Please note: Auditions for flute, clarinet, brass, and percussion are held during the March audition period only.

ALL North American orchestral program applicants, excepting cello, bass and tuba, must audition live in New York.  Students not living in North America, and cellists, bassists and tubists, may submit video-tapes. The audition repertoire below meets the requirements for all master of music programs at Manhattan School of Music with the exception of violin and piano.  Violinists and pianists must consult those respective department pages for their additional audition repertoire requirements.

Violin
Viola
Cello
Bass
Flute
Oboe
Clarinet
Bassoon
Horn
Trumpet
Trombone
Bass Trombone
Tuba
Percussion
Harp
Piano

 

Violin

Pre-Screening Recording:

Pre-Screening Procedures - All violin applicants are required to submit a CD in order to receive an invitation to a live audition in NYC. Orchestral Performance program violin auditions held in March and May in New York City are by invitation only. The pre-screening repertoire is as follows:

Solo Works

1. First movement exposition (with cadenza) of one of the following concerti:
   Bartók No. 2, Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch No. 1, Dvorák, Lalo, Mendelssohn, Prokofiev No. 2, Sibelius, Saint-Saëns No. 3, Tchaikovsky, Vieuxtemps No. 5, or Wieniawski No. 2
2. First movement exposition (with cadenza) of Mozart Concerto No. 3, 4, or 5

Excerpts

1. Mendelssohn Midsummer Night's Dream, Scherzo — up to letter E
2. Mozart Symphony No. 39, fourth movt. — mm. 1 — 104
3. Strauss Don Juan, 1st page

Live Audition:

Solo Works

1. One movement of an unaccompanied Bach partita or sonata
2. First movement (with cadenza) of one of the following concerti:
   Bartók No. 2, Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch No. 1, Dvorák, Lalo, Mendelssohn, Prokofiev No. 2, Sibelius, Saint-Saëns No. 3, Tchaikovsky, Vieuxtemps No. 5, or Wieniawski No. 2
3. First movement (with cadenza) of Mozart Concerto No. 3, 4, or 5

Excerpts

1. Mendelssohn Midsummer Night's Dream, Scherzo
2. Mozart Symphony No. 39, slow mvt. & finale
3. Brahms Symphony No. 3, 1st mvt.
4. Prokofiev Classical Symphony, 1st mvt.
5. Schumann Symphony No. 2, Scherzo
6. Strauss Don Juan, 1st page

 

Viola

Solo Works

1. First movement of a standard concerto with applicable cadenzas
2. Prelude of an unaccompanied Bach suite
3. Contrasting work from a sonata or a piece of the applicant's choice

Excerpts

1. Mozart "Haffner," 4th mvt., beginning to A; m. 134 to letter E
2. Ravel Daphnis and Chloe No. 2, 2nd page
3. Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4,1st mvt
4. Strauss Don Juan, 1st page
5. Wagner Tannhäuser, Overture - letter K to 37mm. after K
6. Brahms Variations on a Theme by Haydn, var. 5, 7, & 8

 

Cello

Solo Works

1. First movement of a standard concerto with applicable cadenzas
2. Prelude of an unaccompanied Bach suite
3. One movement of a sonata

Excerpts

1. Mozart Symphony No. 40, 1st^t and 4th mvts.
2. Brahms Symphony No. 2, slow mvt.
3. Debussy La Mer, top line of divisi passage
4. Strauss Don Juan, 1st page
5. Mendelssohn Midsummer Night's Dream, Scherzo

 

Bass

Solo Works

1. Three works from contrasting periods including a standard concerto or a complete sonata

Excerpts

Select three excerpts from group A, two from group B:

Group A (choose three)

1. Mozart Symphony No. 39 and/or No. 40, 1st & 4th mvts
2. Beethoven Symphony No. 3, 3rd mvt.
3. Beethoven Symphony No. 5, Scherzo
4. Beethoven Symphony No. 9, 4th mvt.
5. Brahms Symphony No. 2, 4th mvt.
6. Strauss Don Juan, 1st page, or Ein Heldenleben, # 9

Group B (choose two)

1. Mahler Symphony No. 1, solo from 3rd mvt. or Prokofiev Lieut.  Kijé, solo from "Romanze"
2. Stravinsky Pulcinella, solo from "Vivo" or Britten Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, bass variation
3. Verdi Otello, 4th act solo

 

Flute

Pre-Screening Recording:

Pre-Screening Procedures - All flute applicants are required to submit a CD in order to receive an invitation to a live audition in NYC. The pre-screening repertoire is as follows:

Solo Work

1. Ibert Concerto, 3rd mvt., beginning at rehearsal #51 (with piano accompaniment)
2. Gluck Dance of the Blessed Spirits (with piano accompaniment)

Excerpts

1. Mendelssohn Midsummer Night's Dream, Scherzo, begin at 2 bars before "P"
2. Rossini William Tell Overture
3. Strauss Till Eulenspiegel, rehearsal 5 to 15 and 27 to 36

Live Audition:

Solo Work

1. Mozart Concerto in G Major or Concerto in D Major, complete, with cadenzas

Excerpts

1. Beethoven Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72, complete
2. Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf, complete
3. Ravel Daphnis and Chloe, Suite No. 2, solo only
4. Strauss Salome, Dance of the Seven Veils, 2 bars before "D" through 3 bars after "H"
5. Stravinsky Firebird (1919), Variation

Technique

1. Scales
2. Inverted Arpeggios
3. Broken Arpeggios
4. Scales in Thirds

All of the above technique requirements should be prepared in all major and harmonic minor keys, over three octaves, and with various articulations.

 

Oboe

Solo Works

1. Mozart Concerto
2. Vaughan-Williams Concerto

Excerpts

1. Brahms Symphony No. 1
2. Shostakovich Symphony No. 1
3. Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade
4. Beethoven Symphony No. 3
5. Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4
6. Bizet Symphony in C
7. Strauss Don Juan
8. Stravinsky Pulcinella

 

Clarinet

Pre-Screening Recording:

Pre-Screening Procedures - All clarinet applicants are required to submit a CD in order to receive an invitation to a live audition in NYC. The pre-screening repertoire is as follows:

Solo Works

1. Mozart Clarinet Concerto (Exposition with Piano)
   Tune Concert A with piano, then play the Mozart concerto exposition
2. Schubert Octet (Andante un poco mosso mvt., first 12 bars only)

Excerpts

1. Kodaly Galanta Dances, mm. 31-66 (cadenza plus solo measures)
2. Mendelssohn Midsummer Night's Dream, Scherzo, from beginning to letter G
3. Beethoven Symphony No. 6, 1st mvt. mm. 474-492, 2nd mvt. mm. 68-77

Live Audition:

Solo Works

1. Mozart Concerto
2. Debussy Premiere Rhapsodie
3. Schubert Octet (Adagio movement, first 12 bars only)

Excerpts