Auditions | Rider University

Keyboard Audition Information

Auditions are required for admission to all Westminster Choir College and some School of Fine and Performing Arts undergraduate programs; you can see a list of these programs and requirements below. Auditions are by appointment only. In order to request an audition date you must submit your completed application at least 4 weeks prior to the selected audition date.

Piano (BM)

All of the following must be from memory:

1.     A prelude & fugue from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier or 3 movements of a suite.

2.     A sonata by Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven (excluding Beethoven op. 49 or op. 79).

3.     A 19th-century composition.

4.     A 20th or 21st-century composition.

Organ (BM)

All of the following are required.  Performance from memory is encouraged, but not required.

• One work by J.S. Bach or another Baroque composer.
• Two contrasting (one lyrical and one virtuosic) selections by romantic or contemporary composers.
• Accurate and fluent sight-reading of a four-part hymn.
• Applicants with a strong piano background who wish to apply for study in organ may elect to play their audition on the piano for members of the organ faculty. The audition will include all of the following, of which one must be from memory:
1. An invention or prelude & fugue by J.S. Bach.
2. A first movement of a sonata by Haydn, Mozart, or Beethoven (excluding Beethoven op. 49; op. 79; and op. 27, no. 2)
3. A 19th, 20th, or 21st-century composition.

Updated on 10/12/2018