Audition | Cleveland Institute of Music

Keyboard Audition Information

PIANO

A prescreening video is required. To accommodate prescreening, applicants are strongly urged to submit applications well before the deadline of December 1. Each piece of repertoire must be unedited and recorded separately. 

PRESCREENING REQUIREMENTS:

• Prelude and Fugue by J.S. Bach from The Well-Tempered Clavier
• One or more movements from a classical sonata by Haydn, Mozart Beethoven or Schubert
• One Chopin étude of virtuosity
• One other piece of applicant's choice
•  

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:

Undergraduate:

• Prelude and Fugue by J.S. Bach from The Well-Tempered Clavier
• Complete classical sonata by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven or Schubert
• One substantial romantic work from the 19th century
• One work from the 20th or 21st century
• One Chopin étude of virtuosity
•  

Graduate:

• Prelude and Fugue by J.S. Bach from The Well-Tempered Clavier or another original work by Bach which contains a fugue. (No transcriptions permitted.)
• Complete classical sonata by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven or Schubert
• One substantial romantic work from the 19th century
• One work from the 20th or 21st century
• One étude of virtuosity
• ​

ORGAN

A prescreening video is required. To accommodate prescreening, applicants are strongly urged to submit applications well before the deadline of December 1. Each piece of repertoire must be unedited and recorded separately. 

PRESCREEN REQUIREMENTS:

​Same as audition requirements

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:

• A work of Bach
• A 19th Century work
• A 20th or 21st Century work
• ​

COLLABORATIVE PIANO

A prescreening recording is not required, except for doctor of musical arts applicants. If you wish to upload a video recording to your application, you may do so. That recording should consist of a movement of a larger solo work or a short solo work, a movement of a duo sonata, and an aria. Doctor of musical arts applicants should record approximately 30 minutes of the repertoire below. 

The required audition repertoire is as follows (items 1-6):

1. Perform one solo piece of choice.

2. Choose one sonata:

Beethoven
Sonata #5, Violin and Piano, Opus 24
Sonata #7, Violin and Piano, Opus 30, #2
Sonata #3, Cello and Piano, Opus 69

Brahms
Sonata for Violin and Piano, #2, Opus 100 in A major
Sonata for Violin and Piano, #3, Opus 108 in D minor
Sonata for Cello and Piano, #1, Opus 38 in E minor
Sonata for Cello and Piano, #2, Opus 99 in F major

Debussy
Sonata for Violin and Piano
Sonata for Cello and Piano

Frank
Sonata in A major

Fauré
Sonata in A major, Opus 13

3. Choose one concerto reduction:

• Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto, Opus 35 in D major
• Sibelius, Violin Concerto in D minor, Opus 47
• Mozart, Violin Concerto, #5, K. 219 in A major
• Elgar, Cello Concerto, Opus 85
• Dvorak, Cello Concerto, Opus 104 in B minor
•  

4. Choose one from the following three pieces:

• Kreisler "Songs My Mother Taught Me"
• Tambourin Chinois, Opus 3
• Marche miniature Viennoise
•  

5. Choose three contrasting arts songs to be played in the high/soprano key. 

A singer will be provided for live auditions in Cleveland. One of the three selections should be prepared both to be played and sung. This will not be a test of vocal talent but rather will give some sense of ability to do more than one thing at once (as in coaching), some sense of diction abilities and textual expression.

German
Brahms, "Botschaft"
Schubert, "An die Musik" or "Du bist die Ruh"
Schumann, Postlude of "Frauenlieben und Leben" or "Dichterliebe"
Strauss, "Ständchen"
Wolf, "Er ist's" or "Ich hab' in Penna"

French
Chausson, "Le colibri" or "Les papillons"
Debussy, Ariettes oubliées: "C'est l'extase" or "Il pleure dans mon coeur"
Duparc, "Chanson triste"
Fauré, "En sourdine"
Poulenc, Fiançailles pour rire: "Violon" or "Il vole"

English
Barber, Hermit Songs: "St. Ita's Vision", "The Monk and His Cat", or "The Desire for Hermitage"
Bridge, "Love Went A-Riding"
Copland, Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson: "Nature, the gentlest mother", "Heart, we will forget him", or "Going to Heaven!"

6. Choose one aria:

• Mozart, Countess's Recitative/Aria, "E Susanna...Dove Sono", from The Marriage of Figaro
• Puccini, Musetta's Waltz, "Quando m'en vo", from La Boheme
• ​

HARPSICORD

A prescreening recording is not required, except for doctor of musical arts applicants. If you wish to upload a video recording to your application, you may do so. The recording should consist of selections from the audition repertoire. Doctor of musical arts applicants should record approximately 30 minutes of the repertoire below.

Undergraduate

(application video recordings may be performed on the harpsichord or piano)

• All major and minor scales and arpeggios in three octaves (not required on video recording)
• A work by Bach (at least 3 movements if a suite)
• A sonata by Scarlatti
• One movement of a sonata by C.P.E. Bach, Haydn, or Mozart
•  

Graduate

• A substantial work by Bach (complete)
• A sonata by Scarlatti or Soler
• A toccata, tombeau, or unmeasured prelude from the 17th Century
• A suite by Couperin, Rameau, Duphly, or the equivalent