REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS – PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR

COLOMBIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

QUESTIONNAIRE

The Colombian National Symphony Orchestra is a young middle-sized ensemble which presently has 61 full-time members. The Orchestra has a limited budget for hiring extra musicians, guest soloists and guest conductors as well as for performing works that imply high rental or performance rights costs. It is an orchestra that aims to strengthen its artistic level,offering unconventional, educational and entertaining programs that can attract a diverse audience. Since the beginning, the Colombian National Symphony Orchestra has been known for serving not only the capital city (Bogota), but also several of the country’s regions, cities and municipalities. Consequently, the Orchestra has performed in unconventional venues such as churches, main squares and coliseums of places located far away from the country’s main cities.

Keeping in mind the information above, please answer –briefly and to the point- the following questions:

  1. What kind of repertory do you think should be the programming backbone ofan orchestra with these characteristics?
  1. The Orchestra performs in several venues including the country’s most important auditoriums presenting short, approximately four-week long, concert seasons. Please propose four (4) programs to be presented in a one-month long concert series (one program per week, two concerts per week with one same program).
  1. The following are four programs performed by the Orchestra in different years and venues and under different conductors. Keeping in mind the Orchestra’s characteristics, what is your opinion about these programs?
  1. Program 1
  2. Brahms – Symphony No. 2
  3. Ives – Variations on America
  4. Mozart – Symphony No. 25
  1. Program 2
  2. Rossini – Overtureto Semiramide
  3. Dvorák – String serenade
  4. Stravinsky – Petrushka (v. 1947)
  1. Program 3
  2. Ginastera – Suite from the Ballet Estancias
  3. Piazzolla – Tangazo
  4. Rimsky-Korsakov – Capriccio espagnol
  1. Program 4
  2. Dvorák – Carnival overture
  3. Berio – Folk Songs
  4. Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6
  1. How would you develop programs aimed at reaching to families, children and young people with an orchestra such as the Colombian National Symphony Orchestra?
  1. It can be said that, in several of the trips that the Orchestra makes outside of Bogota, the audience gets to experience, for the first time, what a symphony orchestra is. This kind of work implies facing unusual accommodations, weather and general conditions. What is your opinion about this kind of work?
  1. What qualities do you consider make you the ideal candidate for assuming the role of principal conductor of the Colombian National Symphony Orchestra?
  1. Please propose one (1) full program that, in your opinion, displays your versatility and strengths as a conductor.