Audition Requirements for Piano
Applicants may audition live or upload a video performance (by YouTube, Google Drive, or other means) of 15 minutes duration for undergraduates, and 20-25 minutes for graduates. Each work may be recorded separately but must be unedited. The audition program must be completely memorized and consist of at least three contrasting works of sufficient complexity from three different style periods. Email the selected repertoire to Dr. Laura Spitzer ahead of time for approval. Suggested works include:
- Baroque: Graduate: A suite or prelude and fugue by J.S. Bach, or a sonata by Domenico Scarlatti. Undergraduates may play a two-part invention or part of a Bach suite.
- Classical: Graduates: a sonata by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, or Schubert. Undergraduates may play a single movement of a sonata or a sonatina by Beethoven, Mozart, Clementi, or Kuhlau.
- Romantic: Graduates: a substantial work displaying some virtuosity by Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Brahms, or Mendelssohn. Undergraduates may select smaller or less virtuosic works such as Chopin preludes, Liszt Consolations, or Sinding’s Rustle of Spring.
- 20th-21st Century: Graduates: A work of some complexity by Ravel, Debussy, Prokofiev, Khachaturian, Shostakovich, Barber, Bartók, Ginastera, Muczynski, etc. Undergraduates may select smaller works such as pieces from Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, Shostakovich’s Fantastic Dances, or Muczynski’s Six Preludes.
Applicants (in person or by Zoom) will also be asked to sight read, and play major and minor scales, preferably in a four-octave range. Auditions may be scheduled at any time of the year, at a mutually convenient time for the student and the audition jury.
