Auditions take place in front of orchestra general manager Keith Lau and AYO founder and artistic director, Richard Pontzious, who has a reputation of being as impatient as you-know-who.

FORBES: Idol's Asian Disciples

Martin Hoffmann, the orchestra's general manager said it was "very sad news" for the orchestra and the city of Berlin.

BBC: Sir Simon Rattle

Boston Symphony Orchestra trombonist (and later personnel manager) Bill Moyer says he remembers when Hobson Pilot joined the BSO.

NPR: Going Out On A Glissando: BSO Harpist Retires

In the spring of 1999, when Lang was sixteen, he went to New York and in a single afternoon auditioned for the Cleveland Orchestra, at Carnegie Hall, and for a manager of the Chicago Symphony.

NEWYORKER: The Olympian