Prescreening Procedures

All cello applicants (for either classical program or orchestral performance program) are required to submit an audio recording for prescreening purposes in order to receive 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 via www.musiccas.com. Please find information on how to upload prescreening materials here.  It is not required that the format be a professional or studio recording, but the sound quality must be as good as possible.

Prescreen Requirements

Undergraduate

• One movement of a standard concerto
• Two contrasting movements of solo Bach

Graduate, Professional Studies and Doctoral

• Two movements of a standard concerto
• Two contrasting movements of solo Bach

Audition Procedures

• Undergraduate auditions are approximately 10 minutes in length, graduate are15 minutes, and doctoral are 30 minutes.
• Each applicant chooses a first work and the faculty will choose the subsequent repertoire from the audition list provided by the applicant.
• Applicants are required to audition with an accompanist, and may provide their own. However, an accompanist is provided by Manhattan School of Music free of charge for all auditions. If applicants wish to rehearse with Manhattan School of Music's accompanist BEFORE their audition, rehearsal time and cost is arranged between the two parties.
• Applicants are required to present all concerti, unaccompanied works, and virtuoso concert pieces from memory.

Audition Requirements

Undergraduate

• Scale and arpeggio of applicant's choice in three or four octaves as appropriate.
• First movement of a standard concerto with applicable cadenza, or approximately ten minutes of music from either Schelomo (Bloch) or Rococo Variations (Tchaikovsky).
• Two contrasting movements of an unaccompanied Bach suite.
• A work of the applicant's choice, such as a movement of a sonata or a short concert piece.

Graduate Audition Requirements

• Two movements of a standard concerto with applicable cadenzas.
• Three movements of an unaccompanied Bach suite.
• A complete sonata.
• A complete 20th or 21st century work.

Orchestral Performance (Graduate Program)

See the Orchestral Performance page for information >

Doctoral and Professional Studies Audition Requirements

• A complete concerto with all applicable cadenzas.
• Four significant recital works from a wide range of style periods, including the twentieth century.