging things about the auditionees. I suppose the person thought that maybe they were helping the contestants by pointing out what they perceived as problems. But surely there is a better way to get the message across. I know that sometimes contestants will contact the principal involved to ask specifically for comments. That would be the proper way to ask for feedback if feedback was desired.

In general, comments like those are better left at the bar among friends and not on an Internet forum. We have very strict confidentiality rules regarding auditions and contestants. If something like that happened in our orchestra, I would imagine that the person would be censured and probably barred from serving on an audition committee again.