Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Fellowship — Fellowship

The LACO Fellowship is run by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and has selected cohorts of four musicians since 2017. It sets out to engage members of historically underrepresented groups in western classical music ensembles with paid work and professional development.

Fellows are engaged for several mutually agreed weeks each season. They play orchestral services, receive chamber music coaching, give a recital, take mock auditions and lessons, and lead the annual Freeways chamber music concert in accessible spaces around Los Angeles.

Teaching artist work runs through Learning with LACO and the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (ICYOLA). Fellows are not required to live in Los Angeles; LACO covers travel and housing for the weeks a fellow is in residence. The program is supported in part by the Jane A. Lehman and Alan G. Lehman Foundation.

Benefits & funding

$5,500 annual minimum guarantee, with services compensated under LACO’s collective bargaining agreement.
AFM (musicians’ union) membership is part of the program, and LACO covers the associated costs.
Travel and housing for residency weeks for fellows who live outside LA County.
Financial support to take auditions with other orchestras and to pursue other professional development, approved case by case.
Instrument repair support.
A season of assignments listed by LACO: 12 orchestral concerts and 24 rehearsals, 2 chamber concerts and 4 chamber rehearsals, 4 Baroque concerts and 8 Baroque rehearsals, plus an Industry Night.
Mentorship, chamber music coaching, a recital, mock auditions, lessons, and teaching artist work.

Eligibility

Open to players of modern orchestral instruments, except trombone, tuba, percussion, harp and keyboard.
Applicants must be 18 or older.
Applicants must be eligible to work in the United States.
A bachelor’s degree in music or equivalent experience is strongly recommended, not required.
LACO encourages musicians who self-identify as members of historically underrepresented groups in western classical music ensembles to apply; this is an encouragement, not an eligibility requirement.
No requirement to live in Los Angeles or LA County.

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Age requirement
≥ 18 yrs

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Application process

1
Watch LACO’s Opportunities page for the next fellowship call; it currently states that there are no open opportunities.
2
Apply through LACO’s Acceptd portal, which hosts the fellowship application.
3
Confirm before applying that the instrument, the age minimum and US work eligibility are met, and document equivalent professional experience if there is no music degree.
4
Send program questions to Jessica Gronvold at jessicagronvold@laco.org.

Program timeline

2017
First cohort begins (2017-2020).
2020
Second cohort begins (2020-2023).
2023
Third cohort begins (2023-2026).
Current season
the fourth group of fellows is in the program, listed by LACO as current fellows.
Next cycle
no application deadline is published; calls appear on LACO’s Opportunities page and applications run through its Acceptd portal.