Join Us

As an amateur community orchestra we are always looking for new members, particularly in the string section. The orchestra generally has up to 50 regular members who come from all walks of life: teachers, scientists, academics, retirees, students and young mums to name a few. We are lucky to have some professional musicians in our ranks as well as music students from the Sydney Conservatorium and the Australian Institute of Music. At the same time, we have players who have returned to playing after a break. We therefore accommodate people from a range of levels of musicianship and as our highly educated and international player pool tends to be very mobile, there are plenty of opportunities to join us.

Strings
String players are always welcome to join us. If you are worried about your standard, you needn't be. Some of our string players are people who have not played for some years. Also, you'll probably be pleased to hear that we don't have auditions. You are welcome to come along and sit in on a rehearsal so you can get an idea of the standard, although we would encourage you to bring your instrument and play. We can assure you that the atmosphere is friendly and not at all intimidating. If you are a string player and are interested in joining, we encourage you to contact our President.

Woodwind and Brass
Vacancies in these sections are rather limited but do arise from time to time. If you are interested in joining, we encourage you to contact our President.

Percussion
There are generally good opportunities for people wanting to become regular or occasional percussionists with the orchestra. The orchestra has its own set of timpani. If you are interested we encourage you to contact our President.

Rehearsals and Concerts
Rehearsals take place each Monday night from 7.30pm to 10pm at St Columba's Church, Ocean Street, Woollahra.  After rehearsal, some of us adjourn to the Lord Dudley Hotel for a well-earned drink. One or two rehearsals for each concert will be sectional rehearsals; that is, for strings, brass and winds separately.  We generally require attendance at a minimum of 80% of rehearsals if you wish to play in a particular concert.

There is a rehearsal at Scots College on the Friday night before the concert commencing at 7.30pm and ending at 10.30pm.  We also perform a sound check on the day of the concert commencing around 12.30pm.  Concerts generally take place at Scots College, Victoria Road, Bellevue Hill at 2.30pm on Sunday afternoons.

Membership Fee
If you decide you want to join the orchestra, you will be required to pay a membership fee of $100.00 or $50.00 concession. If you join during the year, or are not able to play in each concert, a reduced fee calculated on a pro-rata is available.