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Orchestra Audition Repertoire

Some orchestras, especially ballet and opera, may request additional excerpts. Excerpts marked (*) are most commonly requested.

Books containing excerpts and interpretive suggestions have been authored by Al Payson, Morris Goldenberg, Fred Hinger, Raynor Carroll, Anthony Cirone, Alan Abel, Tim Genis, Jack Van Geem, Jacque Remy, and Gerald Carlyss, etc.

Online sources include:

 

Snare drum

  • Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra*
  • Berlioz - Hungarian March from The Damnation of Faust*
  • Block - Schelomo
  • Debussy - Fetes from Nocturnes
  • Kodaly - Hary Janos Suite*
  • Prokofiev - Peter and the Wolf*
  • Prokofiev - Lt. Kije Suite*
  • Prokofiev - Symphony No. 5
  • Ravel - Bolero*
  • Rimsky-Korsakov - Capriccio Espagnol*
  • Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade*
  • Rossini - La Gazza Ladra*
  • William Schuman - Third Symphony*
  • Schostakovich - Symphony No. 10*
  • Franz von Suppe - Pique Dame Overture*
  • Sousa - Stars and Stripes Forever*

 

Bass drum

  • Mahler - Symphony No 3
  • Mahler - Symphony No. 5
  • Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring
  • Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet*
  • Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4*

 

Cymbals

  • Dvorak - Carnival Overture
  • Moussorgsky - Night On Bald Mountain*
  • Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No.2*
  • Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet*
  • Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4*

   

Bass drum and cymbals (one player)

  • Mahler - Symphony No. 1
  • Stravinsky – Petroushka

 

Tambourine

  • Berlioz - Roman Carnival Overture*
  • Bizet - Aragonaise from Carmen Suite No. 1 (Entracte)*
  • Borodin - Polevetisian Dances
  • Debussy - Images (Iberia)
  • Dvorak - Carnival Overture*
  • Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade*
  • Stravinsky - Petroushka*
  • Tchaikovsky - Danse Arabe from The Nutcracker Ballet*
  • Tchaikovsky - Trepak from The Nutcracker Ballet*

 

Triangle

  • Berlioz - Roman Carnival Overture*
  • Brahms - Symphony No. 4*
  • Debussy - Images (Iberia)
  • Dvorak - Carnival Overture
  • Liszt - Piano Concerto No. 1*
  • Mozart - Abduction from the Seraglio Overture
  • Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade*
  • Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker Ballet

 

Castanets

  • Bizet - Carmen
  • Prokofiev - Piano Concerto No. 3
  • Wagner - Bacchanale from Tannhauser

 

Xylophone

  • Copland - Appalachian Spring*
  • Gershwin - American In Paris
  • Gershwin - Porgy and Bess Overture*
  • Kabalevsky - Colas Breugnon Overture*
  • Khatchaturian - Dance of the Rose Maidens from Gayne Ballet*
  • Kodaly - VI. Entrance of the Emperor and His Court from Hary Janos Suite*
  • Ravel - Ma Mere L’Oye from Mother Goose Suite*
  • Stravinsky - L’Oiseau de Feu from Firebird - Complete Ballet
  • Stravinsky - Les Noces
  • Shostakovich - Polka from the Golden Age*

 

Glockenspiel

  • Mozart - The Magic Flute*
  • Resighi - The Pines of Rome*
  • Dukas - The Sorcerer’s Apprentice*
  • Stravinsky - Petrouschka (1911)
  • Tchaikovsky - Capriccio Italien
  • Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker

 

Vibraphone

Bernstein - “Cool” from West Side Story

Timpani

  • Barber - Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra
  • Bartok - Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta
  • Beethoven - Violin Concerto*
  • Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 3
  • Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 5
  • Beethoven – Symphonies No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9*
  • Berlioz - Symphony Fantastique
  • Brahms - Symphony No. 1*
  • Brahms - Symphony No. 4
  • Elgar - Enigma Variations
  • Hindemith - Symphonic Metamorphosis*
  • Holst - The Planets
  • Mahler - Symphony No. 2
  • Mahler - Symphony No. 5
  • William Schumann - New England Triptych
  • Shostakovich - Symphony No. 1
  • Sibelius - Finlandia
  • Strauss - Burlesque
  • Strauss - Death and Transfiguration
  • Strauss - Don Juan
  • Strauss - Till Eulenspeigel
  • Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring
  • Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet*
  • Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4*

 

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