Audition for the Ozark Music Festival Orchestra

The Ozark Music Festival Orchestra is comprised of college and graduate level students. Musicians must be at least 18 years of age.

Application Timeline

Early Bird Deadline: March 15, 2025
Early Bird Application Cost: $45

Final Deadline: April 15, 2025
Regular Application Cost: $60

*Applications received after March 31st will be accepted on a case-by-case basis. Some studios may be at capacity.

festival Tuition information

The cost to attend the Ozark Music Festival is $1,500.

Tuition includes room, board, chamber coachings, masterclasses/workshops, and tickets to all festival concerts.

Graduate students may apply for graduate assistantships, which waives the cost of festival tuition.

Audition Requirements

The Ozark Music Festival strives to create an inclusive and collaborative musical community. For this reason, there is no required audition repertoire. Instead, applicants should prepare repertoire of their choice that best represents their current level of playing. 

Audition requirements are as follows (this excludes pianists and string quartets, please see below):

  • Two contrasting orchestral excerpts (one lyrical and one technical) 

  • One solo of choice (your recorded selection should be 2 to 5 minutes long)

Graduate Pianist and String Quartet requirements:

  • Two recordings of two different chamber pieces

While at OMF, students will have the unique opportunity to make music alongside world-class faculty from across the country. Under the baton of Sunny Xia, the festival orchestra will perform exciting repertoire such as Mahler Symphony No. 1, Debussy La Mer, and Strauss Don Juan.

Over the two-weeks, festival musicians will have the opportunity to work with different faculty members in sectionals and chamber music coachings. Faculty and outside guests will lead professional development sessions on topics like performance anxiety, arts administration, concert curation, alexander technique, and so on. A draft daily schedule is listed below.

OMF Typical Daily Schedule (some days differ)

9-11:30am - Full orchestra rehearsal
11:30am-1pm - Lunch
1-2:15pm - Chamber A (students will be in either A or B and will have break for the other chamber time slot)
2:30-3:30pm - Studio class/Professional Dev. Workshop
3:45-5pm - Chamber B
5-6:30pm - Dinner break
7:30pm - Concert (times may vary based on day)