How are musicians contracted for work?

I'm not 100% sure how it works in England (I live in Sweden), but no orchestra I know of will offer anyone a permanent contract: It's done on a yearly basis, and the contract is either renewed or cancelled after 12 months. A musician might not want his/her contract renewed if he/she has received a better offer from another orchestra. (this happens sometimes). Most English orchestras are self-governing, and the musicians themselves choose whom to hire or fire - including the conductor. The freelance musicians I know are all experienced orchestral players. Depending on the orchestra and where they live, they might need some extra income if the salary they receive from their own orchestra isn't very high, so they deputise for a musician in another orchestra who might be ill, or on vacation. The Stockholm Sinfonietta, for example, consists almost entirely of musicians from other orchestras in Stockholm, Västerås, and Örebro. Freelancers have an agent, or contacts within other orchestras.so they know where to go, and when. There is no difference between a symphony orchestra and a philharmonic - it's just a title used to distinguish one orchestra from another - the London Symphony Orchestra; London Philharmonic Orchestra, and so on. And I hope you will set your novel in England, or some other part of Europe. America, as we all know, is a weird place.

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@Lainiebsky - obviously the American system is different from ours. For example: we have orchestras, not 'symphonies' :-)

Symphonies have players on permanent contracts and don't hire freelancers. If they need subs, they probably have freelancers on a sub list, in which case the personnel manager will call whichever musicians are needed for a particular concert.

Regular ballet orchestras also have a contracted group. A ballet company that does a performance with orchestra once or twice a year will either hire freelancers to play or will ask a local semi-professional orchestra to provide musicians.

With regular symphony jobs, you audition for an opening. There can be hundreds of applicants for a spot in a prestigious group. Usually the audition committee decides which of the applicants to invite to audition in person. There are semi-final and final rounds of auditions. The eventual winner will be offered usually a one-year contract which is considered a trial period. If things don't work out, the contract will not be renewed.

A ballet orchestra may be part-time (not enough services per year to support yourself on) so the members need to do other freelance work. 'Other work' can include choral societies that hire orchestras for a few concerts a year, churches that hire a group for a special service, chamber orchestras that have a limited season that isn't lucrative enough for anyone to make a regular commitment to, pit orchestras for opera or musical theater groups that put on a few shows a year, chamber groups for weddings or parties, and so on. For those, there will be a contractor hired by the organization to put an orchestra together. The contractor is someone who knows many local musicians and can get a group that suits the needs of the organization.

Audition and get accepted to fill a position. Many musicians in smaller community orchestras do the work as a hobby and only part time. Larger orchestras have players that are salaried and it is their primary means of income.

When guest soloists are required there are agencies that make the arrangement between soloist and orchestra, or in the case of the community orchestra local teachers often fill the post of featured guest soloist.

In some cases where the venue contracts entire groups to play their house, they will work through an agency and/or through the performers website.

guru.com is a good source for connecting free lancers with employers. There are other such sites.