The L.A. Phil's 106 musicians picked up their instruments as children and studied at the best conservatories. But getting onto the Disney Hall stage is tougher than winning admission to Harvard. Nearly 400 clarinetists applied for a recent opening. Seventy were called for an audition.

How much does an Artist make at LA Philharmonic in California? Average LA Philharmonic Artist hourly pay in California is approximately $41.99, which is 114% above the national average.

A symphony orchestra and a philharmonic orchestra: what is actually the difference? It's a commonly asked question, and you might occasionally hear speculations about how it has to do with compositional or numeric differences. The short answer is: there is no difference at all.

Sometimes an orchestra will conduct a prescreening round. They will send you a list of excerpts to record, then they'll decide about giving you an audition once they hear your tape. This often happens to candidates who almost have enough on their resume to merit an audition, but not quite.