Composition Auditions

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

Use the drop downs below to review pre-screening and final audition requirements.

All applicants must submit pre-screening materials and complete a final audition/interview to be admitted. Please note, applicants must demonstrate piano proficiency at the final audition/interview.

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.

Final Interview

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

Piano Proficiency

All applicants must present 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.

Alternative Auditions

Those who are approved for an alternative audition form will be required to meet Composition faculty on Zoom.

Keyboarding Skills: Applicants must have access to a piano or keyboard and be able to view the screen while playing for the keyboarding skills portion of the audition. This portion may include sight-reading, score reading, and figured bass examples.
Piano Proficiency Pieces: Applicants may either perform piano proficiency pieces live on Zoom or upload them through their Application Status Portal. Videos must be submitted by 11:59 PM PM Pacific Time the day prior to their Zoom audition.