Bienen School of Music - Northwestern University

Strings Audition Information

Violin

Prescreening required: must be video recording

For Prescreening:

Memorization is required.

• One movement from a Bach sonata or partita
• First movement of a standard concerto

For Final Audition:

Memorization is required.

• Two contrasting movements from a Bach sonata or partita
• First movement of a standard concerto
• One etude or caprice

Viola

Prescreening required: must be video recording

For Prescreening:

• The exposition or equivalent of the first movement of any major viola concerto
• The prelude of a solo suite or first movement of any sonata or partita by Bach

For Final Audition:

• Two contrasting movements of any solo suite, sontata, or partita by Bach
• Complete first movement of any major concerto

Cello

Prescreening required: must be video recording

For Prescreening:

• One étude by Popper or one caprice by Piatti
• One movement from a Bach Suite
• The exposition from a standard cello concerto

For Final Audition:

• One étude by Popper and one caprice by Piatti OR two by either composer
• Two contrasting movements from a Bach Suite
• One movement from a standard cello concerto such as Boccherini, Haydn, Saint-Saëns, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Elgar, or Shostakovich

Double Bass

For Final Audition:

• Two contrasting solo pieces
• Choose a total of three orchestral excerpts from:
• Mozart (Symphony 35, 39, and/or 40)
• Beethoven (Symphony 3,5,7,9)
• Brahms (Symphony 1 and/or 2)
• Strauss (any standard orchestral work)

In addition: One major scale, one harmonic minor scale, and one natural minor scale of choice, in two or three octaves

Note: Sight-reading and memorization are not required

Harp

For Final Audition:

• One technical etude such as Bochsa, Pozzoli or Schmidt
• One orchestral excerpt or cadenza such as Nutcracker Cadenza, Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, or Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio Espagnole
• Two contrasting solos (examples include Grandjany Fantasy, Salzedo Chanson dans la Nuit, Prokofiev Prelude in C, Tournier Etude de Concert)

Updated on 09/05/2018