What Does First Chair Mean in an Orchestra?
If you've looked at an orchestra roster or a seating chart, you've seen the phrase first chair. It sounds like a rank, and in a loose sense it is: the first chair of a section is the player who sits in the section's first seat, closest to the conductor, and who usually leads that section. But the term gets used interchangeably with several others — principal, section leader, concertmaster — and they aren't quite the same thing. Here's how to keep them straight.
First chair, principal, and section leader
In most American orchestras, the person sitting first chair in a section is the principal of that section: principal cello, principal clarinet, principal horn, and so on. "Section leader" means the same thing in practice. The principal plays any solo passages written for the section, decides matters of interpretation within the section (how a passage should be articulated, where string players should bow), and serves as the point of contact between the section and the conductor.
The terms can drift apart in two situations. Some orchestras rotate seating, so the player physically in the first seat on a given concert isn't necessarily the titled principal. And in wind, brass, and percussion sections, "first" often refers to the part being played — first flute, first trumpet — rather than to a chair position, since those sections typically have one player per part anyway. The Philharmonia Orchestra's instrument guides are a good way to get a feel for how each section is built and what the individual parts within it do.
The concertmaster is a special case
The first chair of the first violin section has its own title: concertmaster (in British usage, "leader"). The concertmaster is conventionally treated as the ranking musician in the orchestra. They walk out separately before the concert, cue the oboe's tuning note and lead the tuning, play violin solos written into the repertoire, and set bowings that other string principals often coordinate with. When the conductor shakes one musician's hand at the end of a concert, that's the concertmaster.
Where first chair sits on the chart
String sections seat players in pairs at shared music stands, and the stands are numbered outward from the podium: the first stand is closest to the conductor, and the principal sits at the first stand, traditionally on the outside (the side nearer the audience). Faculty-authored seating references such as Louis Bergonzi's string seating guidelines and stage-layout charts show how those stand positions map onto the stage in different layouts. If you're new to reading these diagrams, our guide to how to read an orchestra seating chart walks through the whole stage, not just the front row.
How first chairs are chosen
In professional orchestras, principal chairs are won through formal, advertised auditions, and the openings are posted publicly — the American Federation of Musicians lists symphonic audition notices among its services to members. Community orchestras are far less uniform. Common approaches include:
- Seating auditions: a short played audition, sometimes repeated each season, that determines chair order.
- Director's discretion: the music director assigns principals based on experience and reliability.
- Rotation: some ensembles rotate seats within a section so that stand position doesn't signal rank at all.
- Longevity and volunteering: in smaller groups, the principal is often simply the steady player willing to prepare the solos and mark the bowings.
If you're wondering how you'd be placed as a newcomer, it usually happens at or shortly after the placement audition — our page on what happens at a community orchestra audition covers that process. And don't read too much status into the chart: in an amateur ensemble, chair order is a practical tool for organizing the section, not a verdict on your playing. Plenty of excellent musicians prefer an inside seat at the back, where the view of the conductor is fine and the page turns are someone else's job.