Section Principal Double Bass - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
We have an exciting opportunity for a Section Principal Double Bass player to join the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra is renowned as one of the UK’s most brilliant and versatile orchestras. Formed in 1935 and based at Glasgow’s City Halls since 2006, the Orchestra has a rich history of performing, broadcasting, recording and touring in Scotland, the UK and overseas.
Thomas Dausgaard has been Chief Conductor since 2016 and established a Composer Roots series, which places classical works in context through collaborations with folk musicians, students and choirs, and a Scottish Inspirations series of BBC commissions from leading contemporary composers. The Orchestra undertakes an ambitious programme of touring – most recently to Japan and Austria in 2019 – and recording, with a planned complete set of Bartók’s orchestral works underway with Thomas Dausgaard.
During the global pandemic, the BBC SSO broadcast and streamed live and recorded concerts from City Halls with guest artists including Steven Isserlis, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Imogen Cooper, Steven Osborne and Sir Mark Elder; staged an online version of Tectonics, its festival of new and experimental music; and created Tunes for Tots, an online series for young children, with its Associate Artist Lucy Drever.
It has long championed new music and has established strong links with local communities through its learning and outreach programmes. It is a partner in Big Noise, Scotland’s project for social change through music; it plays a major role in the BBC’s Ten Pieces initiative; and it maintains a close association with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, working across a variety of disciplines with conductors, composers, soloists and orchestral players.
It is a recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Award and of four Gramophone awards, and maintains a busy schedule of broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Scotland, BBC television and online.
Role Responsibility
To have excellent solo and orchestral playing abilities, maintaining the highest musical standards.
To be an effective and committed team leader and to play a full role in the life of the Orchestra.
To be an effective and committed team leader when leading the Section.
This job requires travelling throughout the UK and touring as well as evening and weekend work patterns.
The Ideal Candidate
To sit as Section Principal Double Bass leading the bass section.
To maintain the high standard of professional playing and musical and artisti cexcellence required by the Orchestra.
To familiarise oneself with the relevant parts, including solos, in advance of the first rehearsal and performances.
To support professionally any Leaders and Conductors engaged by the Orchestra.
To take responsibility for the style, intonation, balance, ensemble, rhythm and preparation of the section in conjunction with Leaders and the Principal Conductor.
To lead and manage the section effectively, and to share responsibility with the management for the players’ performance.
To assist and consult on the compilation of the list of freelance musicians in their section.
To foster an environment in which artistic excellence flourishes.
To develop and support positive working relationships with all other members of the Orchestra, the section and any freelance players engaged by the Orchestra.
To participate in audition panels (to include writing audition reports), trial assessment meetings, orchestral and artistic meetings as required with due regard for confidentiality.
Package Description
Contract type: Permanent
Location: Glasgow
Please note if you are shortlisted auditions will be held on:
Sat 5 Mar: 1500 - 1900
Mon 7 Mar: 1000 – 1800
Fri 18 Mar: 0930 – 1330
Please remove all photographs from CVs before submitting your application.
- Excellent career progression – the BBC offers great opportunities for employees to seek new challenges and work in different areas of the organisation.
- Unrivalled training and development opportunities – our in-house Academy hosts a wide range of internal and external courses and certification.
- Benefits- We offer a competitive salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance and 26 days (1 of which is a corporation day) with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care, gym and much more.
The situation regarding the coronavirus outbreak is developing quickly and the BBC is keen to continue to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people across the BBC, while continuing to protect our services. To reduce the risk access to BBC buildings is limited to those essential to our broadcast output. From Wednesday 18th March until further notice all assessments and interviews will be conducted remotely. For more information go to https://www.bbc.co.uk/careers/
About the Company
We don’t focus simply on what we do – we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us. Please make sure you’ve read about our values and behaviours in the document attached below.
Diversity matters at the BBC. We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, enabling all of our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential.
We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to be part of the BBC – whether that’s to contribute to our programming or our wide range of non-production roles. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity.
We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We will consider flexible working requests for all roles, unless operational requirements prevent otherwise.
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