Seven-time Grammy winner Jacob Collier wants to share the stage at San Diego's Rady Shell at Jacobs Park next spring with up to 62 instrumentalists he hasn't met yet, and he's asking anyone across the country to send in an audition video for the chance. The 32-year-old artist, known for one-man concerts where he coaxes audiences into forming spontaneous multipart choirs, will perform with his Audience Symphony Orchestra on March 6, 2027, with the San Diego Symphony presenting the show.
According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Collier won't be pulling musicians from the crowd that night. Instead, he's inviting instrumentalists from across the United States to audition in advance for a seat in the orchestra, which will mark just the second time the ensemble has ever performed anywhere. The ensemble made its world debut at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco last October, with 62 musicians selected for the experiment, according to the San Luis Obispo Symphony.
That San Francisco debut carried its own surprise: Bobby McFerrin appeared as a surprise guest during a ticketed soundcheck and conducted the fledgling orchestra for one song, per the same account from the San Luis Obispo Symphony.
Who Can Apply And What It Takes
Auditions open online starting Wednesday at 10 a.m. and run through November 1 at 11:59 p.m. PST, per the Union-Tribune's report. Applicants must be at least 18, legal U.S. residents with proof of valid U.S. work authorization, and musician's union membership isn't required to apply.
The application itself asks for more than a résumé. Hopefuls must complete online registration and submit performance videos that include two short, contrasting musical pieces, a short prepared excerpt pulled from downloadable materials, and a brief video explaining why they want to join the orchestra. Those selected will be paid for both the San Diego rehearsal and the performance itself, the paper reports.
The Conductor Behind The Curtain
Leading the orchestra is Suzie Collier, who teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she taught violin in the Junior Department from 1986 and conducted the Senior Strings Chamber Orchestra from 1988 to 2024, according to her Wikipedia entry. She has also conducted recording sessions for orchestral pop projects at London's Abbey Road Studios, the same entry notes.
The Audience Symphony Orchestra itself grew out of Collier's viral Audience Choir concept, in which he directs unrehearsed concert crowds into spontaneous multi-part vocal harmonies during live tour stops, a concept featured on Djesse Vol. 4, which included 150,000 audience choir members, according to the GRAMMY Museum.
Inside The Waterfront Venue
The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, where the March concert will take place, opened in August 2021 as an $85 million permanent open-air facility on San Diego Bay with flexible seating for up to 10,000 people, according to the San Diego Tourism Authority. Designed by Tucker Sadler Architects with performance shell concepts by U.K.-based Soundforms, the venue features a 33,000-square-foot acoustic canopy wrapped around a 4,800-square-foot stage with specialized on-stage and perimeter amplification developed in collaboration with Salter Acoustics; Schuler Shook designed the venue's lighting, per Building Design + Construction.
The venue has hosted a string of high-profile bookings this year, including a Sarah McLachlan show and a Bob Dylan tour stop announcement. The venue's presenting orchestra, meanwhile, has its own momentum: the San Diego Symphony announced in August that it will embark on its first-ever European tour in 2027, with stops in Barcelona, Paris, Hamburg, and Dublin.
Tickets And Timing
Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. and will be available at theshell.org/performances/jacob-collier/, ranging from $50 to $125, with no presales offered, according to the Union-Tribune's reporting. For musicians hoping to be part of the night rather than just watch it, the audition window closes November 1 at 11:59 p.m. PST.
