Concert-master: Encyclopedia - Concert-master

Concert-master

The concert-master (or concertmaster, leader, also concertmistress) is the leader of the first violins and assistant conductor in an orchestra. Any violin solo in an orchestral work is played by the concertmaster (except in the case of a concerto, in which case guest soloists may be hired).

The concertmaster makes decisions regarding bowing and other technical details of violin playing for the violins, and sometimes all the string players, and is in charge of leading the orchestra in tuning before concerts and rehearsals and other technical aspects of orchestra management. In many cases the concertmaster is also in charge of labor negotiations on behalf of the players.

A concertmaster in a standard wind orchestra is the first-chair clarinet, and is in charge of tuning. The concertmaster will walk onto stage prior to performing and take a bow, and receive applause. The first-chair clarinet concertmaster will play all clarinet solos, a very common practice.

Category: Occupations in music

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Concert-master", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki