Carnegie Mellon University

School of Music

Where artistry and innovation share center stage

Piano Audition Requirements

Piano applicants are required to submit a pre-screening video recorded audition. 

PRE-SCREENING REQUIREMENTS:

The length of the recording must be between 15 and 20 minutes

REQUIRED REPERTOIRE:

  • A Baroque or Classical work (From 17th century to Beethoven)
  • A Romantic, a 20th Century or a Contemporary work demonstrating the applicant’s pianistic and artistic ability
  • Only works for solo piano (not concertos) are accepted

Please see Pre-screening Instructions for details on how to submit your pre-screening. Media must be uploaded to the School of Music online application by December 1. Only complete applications, fulfilling the pre-screening requirements, are considered.

LIVE AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:

All undergraduate applicants to the piano program are expected to prepare the following audition requirements:

  • A polyphonic work (late-Renaissance to contemporary)
  • One or more movements of a Classical Sonata (Haydn, Mozart, Clementi, Beethoven or Schubert)
  •  A fast étude by Chopin, Liszt, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, or Prokofiev
  • A Romantic work demonstrating the applicant’s pianistic and artistic ability
  • A 20th-century or contemporary composition demonstrating the applicant’s pianistic and artistic ability

Only works for solo piano (not concertos) are accepted

All performance candidates are required to complete an audition. 

Piano applicants are required to submit a pre-screening video recording. 

PRE-SCREENING REQUIREMENTS:
The length of the recording must be at least 20 minutes

REQUIRED REPERTOIRE:

  • A Baroque or Classical work (From 17th century to Beethoven)
  • A Romantic, 20th Century, or Contemporary work demonstrating the applicant’s pianistic and artistic ability
  • Only works for solo piano (not concertos) are accepted

Please see Pre-screening Instructions for details on how to submit your pre-screening. Media must be uploaded to the School of Music online application by December 1. Only complete applications, fulfilling the pre-screening requirements, are considered.

LIVE AUDITION REQUIREMENTS: 

All graduate applicants to the piano program are expected to prepare the following audition requirements:

  • A polyphonic work (late-Renaissance to contemporary)
  • One or more movements of a Classical Sonata (Haydn, Mozart, Clementi, Beethoven or Schubert)
  •  A fast étude by Chopin, Liszt, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, or Prokofiev
  • A major Romantic work (e.g., a sonata by Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, Scriabin, or Rachmaninoff, a Chopin Ballade or Scherzo, a cycle by Schumann, or any large-scale composition by Liszt) or a selection of characteristic pieces of contrasting moods (e.g., an opus of Chopin Mazurkas, selections from Liszt’s “Années de Pèlerinage” or Brahms’ Op. 116-119)
  • A 20th-century or contemporary work (from Debussy onward)
  • A virtuoso composition, such as an etude by Clementi (“Gradus ad Parnassum”), Czerny (Op. 740), Chopin, Paganini/Schumann, Liszt, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Bartók, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, or Ligeti, or a toccata or toccata-like movement by Czerny, Schumann, Liszt, Saint-Saëns, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, or Prokofiev

Only works for solo piano (not concertos) are accepted.

All performance candidates are required to complete an audition. 

Piano applicants are required to submit a pre-screening video recorded audition. 

PRE-SCREENING REQUIREMENTS:

  • The length of the recording must be at least 20 minutes
  • Required Repertoire:
    • A Baroque or Classical work (from 17th century to Beethoven)
    • A Romantic, 20th Century, or Contemporary work demonstrating the applicant’s pianistic and artistic ability
    • Only works for solo piano (not concertos) are accepted

Please see Pre-screening Instructions for details on how to submit your pre-screening. Media must be uploaded to the School of Music online application by December 1. Only complete applications, fulfilling the pre-screening requirements, are considered.

LIVE AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:

Candidates will be expected to perform an audition recital of 15-20 minutes, including a minimum of five works showing representative repertoire of various periods. Although there are no set requirements for this audition, please refer to the graduate audition requirements for guidelines.