I have an oportunity to play a piece with an orchestra. Help me with the choice!

[paxxx17]

Hello everyone. I'm very excited about this and my thoughts are all over the place, so I hope the following is not too confusing!

The local university in my town has an orchestra of amateur musicians. They're holding an audition for a soloist (not necessarily piano) and I'd like to apply. I'm an amateur pianist, but it's been my lifelong dream to play with an orchestra.

How it works is that I propose a piece I would like to play with them (10 to 30 minutes long) along with a short video of my playing. A total of five people will pass this preliminary round and will have a final audition on June 17th, where they will play for 15 minutes (including at least part of the proposed orchestral piece). The winner will get to perform the selected piece with the orchestra at the 2024 concerts.

I'd like to suggest Beethoven's 4th or 5th concerto or Chopin's 2nd concerto (I'd prepare the 2nd movement for the June audition, along with Heroic Polonaise, which I already have in my fingers) and hope to master the whole concerto by next year (in the slim chance I win the audition).
The problem is that I've never played with an orchestra before (the closest I came was playing in a progressive metal band in high school ). So I'm wondering if these concerts are even possible for someone like me (and if so, which one would be the easiest). If not, maybe I'd go with Mozart's Concerto No. 24 (I like that piece, but I'd reeeeeally like to play one of the aforementioned concerti). Another option would be Chopin's Op. 13 (in which case I'd play the first 7 minutes for the audition, but I'd have to prepare that one from scratch; not ideal for such a short time; my piano access will be quite limited for the whole of May). I could also go with the Polonaise op. 22, which I played 7 years ago, but the orchestral part there is quite underwhelming and I really wouldn't want to waste this opportunity on something like that.

Here's my playing from last year so you can get an idea where I am technically (however, neither piece was performance ready at the time of the recording; I believe that I could play them much better than here):

Chopin Heroic polonaise:

Scriabin 8th sonata (sounds incomparably better with headphones):

Any comment/suggestion will be immensely appreciated!

[ego0720]

I noticed that u sound very excited for this opportunity. I’m excited for you! My guidance is to remind you to follow your heart. Pick the song not because it’s more convenient or easy but that expresses you the best. The best music is one that paints you with the most expressiveness. You can’t control variables around you. But you can control yourself and choose what is personal to you. That’s being authentic. Don’t choose what u think others want to hear. Sorry I can’t give u technical recommendations as I consider myself a casual. But often when u get too involved with the cerebral aspect of your choice u forget to listen to your heart. As long as the piece isn’t above your level.. the technicalities should come second in your decision making. When it comes to playing pieces the method used should be just right.. and when playing pieces there ought to be a musical reason (not the impressiveness of the technique) that makes the song work.

Also, I can’t access your videos or audios.

[franks66]

I've never played with orchestra as well, but from what i heard and read the Grieg concerto is a good option if you are unexperienced with orchestra.
I don't know if you've already tried Beethoven 4th, but this concerto is known as delicate.
Good luck

[lelle]

It shouldn't be impossible to keep it together with the orchestra if the conductor is good, and you make sure to rehearse a lot with someone else playing the orchestra part on a second piano. Then you can find out which parts are easy to keep together (a lot of music plays itself as long as everyone can keep the pulse), and where trouble might arise, talk about it with the conductor and make sure you rehearse as needed.