<p>On a non-admissions related note, can anyone comment on how difficult is it to make a land in the YSO? I would assume it varies pretty widely among instruments, but I'm just looking for a general level of competition.</p>
<p>It’s hard to describe how “difficult” it is. But I do know several freshmen in YSO. While they are all very good, they aren’t prodigies or anything. If it gives you any kind of perspective, the concertmaster of the YSO is a sophomore who was enrolled at Juilliard for a year before deciding it wasn’t for her and reapplying to Yale, Harvard, etc. However, I’m guessing most people in the orchestra are not Juilliard level. If you’re interested in orchestra and you enroll at Yale, definitely try out for the YSO (although be aware that it is a significant time commitment, with minimum 2 rehearsals per week, sometimes 4 before big concerts). If the time commitment scares you off (like it did for me; I might try out next year though), there are several residential college orchestras, which anyone can audition for. You don’t have to be especially high level to get into most of them, but the Berkeley College Orchestra is very good - not up there with the YSO, of course, but I personally feel it is the best res. college group.</p>
<p>I think what livorneo says is right, but I also think it depends on the instrument. Competition is tough for something like clarinet, much less so for string bass. Violin is tough, although of course there are more of them. It’s a very good college orchestra. In addition to the college orchestras, for winds and percussion there is also the Concert Band, which is also quite good, but has a lot more seats for clarinets, flutes, etc., than the YSO does.</p>
<p>Question: How hard it is to land a solo performance as a pianist with the orchestra? Meaning playing a concerto? And do they do those often?</p>
<p>Cool, thanks! Any idea how competitive the percussion is specifically? Also, Communist, I know there’s a concerto contest every year and the winner gets to perform the concerto with the YSO.</p>
<p>I agree the level of competition depends on the instrument, but it is amazing to see the level of musical talent at Yale. I think you will find that a good number are of conservatory level, quite a few who actually chose Yale over conservatory acceptances. And, I’d go further than Hunt and say that the YSO is an excellent college orchestra. Besides the YCB and several student-run orchestras, there are also numerous opportunities for chamber music participation. The music scene at Yale is tremendous.</p>
<p>Yeah, that’s one of the main reasons I applied to Yale - for a university of its academic caliber, it has an amaaaaazing music scene. Do you happen to know if there are any percussion-only ensembles? Like, ones that play modern percussion chamber music? I know Harvard has THUD (The Harvard Undergraduate Drummers), but I couldn’t find anything comparable at Yale.</p>
<p>I know this is an old thread, but we were are Yale a couple of weeks ago, and saw performances by the Berkeley College Orchestra (which I believe livorneo is in), and the Jonathan Edwards College Philharmonic, and they were both excellent. We also saw performances of new music group Sic InC (which my son is in), and it was also excellent (in our humble opinion). There are tons of musical groups there.</p>
<p>Yes, totally agree with Hunt. S was in 5 performing groups this year, including 3 of the large ensembles mentioned above plus 2 chamber groups. Every performance we heard was excellent. He even got to perform in Carnegie Hall twice this year.</p>
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<p>FYI: percussion is not that competitive. well it is, but not nearly as violin or cello. also check out the concert band.</p>