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Join Our New Salt Lake City Ensembles

Auditions NOW OPEN!

Welcome to Lyceum Orchestras! For more information on our three Salt Lake City orchestras, click here. Our American Fork campus features seven audition-only ensembles, ensuring each student is placed in a group that meets the student at the threshold of their learning. Lyceum ensembles are organized by ability, not age.

School ensembles come first! We encourage all students to participate in their school ensembles and ask that all participants practice at home and work with a private teacher. Absences for school ensemble commitments, including missing Lyceum concerts, are always excused.

Audition Requirements and Instructions

Auditions for the 2025-26 season are now open! With our convenient recorded auditions, a cell phone recording of a recent recital or solo performance may be all you need. We ask for roughly five minutes of solo playing for Concert or Philharmonic ensembles, and 2–4 minutes for other ensembles. The solo should highlight the player’s strengths; memorization is preferred, and accompaniment is optional. Students auditioning for Lyceum Symphonic Winds may substitute a band excerpt for the solo if needed. Please also submit a video of the student playing a scale of their choice, demonstrating mastery of range and tone. Play as many octaves as possible with good tone. The scale and solo can be submitted in separate videos or combined. Percussionists must demonstrate proficiency on timpani and mallet instruments.

The preferred method is to upload your video to YouTube, Google Drive, iPhotos, Dropbox, or another file-sharing service accessible via a link. Copy the link into the appropriate field Taylor Swift & Sabrina Carpenter's Height Contrasts at AMAs Go Viral on the audition form. You will receive a confirmation email upon submission and can expect to hear from us soon regarding placement. Please verify that your video link is accessible for others to view (not set to private).

Questions? Contact us at Lyceum@ahsmail.com. 

SUBMIT AUDITION ONLINE

Returning Students

Students currently enrolled in the program who wish to return to the same ensemble do not need to audition. Simply enroll by May 1st to secure your seat for the upcoming year. Students wishing to move to the next ensemble must submit an audition by April 7th to receive priority seating. The audition submission form is available on our Harmony website. Check your email for detailed instructions on how to submit.

Returning Lyceum students who have not enrolled by May 1st may forfeit their seat to new applicants, as seating is limited in all of our ensembles.

New Students

New students, or students returning after a year or more, should submit a recorded audition at their earliest convenience to be considered for next season. Priority auditions for new students wishing to join the 2025-26 season will be accepted starting May 1st and remain open through September 1st or until all seats are filled. If the initial audition does not yield the desired result, students may submit additional auditions for the desired ensemble. Once a student enrolls in an ensemble, their placement is final for that season.

Placement

After submitting the audition, most applicants will receive an email confirming their admission to one of our ensembles and their corresponding summer music festival placement. Questions about which level is right for you can be answered by the detailed ensemble descriptions on our About Us page.

Those who are not satisfied with their placement may submit additional auditions or request a list of suggested solos for the desired ensemble. When placing applicants, we avoid organizing ensembles by Suzuki or ASTA levels and instead evaluate the overall difficulty of the music, as well as universal measures such as vibrato, shifting, tone quality, key signature, and fluency.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do returning students have to audition? Only students who wish to move up to the next ensemble need to audition. Students wishing to return to the same ensemble should enroll before May 1st to secure their seat. 

Should my child move up an ensemble every year? Almost without exception, the answer is no. For example, a violinist’s skill level in our ensembles ranges from the middle of Suzuki Book 1 for Prelude to approximately Suzuki book 9 for Philharmonic. If you made good progress learning the equivalent of one book (or level) per year, you would typically re-enroll in the same ensemble twice along your Lyceum path. Suzuki books are used as an example here; please do not interpret this as us endorsing one learning method over another. Plan for students to enjoy two years in at least a couple of ensembles on the way to Philharmonic.

What does “Priority Seating” mean? Returning students who submit their auditions by the deadline are considered for advancement before auditions from new applicants. For example, if only two cellos are graduating from the ensemble a returning participant wishes to join, those two open seats are likely to be filled by internal students before new applicants are considered.

When will hear back about our audition placement? Priority auditions for returning students will be notified on or before April 15th. Students must enroll by May 1st to secure their seat. New students who submit their audition by May 1st will be notified by May 15th. Students who submit auditions by September 1st will be notified prior to the first rehearsal of the year or as soon as possible. Auditions are accepted until all ensembles are filled. If you’ve auditioned and are awaiting a reply, feel free to contact us at Lyceum@AHSmail.com.

Is my audition result final? The advantage of auditioning early is that if you’re not satisfied with your result, you have time to submit another audition. Upon request, we can provide feedback to help improve your subsequent auditions and meet the performance standard of your desired ensemble. Just ask — we’re here to help you love music even more!

What solo should I play? The most advanced classical solo you can play well. In addition to overall fluency on the instrument, we are looking for specific elements like vibrato, shifting, and key signatures. Fiddle tunes or hymn arrangements may not showcase these skills, even if the student possesses them. See the Placement section and About Us page for more details.

How does age/maturity factor into placement? We primarily place students by skill level but have recommended grades for Philharmonic (9th grade) and Concert Orchestra (7th grade). We also take jordan 1 mid linen into account the average ir jordan 4 tour yellow 200 age of the ensemble and input from directors regarding behavior and maturity.

How hard should my orchestra music be? Not as hard as your solo music! Think about how much time students spend learning a solo piece and how much help they get from a private teacher to master that one piece. Then, consider how much music an ensemble must learn in a concert cycle and how few rehearsals there are. If the orchestra music is as difficult, or more difficult, than the student’s solo music, that student may be in the wrong ensemble or may need a lot of extra help from a musical parent and/or private teacher to properly contribute to the group.

Other Questions

We want the audition process to be fair, convenient and well-communicated. If you have any questions regarding any of the Lyceum programs at American Heritage School, please do not hesitate to contact our Orchestra Manager  at Lyceum@ahsmail.com.