Below is a list of the 20 most-requested tenor trombone orchestral excerpts from a tally of audition announcements of 18 major orchestras. I use the list regularly in teaching excerpts to undergraduate trombone majors and consider it a kind of “bare minimum” list for performance majors to keep under their belts.

Top 20 Tenor Trombone Orchestral Excerpts

Source: Lisemby, “Preparing for Orchestral Auditions” (tally of audition announcements from 18 major orchestras)

1. Ravel, Bolero

2. Brahms, Symphony No. 1

3. Mozart, Requiem—Tuba Mirum (2nd trombone)

4. R. Strauss, Till Eulenspiegel

5. Berlioz, Hungarian March (Damnation of Faust)

6. Rossini, William Tell Overture

7. Wagner, Ride of the Valkyries

8. Wagner, Tannhauser Overture

9. Brahms, Symphony No. 4

10. Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade (2nd trombone)

11. R. Schumann, Symphony No. 3 (“Rhenish”)

12. Hindemith, Symphonic Metamorphosis

13. Mahler, Symphony No. 3

14. Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian Easter Overture (2nd trombone)

15. R. Strauss, Also Sprach Zarathustra

16. Stravinsky, Firebird

17. Wagner, Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin

18. Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique

19. Rossini, La Gazza Ladra

20. Saint-Saens, Symphony No. 3 (“Organ”)