Perform with us

Interested in playing or singing with us? Please read our Frequently Asked Questions below!

How can I play or sing with West Suburban?

Send us an e-mail through the "contact us" page on this website! We offer volunteer instrumentalists and choristers opportunities to play or sing in our concerts as guests, without audition, or as members following audition. Note that we are currently inviting musicians to apply to audition for bassoon 2, assistant horn, bass trombone, assistant principal cello, and seats in every string section. Apply here for the assistant principal cello chair and apply here for all of the other open chairs.

What's the time commitment?

Our symphony orchestra annually presents four public concerts during the academic year, usually on Sunday afternoons or Saturday evenings in Hinsdale or Naperville, and one weekday of educational concerts in Oak Brook for schoolchildren. Rehearsals are primarily on Tuesday evenings, with occasional Friday evening or Saturday morning rehearsals, in the Hinsdale and Naperville areas.

Our summer festival orchestra annually presents two public concerts, on Saturday evenings or Sunday afternoons, indoors and outdoors, in June-August in the  Naperville and Wheaton.  It rehearses on a mix of Monday and Tuesday evenings, with occasional Friday-evening rehearsals, in Hinsdale or Naperville.

The West Suburban Symphony Singers, our chorus, performs in 2 or 3 of our orchestra concerts each year. Rehearsals with piano are on Sunday evenings in Hinsdale, usually 7-8 per concert, plus 1-2 rehearsals with an orchestra, with the joint rehearsals most often on a Monday, Tuesday, or Friday evening or a Saturday morning in Hinsdale or Naperville.

For all of our ensembles, we expect performers to miss no more than 2 rehearsals per concert cycle.

What are the concerts and rehearsals like?

Our concerts are energetic and audience-friendly, with engaging audience interaction by our conductor. We give our audiences a memorable musical experience as we perform a wide range of music, from Baroque to contemporary pops. We offer fast-paced rehearsals that emphasize interpretive style. Our rehearsals are rich in humor, camaraderie and insights into composers' lives and the history of the music we perform.

What are the musicians like?

While many of our orchestra players earn their living as musicians, our ranks include individuals from varied trades and professions. Many of our players also perform regularly in classical trios and quartets, jazz groups, and rock bands; most of our singers perform regularly with other choruses. Our members are very sociable. They enjoy routine post-rehearsal and post-concert get-togethers for food and drink, parties in members' homes, and concert tours.

How do I request an audition?

Individuals age 18 and older may audition for membership, as volunteers, in our orchestras and chorus. A list of our recent repertoire is available here - it illustrates the type of music that our members are expected to be able to perform proficiently. 

We welcome musicians who are passionate about their art and committed to continually honing their skills. We seek singers and players who take a team perspective, participate regularly in rehearsals and concerts, excel in ensemble performance, and who are willing to take on volunteer roles in Symphony operations. If you'd like to audition, respond to one of our formal calls for auditioners or, if we do not have such a call active at present, contact us.

Our audition process includes solos performed for our music director and a few additional symphony contractors and members. It may also include advance audition recordings to qualify for live solo auditioners. Orchestra auditioners play:

  • Music we provide in advance: excerpts from standard literature, 1-3 minutes in length. In the interests of fairness, we distribute these excerpts to all auditioners at the same time and do not identify the excerpts before they are distributed.
  • Music we provide for sight-reading during the audition, 1-3 minutes in length and representative, in difficulty, of music that our current members sight-read successfully.
  • Music of the auditioner's choice, again 1-3 minutes in length.

Chorus auditioners sing:

  • 1-3 minutes of music of their choice, a cappella, but with a starting keyboard note/chord provided, and with a copy of their music provided to the audition panel at the time of the audition
  • 1-3 minutes of vocalizations as requested during the audition, with a starting note/chord provided.

Following successful solo auditions, players and singers perform in one concert as an "ensemble audition" before a membership decision is made.

What does it mean to be a member?

Auditioned members are guaranteed the opportunity to perform in any concert in which there's a part for their instrument voice and they are entitled to vote at the Symphony Society's annual meeting. In exchange, they need to participate in at least 3 of 5 consecutive concerts by their ensemble.

How are the groups managed?

In the tradition of volunteer community orchestras and choruses, we are a self-managed organization of volunteers. Our orchestra and chorus members constitute the membership of the West Suburban Symphony Society, the not-for-profit Illinois corporation that operates our performing groups. The Society is led by a volunteer board elected by the performing members. Volunteers also carry out our business functions, as we have no paid support staff. The Society complies with all applicable nondiscrimination laws and does not tolerate sexual harassment.