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Honors and Rising Stars Audition Guidelines

APPLICATION DEADLINE:  April 30, 2023

 YouTube video submission is due with application.

Honors

  • Preliminary round: submit an unedited YouTube video recording of 5-10 minutes of your performance (one or two contrasting pieces) in the last 6 months. Accompaniment is not required. 
  • Live audition final round: applicants invited to the live audition round will perform two contrasting pieces, an ensemble excerpt and a sight reading excerpt. Accompaniment is not required. The ensemble excerpt will be from standard chamber music repertoire and will be posted online two weeks prior to the audition. There will be a family interview immediately after the live audition.
  • Current Honors students will take part only in the live audition round.

Rising Stars

  • Preliminary round: submit an unedited YouTube video recording of 5-10 minutes of your performance (one or two contrasting pieces) in the last 6 months. Accompaniment is not required. 
  • Live audition final round: applicants invited to the live audition round will perform two contrasting pieces and a short sight reading excerpt. Accompaniment is not required. 
  • Current Rising Stars students will take part only in the live audition round. 

YouTube Video Guidelines

  • Video must be made in the last 6 months.
  • Video must be recorded in one take but you may pause in between each piece.
  • Please announce the name of the pieces and each composer at the beginning of the video.
  • Memorization is not required but is highly recommended.
  • Please dress appropriately and make sure the video shows your face and hands. Videos shot far away will be disqualified.
  • Video and Audio editing are prohibited (examples: no straight cuts, dissolves, cross dissolving, fading in and out in the middle of the piece). Videos with signs of editing will be disqualified.
  • Recordings made with a professional camcorder and microphones are highly recommended. The use of iPhones or similar quality devices that reproduce good quality sound are also acceptable. It is very important that the audio quality is as high as possible in your recording.
  • Recital recordings are acceptable as long as they meet the criteria mentioned above.
  • If the video link does not work by the deadline, the video will be disqualified.

How to Upload your video to YouTube:

STEP 1: Upload Video to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/upload
 VERY IMPORTANT- please change privacy setting from ‘PUBLIC’ to ‘UNLISTED’. This way only people with the specific video URL are able to watch the video.

STEP 2: Paste the YouTube link to your audition in the application.

Excerpts for Honors Auditions