How to set up my orchestra of 30 musicians?

Hello everyone! I have to select fellow musicians from my school to form an orchestra. This orchestra will have several saxaphones as well. I can only have 30 musicians, however. In order to get good balance of sounds which instruments shall I pick and how many players of each? There is nothing fancy like a tuba or a cor anglais. There mightn't even be an oboe to pick. It really depends. But ideally, how would you arrange this ensemble? For example, how many violins would you have?

Thank you for your time.

Perhaps it might be better to let us know how many 'voices' you have/want/need. Three trombone parts or only two? Two clarinets or just one? If you only have two trumpets, you free up a chair...see what I'm getting at?

Why are you allowed only 30 people?

We are only allowed 30 people because that's how the competition goes (it's an in-school thing amongst the different "houses" of the school). I should also mention that we're doing a shortened version of Rhapsody in Blue because we have a very talented pianist and also a clarinettist who can do the cool gliss from the start. I was thinking solo clarinet, solo piano, one flute, two clarinets, alto, tenor and baritone saxes, two trumpets, one trombone, percussion (let's just assume two or three players, I haven't really worked that out yet) and a string section. There is no oboist or tubist in our house but there may be excesses of some of the other instruments. Other than the two soloists no instrument is "more important" than any other. That's all the information I have for now, sorry.

So:

1 piano

1 solo clarinet

1 flute

2 clarinets

3 saxes

2 trumpets

1 trombone

3 percussion

= 15 people.

SO, you have 15 seats for strings.

How about

1 bass

3 cellos

3 violas

4 violin 1

4 violin 2

...keep the stage set up the same as any other orchestra...

I don't quite know what your issue is.

It's okay, it's all resolved now anyway. Thanks