Violin open auditions

17 January 2023

Aurora Orchestra is seeking to recruit violinists to join the pool of freelance musicians from which we engage extra players.

About Aurora

Since its creation in 2005, Aurora Orchestra has rapidly established itself in the front rank of European chamber orchestras. Under the musical direction of Principal Conductor Nicholas Collon, it combines world-class performance with adventurous programming and concert presentation. Recent seasons have seen the orchestra work with artists ranging from Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Ian Bostridge and Nicola Benedetti to Max Richter, Wayne McGregor and Björk.

Aurora is based in London as Resident Orchestra at Southbank Centre and Resident Ensemble at Kings Place. The orchestra tours widely throughout the UK and internationally, with recent seasons including appearances in Singapore, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. It has attracted particular attention for its adventurous ‘Orchestral Theatre’ work, with innovative cross-art form projects incorporating memorised performance, staging, design and other theatrical elements. An award-winning creative learning programme comprises a host of creative workshops and storytelling concerts for families, schools and young people, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

The orchestra maintains a strong commitment to contemporary repertoire, with current and recent seasons including premieres by composers including Julian Anderson, Benedict Mason, Missy Mazzoli, Anna Meredith, Nico Muhly, Max Richter, Caroline Shaw, Martin Suckling and Judith Weir. Aurora is the recipient of a number of major awards including three Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards, a German ECHO Klassik Award and a Classical:NEXT Innovation award. It has recorded for labels including Warner Classics, Decca Classics and Deutsche Grammophon.

Open auditions

Aurora is a project-based orchestra whose projects incorporate an extremely wide variety of repertoire, varying in scale from small unconducted chamber music to larger-scale symphonic works. The orchestra is based in London as Resident Orchestra at Southbank Centre and Resident Ensemble at Kings Place, and performs regularly throughout the UK and internationally.

The ambitious nature of Aurora’s artistic output means that very often players are offered performing opportunities that might be unusual elsewhere in the UK orchestral sector, including performing solo or chamber repertoire within an orchestral concert, playing whole symphonies from memory, working with collaborators including choreographers and directors, and adopting a distinct theatrical approach to concert presentation.

Successful auditionees will be invited to join the pool of extra players from which Aurora engages violinists as required for its projects.

Aurora is committed to Arts Council England’s Creative Case for Diversity, and strives to reflect the diversity of contemporary Britain not only in the audiences it reaches but in its artistic output and the make-up of its staff and players. We are particularly keen to hear from applicants from backgrounds that are currently underrepresented in the professional orchestral sector, and will automatically offer an audition to candidates who identify as such.

The audition will comprise:
– One five minute piece (or extract of a piece) of your choice, to be performed unaccompanied
– Three unaccompanied orchestral extracts. Download the orchestral extracts (PDF, 816KB)

Please note there will be no accompanist provided or required on the day. The panel will be a selection of our Principal string players. Full audition details including times and venue will be sent to successful applicants ahead of their audition.

To apply for an audition, please send your CV to auditions@auroraorchestra.com. You are strongly encouraged to send a link to a video/recording of your playing. Please indicate when applying if you believe you qualify for an automatic audition.

We envisage there being several dates throughout the season for auditions. We will continue to monitor applications and will be in touch with applicants once we’ve arranged audition dates.

Recent Aurora projects:


Excerpt from Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique performance at the BBC Proms 2019

Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9 in rehearsal