Nah. There is a longstanding tradition of competitions in classical music, especially for piano players. The vast majority of concert pianists got some notoriet

Nah. There is a longstanding tradition of competitions in classical music, especially for piano players. The vast majority of concert pianists got some notoriety through such competitions. And no, improvisation skills are not something classical pianists are judged upon. Orchestra musicians indeed are routinely hired via a process that involves auditions, but my understanding is that applies only to those at the beginnings of their careers. Popular/rock/jazz band formation process IMO is indeed similar to how start-ups are created (i.e. rather informal process generally based on networking, though audition jams also happen to fill a specific position). I fail to see how corporate staffing is similar.