Composition Auditions

Welcome, composition students!

Below are the audition requirements for the Composition area. For full details—including application requirements and audition dates—please visit our Application & Auditions page.

Audition requirements are updated each September for the upcoming application cycle.

Live auditions will be held on campus in San Francisco. If you’re unable to attend in person, Zoom interviews are available upon request once the audition scheduling module opens. Additional details can be found on the Application & Auditions page.

Audition Requirements

Composition students must demonstrate piano proficiency at the final audition/interview by performing three works (details below). Piano recordings are not required at the prescreening stage. All students must complete the piano proficiency portion of the final audition, even if piano is not their primary instrument.

The final audition and interview will take place either on-campus in San Francisco or via Zoom. For virtual auditions, students must attend a Zoom interview and perform the piano portion online. They should have access to a keyboard or piano during the interview and be prepared to read music from the screen for sight-reading.

Prepare the following:

Three or more original scores and recordings of each of those pieces.

Recordings may be audio only or audiovisual. MIDI recordings are acceptable in exceptional cases, but acoustic performances are strongly recommended.
Notated scores must show evidence of original musical thought, along with the fundamentals of compositional technique.
While electronic compositions are acceptable, applicants must also demonstrate competence with traditional notation in the scores submitted.
Computer-generated scores should be checked for correct transpositions, appropriate accidentals, and normal spellings.

Interview:
Students invited to the final audition/interview will meet with composition faculty to discuss their scores and recordings.

Audition:
Perform three piano pieces or movements from any three of the following periods: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th/21st Century. For the 20th/21st Century category, applicants may perform one of their original compositions. Playing from memory is strongly encouraged. For less experienced pianists, repertory could include pieces of the level of difficulty of a Bach Prelude, one of the easier Chopin Preludes, or simpler pieces by Kabalevsky, Bartok, or Prokofiev, for example.

Composers may submit a recording of their performance on another instrument, but this does not substitute for the piano audition.

Total performance time should be 5-10 minutes, and most works will not be performed in full, but should be prepared in full.