LOCATION, ORGANIZATION DESCRIPTION, AND JOB SUMMARY:

Allentown is the third largest city in Pennsylvania and part of the Lehigh Valley region of eastern PA. Conveniently located 90 miles west of New York City and 60 miles north of Philadelphia, the Lehigh Valley is a growing and culturally diverse region with vibrant arts, education, healthcare, and historic resources. Summer festivals include the PA Shakespeare Festival, the official Shakespeare Festival of the State of Pennsylvania, and MusikFest, the nation’s largest non-gated free music festival. In 2024, the nearby Historic Moravian Bethlehem District was named an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Allentown’s diverse population is nearly 70% persons of color, with 54% identifying as Hispanic/Latino. Despite its proximity to the eastern seaboard, Allentown and the greater Lehigh Valley enjoy a lower cost of living compared to nearby metro areas, while also providing a high quality of life for its residents.

The Allentown Symphony Association (ASA) operates the Allentown Symphony Orchestra (ASO), and owns/operates its theatre, Miller Symphony Hall, allowing the ASA to have complete control of its schedule. With a current operating budget of $4M, the ASA is a Group 3 orchestra as defined by the League of American Orchestras and counts professional musicians from metro New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Wilmington, DE in addition to nearby New Jersey among its ranks. Esteemed conductor, educator, and author Diane Wittry is currently in her 30^th season as Music Director/Conductor. Since 1951, the ASO has been the premiere professional symphony orchestra of the Lehigh Valley and currently presents a variety of classical, pops, holiday, and family concerts. Its lauded education program El Sistema Lehigh Valley is an immersive, daily music education program offered to students in grades K-12. The ASA also presents other educational engagement programs and non-orchestra concerts. Miller Symphony Hall, first opened in 1899, is a historic theater and cornerstone of Allentown’s Arts District.

The Interim Assistant Conductor & Orchestra Librarian is a highly talented and musical individual who possesses strong communication skills on and off the podium. This exciting position offers the opportunity for a conductor to contribute their skills to ensure that the ASO performs at the highest possible artistic levels. This position will act as additional eyes and ears of the Music Director or Guest Conductors, playing a pivotal role in the orchestra’s artistic expression, while assisting the conductor with musical preparation of the orchestra at rehearsals and concerts. They will also prepare as a potential substitute for ailing or indisposed conductors. Additionally, the Interim Assistant Conductor & Orchestra Librarian orders, catalogs, prepares, scans, and distributes music for all Allentown Symphony Association activities, including all rehearsals and concerts. This includes orchestra concerts, chamber music concerts, chorus, educational concerts, audition materials, and any activities involving musical performance.

This position is a one-year (summer 2025-summer 2026), part-time contract position which reports to the Director of Artistic Operations for all librarian responsibilities and the Music Director/Conductor for all assistant conductor responsibilities. The position supervises the Assistant Librarian position.

RESPONSIBILITIES & OUTCOMES:

Conducting & Concert Production

• Act as cover conductor for all classical concerts and select pops concerts presented by the ASO, including performance-ready preparation of all scores for the potential substitution of an indisposed or cancelled conductor at minimal notice. Currently, the ASO presents 5 classical programs in pairs and 5 pops programs in a mixture of pairs and singles. Click here for schedule
• Working alongside any Conducting Fellows, attend rehearsals and concerts to provide:
  • Advice on balances,
  • Advice on intonation,
  • Advice on acoustics, and
  • any other topic for which the conductor requests the Assistant Conductor’s input/assistance.
• Working alongside any Conducting Fellows, assist in concert logistics such as supertitles, audio/visual elements, and other concert needs that require score reading or other musical knowledge to execute.
• Facilitate communication, and act as a conduit for communication, between the conductor and the ASO production team, stage crew, staff, and chorus master around rehearsals and concerts.
• Additional conducting responsibilities may be added as needed. Any conducting services beyond will be paid in addition to base pay on a per-service basis.
• Attend and participate in music education/community engagement programs of the ASO as needed such as El Sistema Lehigh Valley, Young Musicians String Festival, New Chamber Music Concerts, and Schadt National String Competition.

Maintain the Music Library

• Catalog and inventory all music purchased in OPAS and regularly export and update an excel spread sheet to maintain a current database of all music in the ASO library.
• Annually Provide a copy of the catalogue to the Music Director and keep a printed copy available in the music library.
• Number and mark with the Allentown Symphony Association stamp all purchased music.
• Maintain the music library in a neat and professional manner, keeping all of the
  Allentown Symphony Association's purchased music in complete sets by instrumentation so that it is ready to be performed
• Administrate the loan of music library material when applicable
• Oversee music library supplies and re-ordering of supplies

Concert Music Ordering, Preparation, & Distribution

• Coordinate with the Music Director and other conductors to determine the editions
  and publications to be used for the season's repertoire.
• Work with the Director of Artistic Operations and Orchestra Personnel Manager to prepare a complete list of instrumentation requirements for each performance during the season.
• Price and order all music required for rehearsal and performances by the Orchestra and the Chorus. Check for program repeats and negotiating the lowest possible fees for rental
• Obtain permission from the publishers/rental agencies for all Orchestra radio and TV broadcasts. Provide these budget numbers in advance to the Director of Artistic Operations.
• After inventory or ordering of each piece, check instrumentation against the Allentown Symphony Association's published instrumentation requirements for each concert and inform the Director of Artistic Operations immediately of any discrepancies, particularly where related to percussion and keyboard requirements.
• Coordinate with conductors so that rehearsal letters and/or numbers in the orchestral
  parts match the conductors’ scores.
• Oversee the transfer of bowings, articulations, dynamics, divisi markings, and other expressive markings to all orchestral string parts as received from the Concertmaster, Principals, Music Director, and other Conductors.
• Check new music against available Errata lists. Proofread parts and score when
• Print out sets of parts for new compositions as needed.
• Check string parts for bad page turns and add inserts as needed to solve the problems.
• Prepare inserts, transitions, and additions as requested by the Music Director.
• Scan all music and upload to Google Drive for musicians to access early.
• Photocopy or scan, print, and assemble parts as needed for opera concerts or special concerts with lots of shorter pieces or excerpts.
• Ensure that music folders are prepared for distribution to all orchestra members. Send
  copies of any necessary music to extra musicians when the Orchestra Personnel Manager
  indicates extras have been hired.
• Meet all organizationally set deadlines for the mailing and distribution of music for each concert. Note: organizational deadlines set for each concert may be earlier than the union specified deadlines.

Rehearsals, Concerts, and the Return of Music   

• Transport music to and from symphony rehearsal and performance venues.
• Attend all performances and rehearsals. Click here for schedule.
• At concerts, make sure that the conductor's score is on the stand at the podium, opened to the first page, before the beginning of each piece (as directed by the conductor).
• Oversee the collection of sheet music following concerts and rehearsals, perform erasing
  of markings as needed, and return sheet music to rental agencies within the agreed time period, or to the Allentown Symphony Association’s Music Library.
• Reorder lost parts and inform personnel manager of all lost music and cost to replace so that the musician can be charged appropriately. This should be done within 10 days of the concert performance.

Budgeting and Reporting Performances

• From information provided by the Director of Artistic Operations and the Music Director prepare and submit an estimated season's budget for music purchases and rentals for all performances and musical activities.
• Prepare program reports for America Society of Composers, Authors, Publishers (ASCAP).
• Examine drafts of concert program pages for the Allentown Symphony Association’s program book as requested by the Marketing Department.

Auditions

• Work with the Orchestra Personnel Manager to create copies of music excerpts used in Allentown Symphony Association auditions. Get permission from rental agents/publishers for use of excerpts when necessary.
• Maintain and update audition books.
• Provide marked music excerpt scans to be added to the website or distributed to musicians who are signed up to audition.

Symphony Chorus

• Order music as needed for the ASO Chorus.
• Work with the Manager of the ASO chorus for distribution and collection of Chorus music.

Guest High School Choruses or other Choruses

• Prepare music as needed for performances and mail or deliver to the partner chorus director.

Young Musicians Festival and other Musical Events or Community Engagement Activities

• Work with the Director of Education to order, print, mark, organize, and distribute music as needed for the Young Musicians String Festival and any other outreach activities and performances of the ASA that involve music
• Work with Musician-in-Residence to coordinate any music for their community engagement programs as needed.

New Music Chamber Music Concerts

• Work with the composers to make sure all scores and parts are at MOLA standards and that all page turns are good for the musicians.
• Be available to provide MOLA library guideline instructions to all composers involved.
• Provide scores and parts to all musicians in both a Google Drive and printed format.
• Provide sets of scores for Music Director and Composer-in-Residence.

Perform all other conducting/music library duties as directed by the Executive Director, Director of Artistic Operations, and Music Director.

The above is intended to describe the principal responsibilities and outcomes, and the associated requirements, as well as the work environment.  It is not intended as an exhaustive list of all aspects of the job.

REQUIRED EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE AND ABILITIES:

• Master’s degree in Conducting (or equivalent experience)
• At least 3 years of experience conducting a symphony orchestra (or equivalent experience)
• Previous music library experience
• Fluent ability to read music; strong knowledge of orchestral music
• Experience with computer music notation software and hand manuscript notation
• Computer skills and experience with spreadsheets, word processing, and database programs
• Strong organization, attention to detail, communication (written and oral), and problem-solving skills with the ability to work in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to handle direction and requests from many people and multiple tasks concurrently
• Respond in a cordial and professional manner to musician inquiries and needs
• Ability to work independently as well as be a team player
• Ability to meet all deadlines and work well under pressure
• Even temperament and ability to handle rush periods
• Possess strong self-motivation
• A driver’s license and access to a vehicle

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to work on a computer for extended periods of time
• Ability to operate related equipment, i.e. computer, copier, scanner
• Ability to be on one’s feet for extended periods of time
• Ability to lift boxes of music and paper weighing up to 50 pounds
• Ability to write or erase pencil markings for extended periods of time

PREFERRED EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE AND ABILITIES:

• Experience with OPAS
• Experience with unionized orchestras
• Supervisory experience
• Strong public speaking skills

About Allentown Symphony Orchestra

The Allentown Symphony Association operates the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, and the Allentown Symphony Chorus, and is the owner of historic Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown’s Arts District. Under Music Director and Conductor Diane Wittry, the award-winning Allentown Symphony presents classical, pops, family, and school concerts each year, and provides powerful education programs including El Sistema Lehigh Valley, a Composer in Residence program, Orchestra Lab, Young Musician String Festival, and the prestigious Schadt String Competition. The organization also presents non-orchestra events including the Jazz Upstairs series, Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD broadcasts, Live OnStage, and a variety of other concerts. Established in 1899, Miller Symphony Hall is an historic theater and the cornerstone of Allentown’s Arts District.

Connections working at Allentown Symphony Orchestra