Information for prospective orchestral performance students applying to Manhattan School of Music.
In response to the global events of 2020, and our subsequent inability to hold live in-person auditions, Manhattan School of Music will only hold recorded and virtual auditions in 2021.
Prescreening requirements have not been affected by this change. Applicants to all areas with a prescreening requirement will be asked to include prescreening materials in their application, which is due December 1, 2020. Prescreening decisions will be released on December 18, 2020.
Applicants will submit the required repertoire listed below as separate video recordings by February 1, 2021. Each selection or movement may be uploaded as a separate video. Professional or studio recordings are not required, but the sound quality should be as good as possible. Orchestral Percussion applicants will also participate in a Zoom audition, and Orchestral Flute applicants may be invited for a Zoom callback audition. More information about Zoom auditions can be found below. Unless otherwise noted, the required excerpts denote standard excerpts. Excerpts do not need to be recorded with accompaniment. Each excerpt may be recorded and uploaded as a separate video; there is no need to record the entire list in a single take. There is no sightreading requirement for the 2021 application cycle.
View the requirements for your major below or download a pdf here.
All Orchestral Double Bass applicants are required to submit a video recording for prescreening purposes in order to be considered for an invitation to a live audition in New York City. The recording must include all of the repertoire as listed below. Prescreening recordings must be uploaded directly to your application. It is not required that the format be a professional or studio recording, but the sound quality must be as good as possible.
Solo Works
Excerpts (Select one excerpt from group A, one from group B)
Group A (choose one)
Group B (choose one)
Excerpts (Select three excerpts from group A, two from group B)
There is no prescreening requirement for this instrument.
Excerpts
All Orchestral Cello applicants are required to submit a video recording for prescreening purposes in order to be considered for an invitation to a live audition in New York City. The recording must include all of the repertoire as listed below. Prescreening recordings must be uploaded directly to your application. It is not required that the format be a professional or studio recording, but the sound quality must be as good as possible.
All Orchestral Clarinet applicants are required to submit a video recording for prescreening purposes in order to be considered for an invitation to a live audition in New York City. The recording must include all of the repertoire as listed below. Prescreening recordings must be uploaded directly to your application. It is not required that the format be a professional or studio recording, but the sound quality must be as good as possible.
For the 2020-2021 application cycle, all applicants may record their prescreening videos without piano accompaniment. Recording with accompaniment is also acceptable if it is safe to do so.
All Orchestral Flute applicants are required to submit a video recording for prescreening purposes in order to be considered for an invitation to a live audition in New York City. The recording must include all of the repertoire as listed below. Prescreening recordings must be uploaded directly to your application. It is not required that the format be a professional or studio recording, but the sound quality must be as good as possible.
Solo Work
Recorded Audition Repertoire
Mozart — Concerto in G Major or Concerto in D Major, complete, with cadenzas
Beethoven — Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72, complete
Prokofiev — Peter and the Wolf, complete
Ravel — Daphnis and Chloe, Suite No. 2, solo only
Strauss — Salome, Dance of the Seven Veils, 2 bars before Reh. D through 3 bars after Reh. H
Stravinsky — Firebird (1919), Variation
Callbacks
Applicants to Orchestral Flute will be notified by February 8, 2021 if the faculty would like to invite them to a 15-minute Zoom call-back audition in the last week of February.
In addition to the above audition requirements, applicants should be prepared to play scales, scales in thirds, arpeggios, and broken arpeggios in all major and harmonic minor keys, over three octaves, with various articulations at the Zoom callback audition.
All Orchestral Percussion applicants are required to submit a video recording for prescreening purposes in order to be considered for an invitation to a live audition in New York City. The recording must include all of the repertoire as listed below. Prescreening recordings must be uploaded directly to your application. It is not required that the format be a professional or studio recording, but the sound quality must be as good as possible.
Snare Drum
Marimba
Xylophone
Tambourine
Timpani
Must be live. Recorded auditions not accepted.
Glockenspiel
Cymbals
All Orchestral Violin applicants are required to submit a video recording for prescreening purposes in order to be considered for an invitation to a live audition in New York City. The recording must include all of the repertoire as listed below. Prescreening recordings must be uploaded directly to your application. It is not required that the format be a professional or studio recording, but the sound quality must be as good as possible.
Master’s (MM) & Professional Studies (PS)
Solo Works:
917-493-4436 admissions@msmnyc.edu
130 Claremont Avenue New York, New York 10027 212-749-2802
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