How Unbiased Are Orchestral Auditions, Really?

Peter Dobrin: “When orchestral musicians feign perplexity on the question of why orchestras aren’t more diverse – but we use audition screens! – the disingenuousness is insulting. But the orchestra regularly asks us to accept an equally ludicrous proposition: that when auditions draw hundreds of aspirants, the most qualified musician just happens to be related to someone already in the organization.”