Assistant Conductor

About the Position

The Assistant Conductor is an integral member of the artistic leadership team and conducting staff of the Omaha Symphony. In collaboration with key staff, they are responsible for creatively planning and executing the Omaha Symphony’s industry-leading Education and Community Engagement concerts and activities. These highly-visible programs are essential to the Omaha Symphony’s mission and serve nearly 25,000 participants annually. The Assistant Conductor also provides vital support for the Omaha Symphony’s Music Director, Principal Pops & Resident Conductor, guest conductors, and musicians as cover conductor for all of the orchestra’s activities.

The Assistant Conductor position is a two-season appointment (24/25 and 25/26 seasons), with the potential for an additional two-season extension. The preferred start date of the position is July 1, 2024.

Key Responsibilities

• Write, program, host, and conduct Education and Community Engagement concerts, Family concerts, residencies, and tours, in collaboration with the Director of Education, the Music Director, Principal Pops & Resident Conductor, and other Omaha Symphony staff.

• Conduct other programs as assigned. Assist with offstage conducting needs, prepare scores and call sound/light/supertitle cues as required.

• Serve as cover conductor for all other Omaha Symphony orchestra services including the Masterworks and Symphony Joslyn classical series, Symphony Pops, Symphony Rocks, Movies, and Family series, special concerts, and fee engagements.

• Participate in mentoring relationships with Omaha Symphony Music Director, Principal Pops & Resident Conductor, and senior staff. Actively engage with Omaha Symphony musicians and guest artists.

• Plan and host Community Engagement activities, including pre-concert lectures and events with community partners.

• Administrative duties which will include, but are not limited to, attending artistic planning meetings, as well as staff, board, and committee meetings.

• Public relations duties, which will include media appearances, public speaking engagements, and other functions where the Assistant Conductor represents the Omaha Symphony.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will demonstrate exceptional musicianship and conducting skills and have a broad knowledge of orchestra repertoire and familiarity with all genres of music in general. They will have strong communication, interpersonal, leadership, and organizational skills. Creativity, flexibility, and the ability to work under pressure are extremely important to this position.

Conducting experience with symphony orchestras is required. Experience conducting and programming educational concerts is preferred. Bachelor’s level college or conservatory degree required, and an advanced degree or training is preferred.

Knowledge and/or innate curiosity about orchestra operations, including concert programming, professional performance practice, and the parameters of a union work environment are essential for this position. The successful candidate must be able to work well with resident and visiting artists with a broad spectrum of personalities. Assistant Conductor must work days, evenings, and weekends as required.

Assistant Conductor shall reside in Omaha for the duration of the appointment. Applicants must legally be able to work in the United States.

Compensation and Benefits

This is a year-round position, and the annual salary will be $45,000 for the 2024/25 season with the potential for an increase in 2025/26. The Symphony will purchase or provide all scores required to fulfill conducting and cover duties.

The Assistant Conductor is eligible for the following benefits:

• Paid Leave (sick, vacation, personal, bereavement)

• Health and Dental Insurance

• Life, AD&D, and Long-term Disability Insurance

• Flexible Spending Account

• Workers’ Compensation

• Complimentary Tickets: as available, depending on sales.

Application Procedure

Candidates are requested to submit the following materials to acsearch@omahasymphony.org no later than Friday, April 5, 2024.

All materials must be submitted electronically, with written materials sent as either PDF or Microsoft Word files. Candidates will be notified once their application has been received.

Please label materials using the following guidelines: (Item Name)(Last Name)(First Initial)

Ex. 1 – CoverSmithJ 3 – RecSmithJ 5 – CondSmithJ

2 – ResumeSmithJ 4 – EducationSmithJ 6 – SpeakSmithJ

1.) Cover Letter articulating your interest in the position

2.) Résumé and References

3.) Letters of recommendation (encouraged, not required)

4.) An outline of a 45-minute education concert geared towards 4th – 6th grade students. Include a list of repertoire, concepts to be taught with each work, a one page scripted intro that includes two of the pieces, and a summation of concepts taught for the remainder of the concert. (Complete script is also acceptable.)

5.) Conducting Video Links (List in Word document) a. Videos must show recent conducting experience and would ideally include a varied selection of repertoire. Performance and/or rehearsal videos are acceptable. Full works or movements are not required.

b. Videos must be of the conductor from the orchestra’s vantage point.

c. Videos must be submitted via YouTube, Vimeo, or similar online video hosting services. Do not send videos as files attached to emails. If videos are password protected, please be sure to include password information. If using YouTube, videos may be marked as “unlisted” but please DO NOT mark videos as “private.” Online video submission must be easily accessible by multiple users.

d. Please refer to Maestro Bahl’s thoughts on video submissions here: https://www.everythingconducting.com/post/your-conducting-video

6.) Speaking Video Link (List in Word document)

a. Video showing delivery of a pre-concert lecture of a work of the applicant’s choice. Video should not exceed five minutes.

b. Follow the same video submission guides as conducting videos.

Audition Process

An audition committee including Omaha Symphony conducting staff, musicians, and administrative staff will review applications and may further screen potential candidates through preliminary interviews and contact with references. The committee will select finalists who will be invited to attend the live audition.

On April 15, 2024, candidates will be notified of their invitation to the live audition, and all other applicants will be informed that they have not been selected to continue the audition process.

The on-site auditions will take place May 8 – 10, 2024. The Omaha Symphony will provide invited applicants round trip airfare reimbursement (up to $500), and hotel accommodations while in Omaha for the audition dates. Additional information regarding the on-site audition will be provided to invited applicants.

About the Omaha Symphony

www.omahasymphony.org

With the mission “to enrich people’s lives through the exhilarating experience of live orchestral music,” the Omaha Symphony offers six distinct concert series and a wide array of education and community engagement programs, run-out concerts, tours, and special events for thousands of people of all ages throughout the region. The Orchestra’s Masterworks, Live with the Omaha Symphony, and Family series concerts are performed in the 1,965-seat concert hall of the Holland Performing Arts Center, an architectural and acoustic marvel that opened in the heart of downtown in 2005. A chamber orchestra series is presented at the Joslyn Art Museum.

Each season, the Omaha Symphony reaches more than 30,000 students throughout the state and region with an innovative and nationally recognized music education curriculum designed for pre-school through high school. The Orchestra’s community engagement is broadened through active partnerships with social service agencies, arts groups, and academic organizations, including Boys Town, El Museo Latino, Completely Kids, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Omaha Salvation Army Kroc Center, Omaha Area Youth Orchestras, Omaha Conservatory of Music, Creighton University, University of Nebraska-Omaha, Temple Israel, the Joslyn Art Museum, Opera Omaha, and more.

Founded in 1921, the Omaha Symphony employs Nebraska’s largest complement of professional performing artists, with a core of 42 full-time musicians and 28 part-time musicians, all of whom work under a collective bargaining agreement that covers a 38-week season.

Ankush Kumar Bahl became Music Director in July 2021 and is implementing a bold vision for the Omaha Symphony focused on re-imagining the concert experience, championing American artists, and serving as an adaptable and relevant resource to the Omaha community. Ernest Richardson serves as Principal Pops Conductor and Resident Conductor, overseeing the Orchestra’s popular programming, and was the architect for our current education and community engagement programs.

The Omaha Symphony has a 24-member Board of Directors that includes top corporate and community leaders. Fifty Governing Members serve as advocates for the Orchestra throughout the community. The annual operating budget of the Omaha Symphony is $9 million. The Orchestra’s endowment currently exceeds $50 million.

A staff of 28 full- and part-time employees manages the Orchestra’s activities. The Omaha Symphony partners with Omaha Performing Arts for certain financial, administrative, and box office functions. Jennifer Boomgaarden Daoud was appointed President & CEO in July 2018.

With gratitude to an Omaha community that is strongly supportive of its artistic and cultural landscape, the Omaha Symphony continues its second century from a position of stability, and with an invigorated appetite for innovation.

About the Education and Community Engagement Programs

The Omaha Symphony’s Education and Community Engagement programming involves a wide array of partners such as the Boy Scouts, El Museo Latino, Girls, Inc., Girl Scouts, Heartland Family Services, Omaha Area Youth Orchestras, Omaha Conservatory of Music Violin Sprouts, Omaha Public Schools, and Salvation Army Kroc Center. Performance activities include:

• Regional touring and residencies - Omaha Symphony musicians and the Omaha Symphony Chamber Orchestra teach and perform throughout Nebraska as part of a structured education initiative.

• Celebrate Creativity - Middle and high school students participate in hands-on learning activities led by creative industry professionals and a gallery tour of Joslyn Art Museum. The experience culminates in an Omaha Symphony concert that draws students into an active conversation to explore the nature of art.

• Choral Collaborative - A 350-voice chorus of high school singers performs with the Omaha Symphony. (Conducted by Ernest Richardson)

• Educator as Maestro - Music educators conduct the Omaha Symphony in a masterclass setting under the guidance of Music Director Ankush Kumar Bahl.

• Margre Durham Concerts for Youth - Fourth through sixth grade students learn program-specific curriculum (usually recorder) which culminates in a play-along concert starring the students.

• Mission Imagination - The Omaha Symphony performs in schools for Pre-K through third grade students with imaginative storytelling and engaging orchestral music.

• Music Mentors - Middle and high school instrumental students participate in side-by-side rehearsals with Omaha Symphony musicians.

• Forte (Community Engagement) - The Omaha Symphony collaborates with local partners to create programming of all sizes to amplify the strengths of our community. Larger concerts include working with Temple Israel, El Museo Latino, and Autism Action Partnership to bring customized and community-driven programming to the Omaha area.

About Omaha, Nebraska

With a cost of living lower than the national average, clean air and water, short commutes, and all the cultural and entertainment amenities of a city twice its size, the greater Omaha area is nationally recognized as a great place to live, work, and play.

• Rated #1 Best City with the Biggest Bang for Your Buck (The Fiscal Times)

• Rated #1 Most Recession Proof City (Brookings Institution)

• Rated #2 America's 10 Best Cities for Professional Women (Movoto Blog)

• Rated #2 Best City for Recent Grads (The Daily Beast)

• Rated #3 Best City to Live, Work and Play (Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine)

• Cost of living is 10 to 12 percent below the national average (Sperling’s Best Places)

• Median price of an existing home is well below the national average

• Crime rate consistently lower than similarly sized metropolitan areas

• One of the 20 Awesome Cities You Need to Visit in Your 20s (Huffington Post)

• One of the 10 Best Cities for Millennials Right Now (The Atlantic Wire)

• One of the Six Cities Where Startups are Thriving (Money)

Omaha’s unique blend of Fortune 500 companies, visionary nonprofits, award-winning arts and culture, and innovative start-ups attracts a range of world-class talent – from entrepreneurs to artists – and there is no shortage of things to do! Music lovers enjoy the Saddle Creek indie scene, arena shows at the CHI Health Center Arena, orchestra concerts at the world-famous Holland Performing Arts Center, and Broadway shows at the Orpheum Theater. Art lovers can take in a film at internationally recognized art house Film Streams, visit the Joslyn Art Museum’s world-class collection and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and visit independent galleries. Outdoor activities abound, including hiking in Fontenelle Forest or the nearby hills of Iowa, strolling the more than 100 acres at the Lauritzen Gardens, and walking, running and biking on paved waterfront trails. Sports fans will enjoy the NCAA College World Series (CWS), United States Olympic Swimming Trials, and the Kansas City Royals’ AAA affiliate team, the Omaha Storm Chasers