Dracula Triumphant

Well Bob, we were actually paid for the show - so it's not a case of the orchestra doing anyone a disservice. While not strictly paid per call we did receive money that more than covered the costs for the show, which were limited to transport costs as all the photocopying and score preparation was done by the composer and orchestra manager.

I too have played in many amateur shows so you're preaching to the choir here - I too believe that orchestras should be paid.

Understandably, I think a lot of people may have got confused about payment in the show - Dracula was non-professional in the sense we weren't paid per call, but by no means were we doing it for free.

I base my judgement on the orchestra having been there for every one of the six shows plus all rehearsals, and the overall quality was excellent in all shows (French horn on the tuesday night is THE exception to this. The SMH review described it as parping and that is exactly what it was).

You are entitled to your opinion, but this was a high quality orchestra which included some extremely talented musicians (the woodwinds in particular were excellent) and I was happy with every one of the performances (from the orchestra point of view).

There may have been some off bits here and there but as you said - "We are expected to come in and play a very challenging score perfectly on little or no rehearsal." Well, Dracula was a challenging score with some high exposed string writing of the type that even professionals sometimes get wrong. As everyone seems so quick to harp upon, yes it is an amateur production. Nothing is absolutely perfect, not even in professional productions, and I can assure you that the orchestra was in tune and playing what was written virtually all the time, and blanket generalisations upon the whole based on the performance of one instrument in one performance are unfair and insulting.
You want absolute perfection, get the Vienna Phil...