Please note-This position is filled
Position Announcement: Music Director of the Lowell Philharmonic Orchestra
The ORCHESTRA
The Lowell Philharmonic Orchestra is a volunteer orchestra made up of advanced and aspiring musicians. We are located in Lowell, MA. We rehearse at the Pawtucket Congregational Church on Mammoth Road in Lowell on Tuesday nights. Our concert season runs from September to July. We perform 4-5 concert cycles a year. Our vision is to have the orchestra continue to grow both in size and skill, be a symbol of talent and pride for the community, and become well known outside of the Merrimack Valley. Our goals are to provide affordable quality classical music for our community and to provide opportunities for our musicians to play interesting and challenging music. To get more information on what we have performed in the past, click HERE for 2015-2016, HERE for 2016-2017, and HERE for 2017-2018.
The Position
Music director will be responsible for:
Programming for our four main concerts while keeping within budget, programs being due by mid July each season
Conducting weekly Tuesday night rehearsals with the orchestra
Providing input in selecting guest artists and youth soloists
Participating as a judge in the annual Jeanne Sealander Memorial competition auditions (This competition selects a student soloist for the orchestra's May concert.)
Helping to coordinate occasional collaboration with other local music groups to perform joint concerts.
The ideal candidate:
Will be familiar with a broad range of repertoire from classical to pop and be open to other styles.
Must be able to program to the skill level of the orchestra while holding musicians to high expectations.
Understand how to incorporate music selections that will engage the audience with input from the board of directors.
Will possess exceptional musicianship
Have good conducting skills
Have the ability to coach musicians of varying skill levels
Be encouraging of the musicians to allow each orchestra member to reach their highest musical potential
The Candidate must have:
Transportation to Lowell to attend Tuesday evening rehearsals
Communication skills including use of cell phone and text
Ability to email
Compensation
Questions about compensation will be answered upon request.
Directions for applying
Applications will be accepted up until October 15, 2018.
Applications should be emailed to LPOConductorSearch@gmail.com and should include:
Cover letter (can be in the body of the email) from the candidate including what makes him/her uniquely ideal to lead our community orchestra including programming philosophy.
CV including previous repertoire conducted by the candidate
Names and contact information of three professional references
One potential concert program taking into consideration our current musical library which can be seen HERE and with an additional potential budget of $350. The program should be geared towards families, draw in all walks of life, and include a strings-only piece to be learned with local students who join us for the one selection (modeled after our March concert). It should be a mix of both classical, some pops, and contemporary popular pieces. Please include of links of where music would be purchased if necessary.
Link to video recordings of rehearsals and concerts conducted by the candidate are helpful but not necessary
Please direct all additional questions to LPOConductorSearch@gmail.com.
Process
We will be accepting applications until October 15, 2018. The applicants will be screened through applications, references, and review of videos if applicable. We will also be conducting phone and in-person interviews when possible.
Between October 15 and November 7th we will narrow it down up to eight applicants. These applicants will be asked to come and conduct the orchestra in part of rehearsal with music that will be provided. The rehearsal will be on one of the following days: November 13, 27, December 4, and 11th with a snow date on the 18th.
From these 8 finalists we will be choosing 2 guest conductors to conduct two concerts with programs to be determined by the board. One will conduct the LPO for our March 3rd Family Concert with rehearsals to start on Tuesday January 8th. The second finalist will conduct the LPO for our May 4th Pops concert. The candidate chosen to conduct the May Concert will conduct the rehearsals starting on March 5th and will also need to attend our concerto competition auditions, which will be held on Saturday February 9th from 8 am to 5pm. Our 2 guest conductors will get a percentage of our current conductor stipend.
Our current plan is for the new director to be introduced at our July 7 Shedd Park concert with rehearsals starting on June 4, 2019. Both the board and musicians will be involved in the new conductor selection process.