Section Cello (multiple vacancies) - Des Moines Metro Opera
Thank you for your interest in auditioning for the Des Moines Metro Opera Festival Orchestra!
The deadline for submitting all audition materials to the DMMO is January 10, 2025.
Applicants will receive a status update or be notified of their audition result by April 1, 2025.
Section Cello (multiple positions): There are core and one-year vacancies. All Section Cello candidates will automatically be considered for both core and one-year positions.
Core orchestra (1 position): The audition winner will undergo a two-year probationary process before the possibility of earning Regular Member Status with the orchestra. All audition applicants are required to indicate in their submission materials the specific position(s) for which they are applying. For this audition, the designation would be “Section Cello”. If the candidate provides no specification as to which position(s), the audition packet will be automatically disqualified. All Section Cello candidates will automatically be considered for both core and one-year positions.
One-year, possibly permanent (1 position): This position is a leave of absence replacement for the 2025 season. The musician selected for this position will receive a one-year offer with the possibility of renewal or promotion if the person on leave does not return. A performance evaluation process will take place during the season for this one-year musician. All audition applicants are required to indicate in their submission materials the specific position(s) for which they are applying. For this audition, the designation would be “Section Cello”. If the candidate provides no specification as to which position(s), the audition packet will be automatically disqualified. All Section Cello candidates will automatically be considered for both core and one-year positions.
Click here for the Section Cello audition packet and more information.
Thank you for your inquiry regarding an orchestral vacancy for the 2025 season of the Des Moines Metro Opera. In addition to this document, please also refer to the DMMO 2025 Orchestra Audition Information Letter, DMMO required music excerpts lists, and DMMO audition music for other details.
All audition application materials for a candidate must be contained within one e-mail and sent no later than January 10, 2025. Late submissions will not be accepted. Incomplete submissions may be disqualified. If there are multiple vacancies for an instrument, clearly indicate the specific position(s) for which you are applying (i.e., Principal, Section, Banda). Failure to do so will result in automatic disqualification. In some instances, an audition runner-up may be given a one-year offer. All audition materials submitted by applicants become the property of the Des Moines Metro Opera.
If you have questions or concerns, please contact Allen Perriello at orchestraauditions@dmmo.org or e-mail Orchestra Personnel & Operations Manager Mark Dorr at mdorr@dmmo.org.
About
The Des Moines Metro Opera (DMMO) is a non-profit, professional opera company dedicated to bringing world-class opera productions and vital performing arts education to our region. Since its inception, the DMMO has auditioned and hired its own independent festival orchestra. Dr. Robert Larsen founded the Des Moines Metro Opera in 1973 and served as its first Artistic and Music Director. David Neely currently serves as its Music Director and Principal Conductor. Because of the DMMO’s favorable schedule, extraordinary national reputation of the company, excellent repertoire, distinctive programming, and high artistic quality, it is possible to engage the very best of professional orchestral musicians from throughout North America and beyond to perform in the Des Moines Metro Opera Orchestra. A great majority of our orchestral musicians perform the remainder of the year with professional orchestras that typically do not have a summer season. Many players return to our festival year after year and have the potential to be promoted through our probationary / tenure (“Regular Member Status”) process.
A majority of the DMMO summer festival takes place on the campus of Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. Most members of the company are in residence there for the duration of the season. Indianola is a rural suburban community of approximately 15,000 people located 12 miles south of Des Moines (metro area population: 600,000). The college and small-town atmosphere of Indianola is friendly and relaxed, with ample opportunities for recreational and cultural activities, dining, and shopping. All of the DMMO’s mainstage operas take place in the Blank Performing Arts Center Theater on the Simpson College campus. This contemporary style, 467-seat theater has a combination thrust and proscenium layout with a relatively large orchestra pit. Additionally, Second Stages Series productions and the “Stars of Tomorrow” concert are typically performed in various venues around the Des Moines metro area.
Orchestra services during the 2025 DMMO season will take place from Monday, June 16 through Sunday, July 20. A complete schedule of services will be sent out to DMMO Orchestra members in the spring. Total number of services inclusive of all mainstage productions will be approximately 16 performances and 15 rehearsals. Musicians will be offered employment only for the actual number of services and productions needed. Mainstage repertoire will be The Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner; The Cunning Little Vixen by Leos Janácek; and The Rake’s Progress by Igor Stravinsky. There is also the possibility of additional work involved with Second Stages Series productions as well as the “Stars of Tomorrow” concert set.
Wages and conditions of employment are governed through a collective bargaining agreement between the Des Moines Metro Opera and the AF of M Local 75 in Des Moines. A new CBA is currently under negotiation, thus 2025 contract rates have yet to be determined. For reference purposes, the 2024 minimum contract rate per service for a section player was $128.09. Principal stipends were 22% above the minimum contract rate. When applicable, overtimes and any doublings were paid in addition to the given per service rate. Total summer earnings for a section player offered four mainstage shows during the 2024 season (with no overtimes or doublings) were approximately $4,996. For a principal player offered four mainstage shows during the 2024 season (with no overtimes or doublings), the approximate earnings were $6,094.
Air-conditioned dormitory housing is provided by the company at no cost to an individual contracted musician traveling from over 100 miles away from the Simpson College campus. No children are allowed to reside in the dorms. Alternative housing is also available (including units for contracted musicians’ families) on a limited basis at a very reasonable cost charged to the occupants.
Musicians whose permanent residence is more than 25 miles from Indianola, Iowa, shall receive one travel stipend payment per season of twenty-five cents per mile up to but not exceeding the maximum payment of $250 (2024 rate). A cartage fee will be paid for only one round trip from a musician’s residence to Indianola for those individuals transporting harps ($50), double basses ($50), timpani ($300), and percussion instruments ($300). All musicians are to supply their own instruments.
