USC Thornton School of Music

Vocal Arts (Classical voice/Opera) Audition Information

BM, BA, MM, or Graduate Certificate (GCRT), DMA

Note: This information applies only to classical voice applicants.

For jazz voice, please refer to the Jazz Studies requirements.

For the BA with a Choral Music emphasis, please refer to the Choral Music requirements.

Applicants to programs in Vocal Arts must submit a video recording to be pre-screened by the faculty. Only video recordings are acceptable. The results of this pre-screen will determine whether an applicant will be invited to perform a live audition on the USC campus in Los Angeles.

Please note: DMA and Graduate Certificate applicants must perform a live audition. Applicants to all other degree levels (BA, BM, and MM) located within 150 mile radius of USC are required to audition live in person.

For both the pre-screen recording and the live audition, Undergraduate applicants must submit two selections of contrasting styles, from the standard classical solo voice repertoire. It is recommended that one of the selections be in English and the other in a foreign language. All selections must be memorized. The same selections may be used for both the pre-screening recording and the live audition.

For both pre-screening and live audition, Master’s applicants must submit five or more selections of contrasting styles. The five selections can consist of a combination of art song, operatic arias and/or oratorio arias; one of the five selections must be an aria or art song in English and the others must represent at least two other foreign languages. All selections must be memorized. The same selections may be used for both the pre-screening recording and the live audition.

For both pre-screening and live audition Graduate Certificate applicants must submit at least five selections of contrasting styles. The five selections can consist of a combination of art song, operative and oratorio arias; one of the five selections must be an aria or art song in English. At least three of the five selections should be operatic arias and represent three different languages. All selections must be memorized. The same selections may be used for both the pre-screening recording and the live audition.

For both pre-screen and live audition, DMA applicants must submit at least six selections of contrasting style which represent at least four languages, one of which must be English. Selections may include art song, operatic arias and/or oratorio arias. It is recommended that one of the selections be a piece composed in the last 30 years. DMA applicants invited for a live audition will be interviewed by the faculty as part of their live audition, when they will be asked questions regarding their specific interest in the Thornton DMA in Vocal Arts and possible elective fields of study. The same selections may be used for both the pre-screening recording and the live audition.

Piano Accompaniment

Piano accompaniment is required for all voice auditions. Voice applicants who are invited to perform a live audition on the USC campus are strongly encouraged to bring their own pianists for their audition. This is especially important for DMA applicants in order to ensure sufficient rehearsal time.

If a voice applicant is not able to bring his/her own pianist to the audition, s/he must request a Thornton-provided pianist by the deadline stated in his/her audition confirmation. Audition confirmations for Fall 2019 voice applicants will be issued via email on or about December 21, 2018. In this email confirmation, applicants will be given specific information about how to formally request a Thornton-provided pianist for the audition, including a specific deadline by which the request must be received. Applicants will also be required, as part of this request, to provide PDF documents of the repertoire they will be performing for their audition. These PDF documents will be forwarded by the USC Thornton Admission office to the Thornton-assigned pianist in order to facilitate the pianists’ preparations in advance of the audition. 

****Applicants will be assigned a pianist by USC Thornton only if they make a request for a pianist according to the instructions given and by the deadline specified in the email audition confirmation.**** If this request is not received by the deadline a pianist will not be assigned by USC Thornton.

On the day of the audition, applicants will have an assigned warm-up room for approximately 30 minutes before their scheduled audition appointment. Applicants who have been assigned a pianist by USC Thornton will be able to rehearse their repertoire with the Thornton-assigned pianist for about 15 minutes of that warm-up time.

Additional information

  DMA applicants are required to submit a “Personal Introductory Video” as part of their SlideRoom Portfolio. For detailed instructions click here.

  DMA applicants are required to submit 3 letters of recommendation via the SlideRoom portal, one of which must be from a professor who has assessed a substantial research or analysis paper that the applicant has written.

Important note

Undergraduate applications are not accepted for Spring admission to this program unless the applicant is already enrolled at USC. All applicants for Spring admission are also required to submit a recording for pre-screening. Spring applicants will be notified via email regarding their prescreen decision.

Updated on 08/15/2018